The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1873-01-18
TIE Popular Capa acity for Scandal.

One of the most saddeni ing and huniliating
exhibitions which human nature ever makes
of ITSELF is in its greedy ctedulity touching all
reports of the misdemeanors of good men.
If q man stand high as moral force in the
community if he stand as the rebuker and de-
nouncer of social and political sin if he be
looked up to by any considerable number OF
people as an example of virtue if the whole
trend and power of life be in high and pure
direction if his personality and influence
render any allegation against his character
most improbable, then most readily does any
such allegation find eager believers. Itmatters
not from what source the slander may come.
Multtudes will be influenced by report against
a good mans character from one who would
not be believed under oath in any matter IN
volving the pecuniary interest of fifty cents.
The elanderer may be notoriously base-may
be panderer to the worst passions and the
lowest vices-may be shameless sinner against
social virtue-may be thief, notorious liar,
a drunkard, libertine, or a harlot-aH this
matters nothing. The engine that throws the
mud is not regarded. The white object at which
the foul discharges are aimed is only seen and
the delight OF the by-standers and looker-on is
measured by the success of the stain sought to
be inflicted.
As between the worldlng and the man who
processes to be guided and controlled by Chris
tian motives all this is natural enough. The
man bound up in his selfish and sensual de-
liz rhts, who sees Christian fall, or hears the
re reser1sShak he has fallen is naturally copforted
in The belief that, after all, men are alike-that
noone of them, however much he may profess,
is better than another. 1t is quite essential to
his scomfort that he cherish and fortify himself
in tnis conviction. So, when any great scandal
arises in quarters where he has found himself
and his course of life condemned, he listens
with ready ears, and is unmistakably glad. We
say this is natural, however base and malig-
nant it may be ; but when people reputed good
nay, people protesting to be Christian-shrug
| their vrtuous shoulders and shake their feeble
heads, while foul scandal touches vitality the
character Of one of their own number, and
meneces the extingushment of an influence,
higher or bier, by which the world is made
| better, we hang our heads with shame, or raise
| them with indignation. Ii such a thing as this
is natural, it proves just one thing, viz, that
these men are hypocrites. There is no man,
Christian or Pagan, who can rejoice in the
faintest degree over the reputed fall OF any
other man from rectitude, without being at
hearta scamp. All this readiness TO believe
evil OF others, especially ofthose who have been
reputed to be eminently good, is an evidence of
conscious weakness under temptation, or of
conscious proclivity TO vice that finds comfort
in eminent cOmpaniOnship.
There Is no better test Of purity and true good
ness than reluctance to think evil OF ones
neighbor, and absolute incapacity to believe
an evil report about good men except upon the
large and lovely charity is so rare But it is
only with those who possess this charity that
men accused of sins against society have an
equal chance with those accused, under the
forms Of law, of crime. Every man brought to
trial for crime is presumed to be innocent until
he is proved to be guilty but. with the world
at large, every man slandered is presumed to
be guilty until he proves himself to be inno-
cent, and even then it takes the liberty ofdoubt-
ing the testimony. Every man who rejoces in
scandal thereby advertises the fact OF his own
untrustworthiness; and every man who is pain
ed by it, and refuses to be impressed by it, un-
consciously reveals his own purity. He cannot
believe bad thing done by one whom he re-
CARDS as a god man, simply because he knows
he would not do it himself. He gives credit to
others for the virtue that is consciously in his
own possession, while the base men around
him, whether Christian in name or not, with
hold that credit because they cannot believe
in the existence of a virtue of which they are
consciously empty. When the Master uttered
the words, "Let him that is without sin among
you first cast a stone at her" he Knew that none
but conscious delinquents would have the dispo-
sition to do so and when, under this rebuke,
every fierce accuser retired overwhelmed, He,
the sirless, wrote the woman's crime in the
sand for the heavenly rains to efface. If He
could do this in a case of guilt not disputed, it
cert ainly becomes his followers stand together
aro'' every one oftheir number whom malice
or. :, tge assails with ISLANDERS to which his
or eShols life if, gives 81 Is the lie; ,,y,.zs,l;es
tocvll, where every good force is needed, and
needs to be jealously cherished and guarded,
there is no choicer treasure and no more benefi-
cenG power than a sound character. This is
not only the highest result of all the best forces
of our civilization, but it is the builder of those
forces in society and the State. Society can.
not afford to have it wasted or destroyed and
its instinct of self-preservation demands that
it shall not be suffered. There is nothing so
sensitive and nothing so sacred as character
and every tender charity, and loyal friendship,
and chivalrous affection, and manly sentiment
and impulse, ought to intrench themselves
around every true character in the community
SO thoroughly that breath Of calumny shall
be as harmless as an idle wind. Ifthey cannot
do this, then no man is safe who refuses to
make terms with the devil, and he is at liberty
to pie his victims where he will. G. Holland
Scribner'S for January,