Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1857-02-21
Scandal and Tale Bearers.

save us from the scandal monger or
tale-bearer. If there is one human
or rather, inhuman being, who IS mean
er or more contemplate, who vii, stoep
TO lower devices, or be guilty of small
Ter tricks than the scandalizer, VIC have
not yet seen him. Oily and insinuat
ing, he wriggles his way into the soci-
ETY. of the domestic circle, and his ap-
proach breeds moral leprocy. From
friend to friend, from father to son,
from husband to wife, from sister to
brother, this busy taller glides, with
Shiny track, infusing his fostering poi
son, destroying friendship, running do
nestle peace, creating misery among
all with whom he associates. He how
ever, is friend to every one he
pours his oily words into your listen
ing ear, and goes tie your bltterest enc
my to feed his malice with recital of
your story, told to him in confidence.
With whispering eagerness, he tells
you of some imaginary WRONG, and flies
to your neighbor to speak Of your in
dignation, and infame his passion. No
place is satred from his presence he
oozes his way into and intrudes upon
your privacy I'd empty his budget of
lies, and breed fresh mischief out of
that which he has just created; he
elides out to crawl in at some other
door to pick up fresh load of scan
dal, again TO empty it in the same man
ner. He carries large bundle, which
grows larger and still larger with age,
and yet fattens On it, His mind is so
very low, his heart so very corrupt his
feelings so very debased, that Satan
himself might well be ashamed of him.
lie does the devils work, and earns
the devils reward. He is anywhere
and everywhere, at all times, and upon
all occasions He pulls you by the
coat-sleeve in the street, to inform you
that he suspects BIS integrity, and
suggests that you had better not con-
fide IN bin. He rends the veil that
SURROUNDS the famiIy circle, with a
ruthless hand. He will insinuathe to
you that Mrs. A. or Mrs. B. is too vol
atlle, goes to parties, balls, sc too
much, dresses too fashionable, and
does not attend to the wants of her
husband or children; he will say
thousand things to you, with no osten-
sble meaning, but still cunningly cal
culated to leave an unfavo. able i'm
preston on your mind. Almost in a
moment, he will go to Mrs. A. or Mrs
B., shrug his shoulders, look pityingly
at you, and say, perhaps, that it is We
ry strange where you spend so many
evenings away from your home init
mate that there are such ard such plae-
es, situated so and so, Of course, he
does not mean to imply that you are
ever to be found in them; but how
unfortunate it would be if it were so
Thus he goes on, creating jealousies
and heart burnings, heaping Goals up
on the fire, and tanning the fame with
his pestilential breath. The stories
are circulated, and become common
property; and here is to be found ore
reason for the applications for divorce
es, SO common in our midst. Thus ia
miles are broken up, and each case
affords a nine days subject for fash
ionable horror, when the victim, or VIC
tins, are forgotten, and the scandal
monger glides along, very respecta-
BILE member of society. This particu-
lar class is, however, thank heaven,
few in number. 1t consists of bitter,
malignant, or disappointed mambers of
society, who give way to their bad
feelings, and seek to wreak their ven
geance on the world those who make
tale-bearing daily practice, and de-
signedly use their power of dissi'nula-
ton to promote dissention. 1t was
one of this class that Byron said,
speaking of her death:
Down to the dust, where as thou roll'st
away,
Fen worms shall perish on thy poisonous
clay
But then we have our small>fry seam
dalizers good, easy going people, who
wouldn't injure any one for the world,
but can't help indulging in quiet bit
of gossip over cup of tea, or cosy
fire. They believe themselves 20 be
full of human kindness really, and don't
intend to create jealousy or hard feel
ing, but still gives spice to their little
supper to tell some story about some
neighbor, which gets bigger as it grows
older, and, like the SNOWFALL, keeps
increasing in size as IT is rolled over
and over by the Glib tongue. These
really mean to be very good people,
and if they would reflect, if they could
but appreciate what one exaggerated
tale sometimes leads to; how hearts
may be torn by titles severed, minds
jaundiced and embittered if they
would think before they speak, they
would conclude that in the multitude
of words there shall not want sin; but
but be that refraineth his lips is most
WISE For this Latter class there is
hope, because the wrong they do is uu-
Intentional for the former there is
none, because they act with their eyes
open, and use Discrimination to further
horrible purposes.
ALPHoNsE KARR, the French author