The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1868-06-20
Slnmtierers and SlanIlcriug.

| Character is what man essentially is. Rep.
utation is what the world thinks he is Social
positions may make or nnmake regulations for
the passing hour. But neither can touch charac-
ter: that pertains more to the innermost bears
! Gods seal
| There are three ways to put slanderers down;
| One Is, to knock them down. This is the pugil-
lists method; and its brevity corresponds with
| the general non-responsibiity of mischiefmakers
and defamers. Another method is to claw them
down in courts of Justice. This, though some
times tedious, is often justifable process A
third and better, is to ice them down. Each
true, moral, upright person in community, holds
every insinuating coward that prowls along the
lower shelves of society, at fearful DISADVANTAGE
For though blow may meet blow, and argument
argument. in the hands OF attorneys, those who
put their blows ami arguments into true life.
and strive to overcome evil with good, are in.
vincbe.
Henry Ward Beecher says in his own mimi
table style: Life would be a perpetual fea-hunt
if one were obliged TO run down all the inuen.
does. the inveracties, the nsinuations and the
suspicious which uttered against him 4
When the absent are spoken of, some will speak
gold, some silver some iroD some lead, and
some always speak dirt, for they have a natural
attraction for what is evil. They mouse for de.
fects as cats watch for mice
God has appointed certain insects, buzzards and
beasts to be destroyers Consuming decaying
matter-they feast on filth. To their palate, life
is insipid-death has flavor"
The Rev. Dr. Chaplin, in his earlier life feel
ing the shafts of the envious anxious to pull
him down to their level, said ISLANDER has
crushed thousand hopes and stung to the very
earth many fair and spotless reputation
They must be ttto who take a reputation
that has walked among men respected and es-
tnnu,e1 and bra. no "A al :. a.
Slander begins with vague significant surmises
and small broken hints. 1t continues with whis-
pers and malicious menaccs worse than DEATH
TIL it shadows and beclouds the brightest char
acter like breath upon looking-glass'
The poet Pollock said the slanderer was the
"foulest whelp of sin; with tongue set on the
fire Of hell, and whose legs are faint with haste
to propagate the lie his soul had framed"
These defamers, censurers, tale-bearers, are
the moral vipers of society, leaving Shiny trail
IN their wake. Like the tarantnas of Califor-
MA they weave threads of candor into webs of
wles, and smile while they breathe out their
poisoned utterances; and yet such is the divine
law OF compensation, that i'll the end they die
from self-poiSoning.
Jesus, while teaching and healing in Judea,
was man of bad-cery b0d reputation among
the sleek, lawn-sleeved, prayertul Pharisees.
Saying nothing OF such minor offences with
WHICH lie was accused, as DClnH Il ''Wlne-DlODer,
eating with "publicans and Sinners" and recog-
nitions of Mary Magdalen' and the "woman BY
Samaria's wel'-these were the legal charges
brought against him:
|. Jesus is IA seducer.
II. He il seditious
Ill. He is an enemy to the law.
| ~. lie calls himself falsely the son of Cod
V. He calls himself falsely the King of Is.
rael
VI He entered into the temple followed by a
multitude, bearing palm branches in their hands
These satisfactorily proven, Pontius Plate act
ing Governor Of Lower Galilee, pronounced the
! sentence chat Jesus should suffer death upon
the cross. And yet Jesus lives to-day fresh in
humanitys great heart
In the higher, better sense, it is fathet Il coin.
pliment tnan otherwise to be prosecuted and
siandered Try those who cherish personal pi.ues
| or by such envious, jealous, suspicious souls, al
feel inclined to make their superiers seem as vic
ious as THEY really are. "Woe unto you," said
Jesus to his deciples, "when all men speak well
Of you.' "Blame is safer than praise" SAYS r
! W. Emerson. "A great man is always willing
! to be misunderstood. Were he to sit in cush.
ion Of ease, he would sleep; but when belied
| pushed, tormente0, defeated, he has a chance to
learn something. He is put ON his wits, and
puts on u more sterling manhood. And then,
besides getting cured OF selfconceit, learns self.
| hcl,,