The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1877-07-17
Communicated.
SIanderers and their Gosslps = Bloomfield
not Slnless. .


Mr.. EDITOR ;---It ls about time our papers
cry out against this thing. The Ancients used
to teach . maxim of this klnd-''Speak no
Slander-no-nor listen to itl"-The rule of
conduct Indicated has gone, with other lost
arts, Into oblivion. If any doubt this asser-
tlon let him take four women, in our town, and
two men whom ! could name, and listen to
their conversation just fourteen minutes, and II
he does not know more things that never were
true than he did before, then am falsefier
and a bad reporter of events. want the four
ladies % to have their knitting along and the
two gentlemen % clay pipe each. The
neighbors of this party must (of course) be
absent. You must see the expression of each
speakers countenance, as well as the gestures
of the hands, to appreciate the subject under
discussion.
tame,
To publish some poor neighbor's shame,
On eagles wings immortal scandals fly,
Whlle Yrtuous actions are but born to die"
A slanderlng tongue spares none, not
even a friend. l know O poor harmless
devil who trusted one of these creatures to
over sixty dollars worth of goods during the
war, and never received one cent back, but who
has been terribly excorlated ever since by the
same party whom he benefited. They will
steal a mans good name, not because of any
good 1t will do them, for they dare not own it,
but merely for malice CT pleasure, as a monkey
would steal a nightcap. If you notice them
and take their past lives into consideration, you
will discover that by reason of some wicked
deeds of their own they are down in the world.
This makes 1t to their interest to pull every
body else down with themselves. They hate
a prosperous neighbor nightly. 1t CRATES on
their ears to hear him spoken we'll Of. They
are like deep flends who will SOW their weeds
in an industrious mans corn-ield when the
owner Is asleep. The only reward of this hell
ish malice is private satisfaction. The slanderer
must necessarily be liar. Truth he avoids.
Exaggeration would perhaps be n moro refined
cognoman. "Calumniate Calumniate ~ they
say, {" for some of it will stick 70 Accuse
them of being the originators of ISLANDERS
about yourself or friends and you will be as
tonished how you surprise them. why never
thought of such thing No, neverl' All,
they will lie first to injure, and lie again to
deceive. They know the value of an insnua-
tion. They know the power there is in a wink
or nod. The person slandered has no pro-
lection. How does he know that these tongues
are berating his name. The author of the lies
first insinuates then the next gossiper adds
word then the third exaggerates and so on
until, II he finds 1t out at all, it will be an en-
trely different story than when first started
The bad originator therefore has hole left
by which to escape when the injured one comes
for redress. The first one tells it in whisper,
but the last one tells it aloud. Now how is it
VIII Tue people VINO Hsten well, Tor my
part, always feel belittled and ashamed when
| have listened to slander. You can tell a
scandal monger wherever he or she may be
met God has made them with big ear marks.
Sharp as they may be there is dullness some
where. The detective will confuse the liar in
five minutes. So with q slanderer "Vincit
VerdtaS" Grand old Truth comes TO the res
cue like sunshine In dark dungeon. Lies
will not face truth If truth can be brought to
bear upon them. But this is hard to do in
many cases. Let us people of Bloomfield set
our faces against this thing. Our town did not
become so preeminent in gossip until within a
few years back. The scandal maker is gener-
ally without property, therefore the law can
not be resorted to for damages. They are gen.
orally religious externally. The man who told
most lies about friend of mine happened one
day TO sit down at the same table to dine with
us. AS we were about to partake, forgetting to
offer thanks, he refused to eat, saying that,
with him 1t was custom to offer thanks be-
fere eating" Great Heaven, thought I, there
truly is the devil in the livery of Heaven. His
prayers, found, were less powerful than his
scandals If Heaven admits q single SANDER
er, don't care about going there.
JULIUS SOUFDUCT,