Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-10-25

happiness of husband and wife's life. |
A year or two after marriage they settled |
not tar from my fathers house, in cOun- |
try town. In small towns the cliqueisms |
of society are most prominent, and it was
soon the general topic into which clique |
lhe newcomers would be received. They |
were a well-fayored couple, hand |
have admitted them anywhere; but
they were known to have risen in the
world, consequently the old families
might oQject to receiving them, but the
new would be delighted, and would well
come them as a stepping-stone towards
their own upward progress. In short
time they were established among the
upper ten thousand, which was resented
by the other members of Littletown So
ciety.
GAS a wild Tarter, wnen he spies
If he can XIII him thinkst, inherit
His wit, his wisdym. ond his spirit
As fjus9 SO much he enjoyed
As in an$ther is destroyed"
The wife's fair name was attacked the
husband heard OF it, but being a man of
jealous temperament, was reticent on
the subject. Jealousy never dare show
itself in its true cOlors; and she, being
unconscious of doing evil, or of appear
ing to do evil, gave the gossipers no end
of circumstancial evidence, and thus her
actions, apparentlh tallyiny with the re-
ports, aggravated her husband to such. a
cegree that he was on the point of leay-
ing her. Providentially he saw his mis-
take before too late, but the bright bloom
was rubbed Oft their love and when once
that is all gone it can never be restor-
ed, sb !.
4 feeling of self-importance and self
righteousness prompts us to talk about
our neighbors. We like to show that
we are acquainted with facts unknown
to other people, and we feel when we
are relating an interesting story we our
selves are an object Of interest-delight
full sensation! And what a splendid
opportunity the portraying Of another's
weakness is for showing our own
strength! While recounting a neighbors
vices we can revel in the thought of our
own opposite vistues. s.us !,
But am not confounding gossip with
scandald / think not. The line of de-
| marcation separating the two is SO fine
as to be almost imperceptible! in fact,
gossip is almost sure to merge 20 scandal.
| [ have.heard them Disseminated between
thus scandal is report founded on
| lies; gossip is a report founded OH facts.
Is report less painful because it is
| founded on facts? Not one whit !;
| in fact, the reverse. -ll1l
"a lie which is all lie may be met and fonght
But iie %sfeE of truth is harder mat
ter to fifght.''
And what an Invaluable ally to the
gossiper is the scandalizer I remember
an event which happened in Littletown
when was Il child, and witch made a
| deep impression on my mind. One even
| ing was sent to drink tea with my god
mother, widow of near seventy years
| Shortly after tea we were joined by "a
maiden lady of fifty years, and as the
| two began to talk on subjects Of no in-
terest to me, retired with a book into a
nor heard was soon forgotten. And so,
after time, was, by me, my book; the
| the conversation had become such that
I was listening with all my might.
Miss N-must have made every one's
/ business her own, or she could not have
4 recounted the wonderful stories she did
4 about several Iittletown families. All
the intrieacies of their private histories
seemed to be knOwntOlier, and were un-
1 scrupulously laid bare to her auditor.
/ Story led on to story, till at. last there
came one which touc he'd the character
of a lady who was dead. One great sin
of her life had just come to light, at last
Miss N.------had just heard of ts.from a
person who had kept.the knowledge of it
| secret for some years. All, that was 4
juicy morsel for the twot and it seemed
to me that the fact of the poor creatures
being bevond the pale of repentance and
forgiveness added zest They said, how
shocking 1t was how awful! the devil
seemed to be let lose on the world and
how impossible it was to trust any one!
for they would each have given their
word that the deceased lady was model
Jnc 81 "a. o.,1 p,,t
no horror shown at the sin, and no sOr-
row expressed for the sinner. Now, had
Miss N.--,i in the first place. and she
and my god-mother in the second, known
that it was impossible to handle dirt
without being somewhat defiled by it.,
and had also appreciated the fact that as
they did think evil and reioiced In in
iquity, they did not possess that Christian
attribute without which Q time might
come when repentance and forgiveness
would be so far beyond their reach as
reach OF an erring sister, vast amount
: of suffering might have been spared. In
a few days it was widely circulated, and
had come to the ears of the dead lady 8
relatives. Her mother was In % very
delicate state CT health. and the shock
was so great to her, she never overcome
: it. Soon after her death the true facts Of
!. the case become known, and the accused
was proved innocent by the disco very ol
the real perpetrator. Scandal had prim.
: arilv set the story af1oat. and gossip had
kept its head above water. Had there
had been no gossipers the scand alizei
would have been powerless. l
: One class of people suffer terribly from
gossips, viz, marriageable young mer
and women. If marrying and giving
in marriage were to come to an end
some gossip-houses might be closed fol
want of adequate funds. The happiesl
of the country in general and of individ-
uals in particular depends greatly on the
this, one of the gravest subjects OF life, i!
treated with the utmost levity, land made
the handle OF no end of ridicule. How
few couples have the chance of finding
!, out the temper and disposition of each
. other until after marriage! And why
Because the last indication oftlie slight
est friendship springing up between s
man and a woman Is the instantaneous
signal for mods and winks and a strict
; Surveillance, to be quickly followed by
: inuendos and Whispers. Thus two
parties-niade more sentative than they
ought to be by the knowledge that this i!
sure to be the case-find they Are laying
: themselves open to be talked about. If,
man be little bit in earnest there i.
nothing he objects to more than feeling
: he is watched, and his actions buzzed
! If he have made up his mind to b.
= quite in earnest, he can brave it; aud i
there be nothing at all serious i'm tn
= matter, it may amuse him. When mel
= and women are allowed to take littl
friendly mutual interest i'm in, and T.
become really acquainted with eacl
other, there may be some change of sin
compatibility of temper" being discover
e ed before the happiness of the pair ha
!. been shipwrccked on that rock.
e would have another effect too-ther