Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-03-02
A Social Spy.
(Denyer News

All good men and women hold
the social spy as the meanest and
most degraded of human creatures.
Whether male or female the tattler
cannot be otherwise than an object
of aversion. Cold in heart, malig-.
naut in mind, their depraved and
vicious impulses are the counterpart
of the snake. Indeed, by common
consent, they have been named
snakes in the grass. Over all that
Is good and pure, they draw the
trail of their meanness; they deal
in q currency that is tainted with
shame; misfortune is their delight,
and what they fail to discover, their
minds, trained In tTeachery, is
quick to invent. These social vam-
pires belong to every com munity.
The moral deformity of their nat
ures makes them pursue their call
ing as the hound follows the slot 10
the quarry. They are to be seen in
every place, where men and women
congregate. In stores, in offices, In
quiet business circles, but most OF
all, In society. The social spy Is,
however, an improvement on Mrs.
9rundy. She tattled for the love of
gossip; but the spy dignifies the oc-
cupation with the cool malignity of
slander. Pale-faced, cold.blooded,
with tallowy complexion, expires.
sionless eyes, they pervade their lit
tie circlee, gathering their stock in
trade as o bee collects its honey,
and then amplifying it, as spider
spreads his net. An example Of
the work done by this class of peo-
pie is given almost every day, and
perhapsthe incident herein related is
in nowiss exceptional. In one of
the fashionable churches in this
city, one Of these sallow-faced
wretches has her lair. Her pale eyes
are as restless as a cats, and her
ears are as quick to hear as wea-
sells. Of course, to such a nature,
everything that is said and done is
colored to her imaginatian by
possible impropriety.
One day two young people sat in
the pew just in front OF her. They
might have been lovers. 1t matters
but very little; but the quick ears
Of the vampire heard the young
man say
"1'm afraid it will be found out"
mo 1t won't, il you will only be
CAREFUL" was the lady's reply.
To any ordinary person this would
have conveyed no other meaning
than that the young people were
arranging some little plot in which
nobody could feel an interest but
themselves. But the impression
made upon the listener was any
thing but that. She saw visions of
an elopement, and before her inn
agination rose the possibilities of
social scandal. That evening she
put on her bonnet and visited a
half-dozen of her most intimate ac-
quaintances and impaired, on the
strlctest secrecy, that the parties in
question were planning an elope-
ment; that the young lady's fami-
ly objected to the lover because he
was not as rich as some others.
OF course this report created a little
breeze; but, being widely removed
from the social sphere in which the
parties most deeply interested NOV
days later the tale, however, had
assumed an additional significance,
and the rumor began to be whisper
ed around that the young lady had
reasons to force herself upon the
man and demanded an immediate
marriage, as something essential to
the preservation of her own fame.
In proof of this, after the lapse of a
week, the vampire didn't hesitate
to say, that she had overheard the
lady demanding in church that the
gentleman should marry her imme-
dIately. OF course such statements
as these spread with rapidity. An
evil report is never long in gaining
currency, and before great while
it reached the ears of the party
whose reputation had been with
such malignant eagerness pulled to
pieces. Being sensitive girl the
effect of such u SANDER can be readi-
ly conceived. She imagined that
the tale was In everybody's mouth
that she was held up to all people
as q creature of shame and fit OBJ.
ject Of contumely. Being the
daughter of o widowed mother,
there was no remedy for the evil
done, but in attempting to trace the
rumor and endeavoring to refute it.
The mother set TO work in earnest,
and after an almost hopeless strug-
gle succeeded in unsheathing the
velvet paws which had scratched
SO numerically. When required
to give an explanation of why she
had spoken SO evilly, she repeated
the conversation she had heard in
church. She considered that a
sufficient basis for the report. But
she protested that she had never
said that it was certainly true-she
only expressed fear that it was.
When told that the whispered con-
versation only referred to the pur-
chase of Bible which it was pro-
posed to present to young lady
teacher in the Sun6ay-tchool, by a
class Of little girls. her surprise
knew no bounds. OF course she
What else could she
do? But in the mean time the SLAM
der had done its work, and a lovely
girl, driven almost to the verge of
was thrown upon q bed
Of sickness, from which she may
never recover. But even if she gets
we'll, the evil reports have flown
over the city, and hundreds Of peo-
pie have heard them, who will pos
libly never learn the baseless caus-
70 from which they sprung. The
meshes spread by woman devil
have ensnared their victim, and the
wound inflicted by an evil |
'ongue will live and rankle In the |
leart for years to come. Over a
right life has been spread an in