Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1886-03-06
"rhcy SaY" ana Tie Siandcrcr.
"TllN lgnnblc mind
Loves over 10 assall With secret blow
M, c.r... ..,,r,,. i,rtn.,a- OF il,ni,. |. M

word. 1t is composed ol out one
phrase and is called They say
DO yon know such an one?' is
often asked, and Tie person point
ed out.
Ne: but they say he has had
strange adventures and his family
is very unhappy
Are You sure"
no. do not know anything
about it, but they say
This Young woman, so brilliant,
so much admired. DO sou know
here
NO. They say She is an accom-
plishedcoQuetteand to be summed.
But she appears so shy and re
served
Certainly: but they say
'Donot trust that gentleman
BE on yonr guard.
Bah. His fortune is immense.
See what an immense establish
mcnt he haS!'
Yes, hut they say lie is very
much involved
DO you know the fact"
80; but they say
This 'thev say is heard in every
relation of life. tits deadly NOR
| tai and not to be @i'asped. 1t goes
hither and thitlcr, strikes and kills
manly honor. female virtue, will
out either sex being ever conscious
of thcinjury done.
Of all the ills and maladieS and
distempers which flesh is heir 10
few. indeed. are so dangerous and
deadly, and none so inSiduouS, rs
Islander. The dark insinuation,
the equivocal expression, the half
suppressed sentence. the low Wills
per-these, with their appropriate
Accomplishments of looks. winlls
and nodS-are the cXecrable weap-
onS with which the quiet. smooth
tongued Slandcrer does his work Of
deSolatlonand death. Anunguard
ed expression often serves us Il
foundation for the most POISONOUS
SANDER.
Dill he attack you openly You
could guard against the assaults.
and. if you shonid fall, fail fighting
maniul!yin defence Of Scur honor
and reputation. Bat ne! The
blightlug innucndo is passed from
ore TO another until the whole
town is in possession Of it. with all
its snow-ball-lile accumulation.
and all the way along the blasting
secret has travelled under the pro-
lection of confidential secrecy. so
that the injured and perhaps, ruin
ed subject OF the slanderer is the
last to have the Goletul tilings
sounded in his ears, and. by this
time the fatal stigma has fastened
upon him with such weight Of sus-
picon that it may be impossible in
Il whole life time to cast CIT effect
nally tie foul assertion.
" hen we say that our own eX-
detrimental knowledge oi'the weak
, ness of orr nature and its liability
to error when best guarded should
teach us to deal charitably will!
our less fortunate fellows, the senii-
ment will find ready response in
every rational mind. But how sad
ly. deplorably deficient i'll all the
nobler impulses of our nature must
: they be who, prompted by malice
or gored by envy, stab at TIE fair
name OF the innocent and delight
: in porting over the mangled repu-
tations of those whose only crime
} is that they have been marked as
victims by the scandals ofthc com
: munity. How lamerlably at VAIL
ance with al hatshculd character
lie weak, sinful, fallen man. How
boldly, unbiusllingly confronting
all the heavenly precepts given Us
to redeem our fatal apostasy.-
How insoently deiying allmotives
of right; how grossly perverting a
nature stepped in sin and pcrver-
scness since it had heingl But,
strange as it may seem, there's
not community can boas5 of cX-
emption from the slanderer.
II there is one crime in the cata-
logue of human crimes that is
wholly without excuse it IS SANDER.
Tie inipeluositS of youth and the
ravages of Years alike refuse to
plead in eXtenuation oftllis blister
ING stain upon the human cllarac-
ter. Even the deliberate murderer
has a plausible motive; the thief is
lured by the hope ollil-gotten gain,
and almost every species OF human
depravity as manifested in unkind
actions to our fellows, offer its re-
ward, but the slaiterer, unbiddell
by necessity and unrequited, save
by the keen rcmorse Of u guilty
conscience, rusI!es hliudIy, madly
along i'll the work Of human dcgra-
dation. There is 10 cilalactcrpure
enough, there is none degraded
enough, to escape the witliered
blast Of Islander. There are no vir
tues can elevate theinnocentabove
It's pcstilential breath; there are no
vices vet learned that can sink
their votaries beneath its groveling
wandcringS; but all,-all from the
extremes Of virtue to the extremes
Of vice, are embraced iii its theatre
Of operations.
Evil for evil is a ready dictate