Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-06-30
The GossIplng Woman.

by MRS S,rrIr y. HoLoEs.
" here are women and ,romen,' says the
ttte French proverb, and simple infection
puts the width of infntudo between two
words that mean the same thing There are
women pure as dew aud true as sunshine
whose life is as the exhaation Of flowers
To come from their presence is like leaving
q garden Of spices at dewfall; our thoughts
like garments, are perfumcd with the aroma
Of gentle Influences towards all that is holy
and good.
Such women lice mignonette, rose. balm
God has sent them upon earth as foretaste
Of what heavens companionship shall be.
There are faulty little women, who fit
through life like a caprcious breeze. We
love them, we scold them, We are vexed
with them every day They do a thousand
impudcnces, they break through trelis
walls Of conventonality, like nodding rose.
through n fence, aud blush aud glimmer
aud CLINT above the dusty highways rude
prey, alas to spelling touch and thieying
hands
There are impetuous women, buhblng
through life. scolding. sparkling. bothcring
but We would not miss the sunshine Of their
presence any moro than we would lose the
boboliuks ont Of June, or the frost from De-
cembcr's breath. There are women made
of dough, whom it takes fires Of adversity to
bake. There arc aggressive women who
launch their peculiar views at you as the
r9rcupine casts its fretful quill. There are
delicate women, TOO frail to nurse their own
babies, or meet one Of lifc's earnest duties,
yet who can pet poodles. read novels, eat
daiaties forever, and call it living. Aud
there Is the woman with whom We deal to-
day--the -ossipiug woman. Of this species
there are two classes-the canniba and the
kincui,h. The one invites you TO her feast
oI sweet morsels, rs a Feejee Islander would
conduct You to his banquet, with this only
exception, where the woman destroys char
octer and reputation, the savage contents
himself with the 0nnihilation of pershable
Aosh. See how she picks her dainty bits 10
pieces. She fingers reputation as one sewers
chlcken-bones-nip, nip, nip--daintily, with
airy tests and mods, until there is nothing
left but what shall be cast to the dogs
Young girls and women are her choicest
morsels. Now and then she delights in a
good. juicy minister, or a plump church.
member, but for the most part her own sex
furnish best victims. She gloats over reve-
lations that bring the bitterness of death to
q shrinking soul. She burrows into for
gotten past and brings forth records to prove
some unworthy but long-repented deed.
She looks at ciddy madcap youth, as a spi-
der watches the flies. All the Stiffness, the
coluetry, and the irrepressible spirit of
young girls is set down as irremediable de-
prayity. She forgets that rivers must first
be riotous brooks, that youthful shoulders
never vet bore any but young heads, and
many life that, but for such as she, might
l.uta ratgltat ar,l haut.4tf,I
nation, has gone astray in mad despair, and
been lost forever. Tell me that such women
shall euter the Christian heaven, and the
poor, ignorant flesh and blood eater be left
out What is it 10 pick human bones, 70
what it il 10 bite and tear the immortal soul
to pieces
The kittenish scmdalmonger is no less IA
tai, although far less formidable. She is
friendly and chatty and sweet; but, some
how, wherever she goes, she leaves everybody
ON edge. Lifelong friends find themselves
autagoui,tic after she has left them. She
condOles with each the Others faithlesSness ;
but her sweetest sympathy leaves a sting
and there is an overwhelming rupture where
she has pretended to heal. Her very cham
pionship is worse in its effect than other peo-
pies blame. There seem volumes of unre-
Nealed history when she says, oh, my dear
don't think such and such thing Of SO and
so Things may seem queer; but-be char
table; you know | detest gossip-Bur -
and that " but is bigger than all the nice
things that went before it.
She is full OF oiiicious service, and, if She
is mddlc-aged, is generally an active church
member; cries copiously over sermons. and
d fond Of attending funerals. Indeed. YOU
will always find both classes on hand there ;
and as they return from the grave they have
been known TO remark: 81 don't think Mr..
b looked as though he felt his wifc's
loss much. Poor thing | guess it's as well
she died when she did" 4 favorite express
sion with each class is, 'I told you so 20
They are addicted TO prophetic remarks, and
aggwyating rolls Of the head. They have
fingers which always find the sore places
and they carry needle-points to insinuate be
tween the joints of your closest armor.
But 1t is not always the malicious word
That makes mischief How many of us, by
thoughtlesS look or speech, carry ruin into
struggling lives Unthinking cattle that we
are, we 60 browsing about, trampling daises
and shy bits Of yiolets under foot.
All, it is easier to preach sermons than 10
pick berries in July. 1t is more difficult to
reduce theory to practice, than to gather
NlAlHs iihli prdll vines. W q nave such no
Die crecds, but think the angel who records
dceis rather than crecds must trace the
scroll with plying smile. We reprove, each
one OF rs, in Others the very faults that make
our own lives unlovely. Oh for = world
where charity shall be greater than all Z
Don't tell me of golden streets" and "pearly
gates " and "palned saints" that shall make
up my heaven. Tell me rather of a land
where there shall be no wrangling, no fight
Ing with sharp tongues for weapons, no gos-
SIP, and no fellow-creature Judgments.
thlnk there are people who, il they carry
into heaven particle Of earthly nature, will
stop the hallelujahs TO look for spot or wrin.
kle in their fellow-angel's garment. Let us
learn sweeter charity, grander silence.
Humanity is at best fever-racked patient,
and the great Physician alone can heal.
Though We search earth's record with tears,
there Is no perfect man--sdre One. While
time endures, there must be folly and sin
and crime. II we are better than Others let
us seek to cover rather than expose their
shortcomings.
Drape defornity with the snowy mantle
OF love, and where we cannot savc,-keep
silent Satan has no ADLER second than she
who walks the earth with cruel eyes that
pry for hidden things, with feet that run on
uniriendly oTands, with fingers that seek
sore places, with tongue that blackens and
defames, and heart that broods poisonous
speech and willy innuendo-and her name is
Gossip.--Ch Christian Union.