Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1877-06-07
BACKBITLNG
istic

BACKBITING.
BY the term backbiting we understand
that it is to SANDER in the absence of the
person traduced. That the heart is deceit
full above all things and desperately wicked
is the teaching of the inspired volume, con-
tirmed by our experience every day. We
are the children of one Father, yet our lives
are as varied rs the flowers that deck the
woodland. And. too, how varied are the
roads of the 5curneyings of life and the
tastes and aptitudes which effect the indi-
vidual therein. Some find thorns, others
flowers; some reach their journeys end
soon, others travel on until their temples
are silvered DER with the frosts of many
winters. Some look upon and spend life AS
if it were given them to sow thorns and
tlistles in the pathway of others. The
backbiter belongs to this class. If any cure
could be discovered for this habit, it would
certainly be a great relief to those who are
Increasingly tormentcd by the bites of Their
neighbors. 1t was once my misfortune to
spend a few months at a place given to this
degraded habit. | learned Il lesson then
that | shall never forget. | made Il thought
less remark in the presence of Il lady yersed
in the art of retailing gossip. The remarks
fell from my lips without meaning, yet
when dealt out by Dame Gossip it was
clothed in new, yet dark colors, and WheA
it reached me again, | never should have
recognized my OWL words i'll the form,
shape and size they now assumed 1t Is eV-
ident that one OF the leading means by
! which we are raised in the scale OF refine
ment is by associating with the pure and re-
fined. Society has thrones for the good
| and refined and the idle tale-tellers finds 10
attraction there. Society also has prisons
for the base and unretined, and the darkest
and most silent cell should be the place tor
the backbiter. Show me u home whose i'll
mates have been led in the right path
whose head is an intelligent ard refined
man or woman, and | will show you isst-
ing from the walls Of that home men and
women who are truthful to the core-Wio
would as little condcscend to act a pretence
as they would dare to tell u lie. We have
some striking examples of mans sincerity
towards man as touching as 1t is OLD, and AS
interesting as it is touching, as the story q
Damon and Pythias, which display ut olto
the value of true friendship. Chateaubriani
in The Martyrs" speaks OF two soIalti1
who were so bound 10 each other by frielit.-
ship, that on the field OF battle they tied
themselves together by Il chain, dvterlnin-
ing both to meet the same fate. One had
tallen dead beneath the arrow Of Il Cretian;
the other, though struck with u mortal
wound, was still alive, and reaching over
his :. brother-ill-arms " warrior. cried he i'll
u faint, expiring yoice-'Thou hast fallen
asleep after the tatigues of the battle; thine
eyes Shall 10 more open at my call, but the
chain Of our friendship is not broken, it still
binds me to thy side.n A lie finished these
words the young Frank fell exhausted. and
died embracing the body of his friend.
!, Such friendship is worth mints of gold, AIM
[ am sorry to say is seldom found IN this
: day and time; yet we sometimes find such
! ~friends-those who will comfort us Wien
the sky is black above the same as Wien tlt
+ sun shines brightly. If we should always
keep the golden rule iii view, perhaps ON
: ncighbors' pillows would be easier. II w.
would live as if W. expected to live and at,
l forever, making our thoughts and actions
, pure, 50 that the accusing angel hereafter
! may not lay the deadly weight of backbit
: ing upon us, we will be loved more in lii.
world and happier in the world 10 conle.-
S Lulu IN Journal Of 4AgricA'5a5t end Fafnser