The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1858-05-27
NUMBER s.. 5.


it0- Siander and SlandererSs :.
r. Few characters are more despicable
than the slanderer; and few vices are
more pernicious than that to which he
is addicted. Always looking for prey.
always watching some unguarded ex-
q pression, some unstudied act. he winds
himself into the domestic circle. where
his presence destroys all ease, and poi =
sons every social Joy. Nor does his
presence impose less restraint upon the
more numerous circles. Every person
considers him spy, seeking some Jest,
which, by exaggeration, and represent
I ing as sentimental, he may turn to the
disadvantage of the innocent author
Thus all cheerful and pleasant gayety
are destroyed; each choosing to sacri-o
I flee every social enjoyment, rather than
be exposed to vile reproach ; for howi
ever rirtuous person may be, or how.
ever conscious of their integrity, they
cannot escape his evil eyed reproach,
which fixes most on those of most merit
because they are the most envied. 3d
His microscopic eye magnifes our
weaknesses into enormous crimes. Nor
are our. errors alone the subject of his
Ianimadversions; our virtues are con-
strued into vices, and blasted by the
breath OF calumny. Our frankness is
transformed into impudence, our sensi-
1bility into weakness, our friendship into
deceit, our benevolence into pride, and I
our religion into hypocrisy. Are we
unfortunate, it is the reward of our
crimes. Are we prosperous, it is be-
cause we are knavish. sfeTeq - 9rafn
If, indeed, there were but one kind IL
of slanderers- if they were all actuated
by the same motive, and had in view
the same end-there might be, at least,
a chance of escaping their arrows; but
we have no such security One would
think human life loaded with miseries
enough, which are unavoidable, with
out adding to the bitter cup the gall of
calumny, yet, strange as it may seem,
it really appears as if the restless, pet
ulant slanderer envied the little repose
allotted to the virtuous, and was deter
mined by every vile means in their
power, to diminish their already small
joys. oan 1 rr~see sr6l
If it were possible to Danish from
society this despicable monster, and
thereby avoid the broils, the chickering's
and anxieties which he creates, life
would be a paradise, compared with
what it now is. What miseries he
brings to society-oh! what misery
bringeth he not , ft :. ~
To the shame of society be it said
that, even in this enlightened and re-
fined age, SO reputable are the vendors
of slandcr, and so numerous and eager
are the bidders, that many persons of
acknowledged worth seclude them
selves from society lest they should
become the object of attack--for to be
known is to be slandered. ,e,.I ffrss
A Roman emperor, In the fourth cen
tury, made SANDER criminal both In the
giver and receiver of it; but in the
nineteenth century railing. passes for
wit, and he who can most .effectually5
blacken the fair fame of others is sure
to be caressed. So great is his infu-I
ence, SO prevalent the passion for cal
unny, that by a single malicious jeers
he may blast the fairest reputation
But, it will be said, "we need not
regard the calumnies heaped upon us
SO long as we are conscious of not mer-'
iting them." Happy, indeed, if it were
so; happy if we could look with indif-
ference upon the vile attempt to slander
us, and, like the moon when bayed at
by the angry cur, continue on our
course peacefully. A reputation is too
hard to be acquired and too easily
blasted, to allow of such Indifference.
/ Nor is solicitude for ones character. at
all improper; it is not the growth of
extravagant self love, but of refined
and virtuous sensibility. Hence we
often see persons of the greatest worth
betray the most anxiety concerning
what is said of them in their absence
and well may they, when recollecting
that it is on the breath of the, public
our character depends. ~ y
] By a strange perversion of reason
and propriety it has become but. too
common to ridicule person until
i thorough, acquaintance compels, us to
acknowledge his or her worth. Instead
of charitably believing him or her pos
ScSScQ Vi WOI I'll Ol iltIlt uIltu W Z kuOW
them otherwise, we cruelty Cypress
until we find it of no avail, and then
reluctantly cry "let him or her live!n
as the pious Yankees did when acquit-
ting the witch whom they could neither
hang nor drown How unreasonable!
to ridicule person of whom we know
little or nothing. 1t is. owing to this
unworthy practice, perhaps more than
any other, that SO many worthy persons
are kept in disrepute; for to what other
cause can we attribute it? What is the
cause of those broils and misunder-
standings we SO often witness in soci-
ETY.? What that blasts the fairest rep
utation, and sinks the envied possessor
into disgrace and ruin? 1t is SIAN
der! sefs i-.s 4rif aoT rSZ
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