The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-12-23
Talmage ON Backbiters.

New York Star
To the largest congregation of the season
Rev DR.. Talmage preached yesterday Oh
the evil of tale-bearing. His text was the
single word ''Whisperers," taken from Ro-
mans i. o. The preacher said Paul
was calling tho long roll of the worlds
villainy, and he put in the midst of those
ersons known in all cities and in all com
munities and in all places as whisperers
They are so called because they generally
speak undervoiced and in a confidential
way. their hand to the side of their poutl
acting as funnel to keep the precise infor-
nation from wandering into the wrong ear.
They speak softly, not because they arc
oSerpowered with the spirit of gentlepess
but because they want to escape the conse
t{iences of defamation. For no one hears
but the person whispered into. and if the
offender be arraigned he can deny:the whole
thing. Whisperers are always frst-class
liars.
Some people whisper because they arc
hoarse from cold. or because they wish to
convey some useful information without
disturbing others; but the creatures photo
gTuphed by the apostle in my text give
mutf1ed utterance from sinister and de-
PRAYED motive, and sometimes YOU can
only hear the sibilant sound, as the let
ter s drops from the tongue into the list
ening ear the brief hiss of the serpent as il
projects its venom. Whisperers are mas.
cgline and feminine, with a tendency to
naiority on the side of those who art
called the Lords Of Creation@ They are
tic worst foes of society responsible for
mi5eries innumeiable; they are the scaven-
gers of the world, driving their cart
through every community, and to-day
hold up for your holy anathema and exc
cration these whisperers.
Paul was a bachelor, and some having
tail ed in their counnbial desires upon him
he was put under the raking fire of those
nj screants of the tongue, whom he places
among the scoundrelly and the murderous.
TIE law of libel takes a quick and strong
| gr.D on open SANDER. But these creatures
ar. SO small that they escape the fine-tootll
IsoA1 OF the law. The District ATTORNEY
cannot find them; the Sheriff cannot find
| them; the jury cannot find them You can
| not, by the force of moral sentiment, expect
| them to desist. You might as well read
! the Ten Comm andments to a flock of crows
! expecting them to retreat under the force
of moral sentiment. They look into the
| basement windows of their neiehbors and
| can tell just what they have to eat morning
! and night. They can rs far through !;
| keyhole as other people can see with a doc;
wide open. Some morning a wife descends
| into the street, her eyes wet with tears
and that is a stimulus to the tattler who
says: i guess that husband and wife dom
agree. He must have been abusing her
and ought to be brought up before tht
| church. I'll go right over to my neighbors
and let them know about this matter ,
And she rushes off to neighbor and tell.
/ how that brute of a husband has been abus
| ing his wife. One man or woman who set
on fire this hellish spirit can keep q whole
neighborhood aboil
''It is very important that The whisperel
| be single or have no children, for then she
{, can attend to all the secrets of a whole
/ neighborhOod. A woman with large
/ family makes poor whisperer. They
| have no taste for healthy news, but for tho
| scraps and peelings thrown out of the soul
lery into the backyard they have grea
| avidity. Satan does not need to keep
| sharp lookout for his evil dominion in tn,
neighborhood of the whisperer; he has le
out to her the whole contractl When TIVE
or three whisperers get together, they stil
| a caldron of trouble which makes me think
| of the three witches of Macbeth
Double, double, toll and trouble
/ Fire burn and caldron bubble.
/ Fillet of fenny snake
/ In the ealdron boil and bake:
| Eye of newt and toe of frog.
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blindworln's sting
Lizards leg and owlet's wing
| For charm of powerful trouble.
Il have more respect for the poor waif OF
4
| light, with no home and no God-for she
| deceives no one as to what she is-than
| have for these hags of respectable society
1 who cover up their tiger claws with fine
| shawl and bolt the hell of their heart witt
a diamond breastpini
/ 1.-The work of masculine whisperers i:
/ chiefly seen in business embarrassments
| You sell your horse and carriage, or borrow
| money from bank. 1t is whispered tina
/ won are roinr down and thOtph Won have
1 aseets four times more than enough tt
meet yourliabilites, crash goes everything
/ We wonder why many business men dt
not 90 TO church. 1t is because that
| when Saturday night comes, they are worT
! out with the annoyances of business life
| most of which spring from the work o
| whisperers. | have seen men in these tw'
| cities whispered into bankruptcy. Oh i
| people would only mind their own busIneS
| we wonld have the millennium next week
ask God to give me more intensity will
| which to hate these tale bearers.
Among the worst of the whisperers ar
those who bring to you all the bad thing
said of You They make vou the pincush
ion in which they thrust all the sharI
| things ever said of you. They aggravat
you to the point of profanity, and ther
| Peddlers of nightshade, peddlers of Canad
thistle, peddlers Of nux vomica Rsthe
than the defamation of good names,
! would he more honorable and useful If yol
Just took a box of matches in Your pocke
and razor i'll your hand and go through
the streets and see how many houses yol
can burn down and how many throats yol
can cut.
"A woman came in confessional to
a1-i-as aud told him that she had been Sian
s~hhors. The priest have he