The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-04-06
Scandal and Tale.Bearers

Ofall people who degrade society By
their Shiny and fostering influence, save
us from tho scaHdal-monger or tale
barer. If there is one human, or rather
inhuman being who is meaner, or more
contemplate, who will stoop to lower
devices, or be guilty of smaller tricks
than the scand alizer, we have not seen
him. Oily and insinuating, he wrig-
giles his way into the society of the do
mestic circle, and his approach breeds a
moral leprosy. From father to son, from
husband to wife, from sister to brother
this busy tale-teller glides with Shiny
track, infusing his fostering poison
destroying friendship-ruining domestic
peace-creatiug misery among all with
whom he associates. He, however, is a
friend to every one; he pours his oily
words into your listening ear, and goes
to your bitterest enemy to feed his ma
lice with recital Of your story, told to
him in confidence. With whispering
eagerness he tells you of some ima-
ginary wrong, and flies to your neigh
Dor to speak of your Indignation, and
to infame his passions. No place is
sacred from his presence; he intrudes
upon your privacy to empty his budget
of lies, and breed fresh mischief out Of
that which he has just created; he glides
out to come in at some other door to
pick up fresh load of scandal, again
to ewpty it in like hammer. 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 de-
based, that Satan himself might we'll be
ashamed of him. He does the devil 5
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 In
form you that he suspects B.'s integrity,
and suggests that you had better BOT
coufide in him. He rends the veil that
surrounds the family circle with ruth.
less hand. He will insinuate to you
that Mrs A. or Mrs. B. is too volatile
goes to parties, balls, &c. too mueh,
dresses too fashionably, and does not
attend to the wants of her husband or
children; he will gay thousand things
to you will no ostensfble meaaiag, but
still cunuiugl5 calculated to leave an
urfavorable impression on your mind.
Fl He will go to your wife. shrug his saoul-
ders, look pityingly at her, and say,
perhaps, that it is very strange why you
spend so nany evenings away from home;
intimates that there are such and such
places, situated SO and so. OF course,
he does not mean to imply that you are
ever to be found in them; but how un-
fortunate it would be if it were 80 | Thus
he goes on, creating jealousies and heart
burnipgs, heaping Goals upon the FIRE,
and tanning the fame with his pestilen-
btdA OI0obus nO cbOAACo arc OlIC0labcQ
and become common property; and
here is to be found one reason for the
application for divorces so common in
our midst. Thus families are broken.
up, and each affords nine days sub
ject for fashionable horror, when the
victim or victims are forgotten, and the
scandal monger ghdes along, a very res
pectable member of society. This par
tiouIar class is, however, thank heaven,
few in number. It consists of the bitter,
malignant, er disappointed members of
society, who give way to their bad feel
ings, and seek to reek their vengeance
on the world; those who make tale-bear-
ing daily practice, and designedly use
their power of dissimalation to promote
and dissension. It was of
this class that Byron said -
Down to the dust, whence thou rollsst away
Fen worms shall perish on thy poisonous clay.
But then We have our small fry scane