The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1880-02-12
GQssles.

The dictionary definition Of the term
gossip" is "a prater, . chatterer!"
and, In common talk, the gensss gossip
Is treated in similar dispsraging style.
Yet, ~ the ancient Egyptians made
use Of the services of the embalfhers Of
the dead, although they drove them
from the house when their disagreea-
bic task was completed, 60 many per-
sons who denOunce ''gossip',tn theory,
enjoy it extremely in practice. Cos
sips are often useful people. Take
away all the gossiping historians, and
what dreary task it would be to
study history. It il hardly an exaggeF-
alton to say that 1t Is to the gos,siping
chroniclers that we owe our .ciearest
ideas Of the life Of bygone ages: The
stately author discourses learnedly on
the public events Of the era about
which he writes, tells us Of wars and
treaties, of changes Of dynasties, and
the fall of empires, but il Is In the ia
ges of the chattering chronicler Of tri-
ding events that the dead past truly
lives again. In the little everyday AZ
fairs OF life, beneath the notice of pro-
fessed historians, We see the Elen and
women of past ages, not as shadOwa,
but rs living realities. Does not Pepys
bring the seventeenth century before
US far more wildly than Clarendon
Would any mere statement of the ray
ages of the Great Plague Of l6Sf5
equal the gOssiping diarist's chronicle;
his countless trivial anecdotes Of the
events Of that fatal year; the grass
springing In the deserted streets, the
illusions 10 the new periwig exceed
ing fine," which he burst not wear,
lest il should be formed with infected
hair; the terrible story of the ''disInai
cry which made NY blood run cold"
from one OF the shut-up hOuses-dO not
tritiing incidents like these bring the
past before US in manner no mere
list Of names and dates could do? Old
chroniclers are nearly always gossips;
the mOnkish historians notably 50 and
even Fpoissart, De JOinville, and 9TH
ers of later time, record vast amount
Of what would be called Irrelevant
matter" In u court OF justice. Inc
chief gOssips, however, are generally
to be found among the writers of pri-
vate memoirs. What stories of court
scandals and petty incidents I'LL up
Madam de Sevigne's amusing letters.
st. Simon Is hardly behind her in his
love for recording similar trifies. hut
the king of all gossip. lived in the last
century. Horace Walpole, not salts
fled with gathering up all the court
and social chitchat of the day, for thC
edificatiOn of his friends at q distance
ESPECIALLY for that or DR.. MANN, de-
voted the last years Of his life to the
composition of his "Reminiscences"
an avowed collection o! gossip picked
up in his earlier years. 1t is alnusing
to read his description Ofthe 'extreme-
ly pleasant evenings" he passed with
Lady Suffolk, while the pair of veter-
al gOssips carefully recalled and piec-
ed together some nearly-forgOttOn tale
Of scandal or intrigue. Yet, what an
interesting picture of the court life Of
the eighteenth century has been thus
preserved to US. Many al incident,
trivial, and even uninteresting at the
time il il recorded, acquires import
ance when 1t stands as q specimen o:
the manners and customs Of q bygOne
age. The attention to petty details.
which characterizea the gossip, rem
ders him valuable when years have
passed over bis work. Amid much
trumpery, his pages generally contain
some lifelike pictures Of the past that
We could i'll spare. We are sometimes
apt to look upon our ancestors of long
ago as being of an entirely different
race from ourselves; but the petty de-
tails q gossiping historian will preserve
for us, show that life, even centuries
ago, was no grand romance, or stage
pageant, in which all the actors talked
and moved in liking Cambysses'
vein." Life had its pr0saic and prac-
teal side, even In the romantic middle
ages, and human nature Is much the
same in camp and in clOister, clad in
the armOr of a medieval baron, or in
the dsess of the nineteenth century.
Having acknowledged our obliga-
tons to the gossip collectors of the
past, there is something to be said in
favor Of those of the present. In Brit.
tainny AT the present day the travelling
tailor acts rs a sort Of local newspaper,
and enlivens his sojOurn ut each farm
house, where he stays to exercise his
craft, by the accounts Of all the affairs
of the neighborhood. Some while ago,
in England, the barber acted in sim
liar capacity, and was expected to en-
terrain his patrons with the last Cos
ip OF the town or village, when he
paid his daily professional visit The
licensed beggar, the Scotch "blue
gown" was also Il great ret;iler of To-
cal news. and the Pedlar carried bis
gossip, as regularly as his OIL er wares,
from hamlet to hamlet. jewellers in
remote country districts would have
found life Inbearably dull save fer
these friendly chatter-boXe.. who did
for the poorer classes what lie Lon
don correspondent did for the squire
and his family, and brought them IT,
ding. vi the outer world. In these
days of cheap and inultilu!ins us news
papers, We can afford To- DIES, Use sue
G!,i-wuri,i channels for gosh. especial
~ as those who love Ia read isagreea.
bile -tcrirs az wrll-knowp H.. mbers of
socially. can generally gratify their Gu
ric>iI, in a way that WIS i'm, Ossible q
ccrt.ry ago, when ncHsl,aDs s, II they
alluded la such matters at !. ], 40 dis
cre-!ly veiied names III er blank
lines and Initials, that III; y rather
tantAliyed than satisfied il quisitive
readers.
There are, OF course. gos>i. Of q ma
lignant type. who deserve all the rep
rotation that can he lavished Oh then.
persons WHO remind one OF ia,
child's definition Of Islander. Nobody
did nothing, AM somebody went ana
told Of it," Happily. these are no.
universal, and a gossip need not al
ways he Observation-Disclosures.