Wilmington daily gazette., 1874-01-10
Everyday FauIts--- -Baokbiting,
ny REV. A. M'ELRoY wYLIE.

vertebral column-you can neither see nor
reach them, snd like all cowardly and despi- |
cable enemies they always strike behind the |
back.
Call it not fault rather brandt it a. 4 crime. |
You pick my pocket and you take my earnings
CT, perhaps, week-yOu pick at my reputation
by he poisoned beak of SANDER, and what do
you do you take away my credit put thorns
in my midnight pillow; cause every man
meet look upon me with suspicion; you let loose
an invisible, all prevailing isint into the atmos
phere, against which | cannot defend myself.
It produces something worse than disease, for
it can be checked by no skill and can be reached
by no medicine. Happiness flies from the
household before the breath of the slanderer
and it is in his power TO snatch the very bread
ont Of the mouth of hungry children and turn
the entire family out-of-doors.
OF all the faults which faint and tarnish hli-
man nature, this, ii we may possibly except
swearing reveals the very worst phases of spon-
taneous malice and wickedness
can look with charity upon the deeds of a
man who is occasionally swept away by his pas
sions. We can find kindly spot in our heart
for the killer who, msddened by protraeed
provocation, strikes the murderous blow-we
can pity the reeing drunkard, who has been
enticed and drawn down from his selfcontrol
by thoughtless, convivial comprehensive can
almost excuse the thief who has been driven by
the hunger wolf to appropriate the goods Of his
neighbor-for sweet is liie-we can drop a tear
over..yonder wretched creature who is making
trade Of her virtue in the street, when we call
to mind the want, the temptations, the dexter
| Gus and devil-ike solicitations which she so
long withstood in the very face of starvation to
death. But ransack, as We may, our whole
| museum of charity, and we cannot find a soil.
| tary patch or rag wherewith to shade solitary
spot OF the moral loathesomeness Of the Sian
derer. He Is an enemy 10 God, to man. and to
society aud himself, and can serve no one but
the devil in his own htari.
| His talk is poisoned stream without a ioun-
| tain for his slsnderes have no starting point in
| fact.
| There is no coacesling tie truth. it has its
origin in bsd heart. And, then, how sbom-
ination is magnifed when the oily tongue6 de-
famer launches his poisonous insinuations under
the preiext of his jealousy for the homer and
purity OF the church and the good OF society.
| If he we're to come out and confess the truth IA
TO his real motives We might mitigate the
wished for sentence when we long to see him
tied to public post with tongue drawn ont and
f4stenced las once upon q tims they did to a
slit-stiek.
Why does he moi say IL gives Joy 10 his bad
heart to hear and TO repeat with unmeasured
additions, all the insi1ualions and suspicious
which are bresthed against his neighbor? Why
does he not own that he feels relatively little
higher ii he can only depress the level upon
which his neighbor stands? Why cant he
acknowledge that there is malignant spirit in
him which loves to feast upon the dsspoilet
rt putaiion Of others. - compared with which
the cruel >lruie, unframed boys In stoninf
frogs. cats and dogs is q sanity paslime.
lVa lhotf fI,ak kap brn l. 4.
OF all ages have put slsnder among the uucon
vertable furies Thomson cals it,
THE tongue hat licks the dust
But, when safely dares as prompt - sting
Pollock draws from his armory the whip Q
scorpions and lays ii on with fearful energy
but withal a justifable fury.
His tongue was set on tire OF hell: his heart
Was black as death his legs we're faint with haats
To propagate the lie his soul had framed
His pillow was the peace OF families.
Destroyed the sigh Of innocence rsstsaG,he,d
And made most hellish meals Of ssod men
Sometimes the habit malignant slanderer !
so established that it does something to cure ii
self The doses are so heavy that they are re
jected The lying will not lie. We ono
knew a man Of this sort, and he made up ou
minds to believe particularly well of the me,
he particularly slandered. OF all the mali
cious backbiter he is generally the worst wit
has been once Of respectable position and as
socistIon, and wno through his own loss of man
hood, has taleu from his high estate. 1t give
him pain to see any man still retaining the re
spect and oporable position from which h,
has fallen. and so he vents his spleen upon all
who are better than himself.
, Far the greatest amount of evil, however, i
. done in the community by those who can hard
! ly be clased among the deliberate and maliciou
J backblters. The number Of those who moral,
throw stones over the gsrdenn wall and boilini
water out OF the window without looking to sc,
what damage may be done below or on the 9th
er side, is very great. Here, as genial carte
. mas" used TO say, 'most men have hind-sigh,
t but rot fore sight" They can see the mischie
s and sorrow they have occasioned after it is don
and cannot be undone! but why could they nc
+ have taken five minutes look through tn
a conscience lens beforehand, and have anlicips
8 ted. and 30 prevented the horrors which the
were about to perpeirate? Want Of though
here is not whit better than deliberate malic'
when we consider how seldom there is reall
any excuse for either starting or repeating slaI
= der. Scott, in his usual style, puts it thus
"Oh many a shaft at random sent.
Finds mark the archer little meant;
Aud many word at random spoken,
| May soothe or wound heart that's broken.
!, We have had frequent occasion to trace man
Q a serious trouble TO its source and In well Rig
t. every case we have found it originated In eith'
some wholly invented slander, or in SOU
thsughtessIy repeated defamation which liz
5 the ever-rolling SNOWFALL. gathered bulk ar
= weight at every turn, until it crushed the apir
Of him on whom it fell. '.
There is no cure iOr this ail-ravaging disea
in the community except in the thorough arc
= sing Of conscience, until the slanderer is rank'
. among the thieves and robbers, unless it be th
= listeners will refrain utterly from esi-hearil
or we tie up the two parties. the one by Il