Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1891-08-26
Summer Gossip.
Written for the JounSsI-MrsKa.

Nntttu TUT tue soNh
 A recent apologist for the foibles of human nature excuses the grow ing interest in gossip, upon the ground that motion IS life. His theory. however. was long ago antiei- pated, by Jean Paul Richter. who wbimsically comments upon the purification of atmosphere which results in the winter season from the constant motion of feminine tongues.
 But Richter, delightfully."- airy and ineonseouential as he can be, care fully confines the operation of his theory to the heated atmosphere oi winter drawing rooms. The breezy open spaces through which most oi us reyolve in summer time would seem to forbid our clinging to this delicate excuse for gossiping. Never theless. it is in summer that gossip is everywhere most prevalent. II E inc yeritable worm m the bud ct vacation time. Naturally the idea that recreation justifies a certain amount of "laisser aller" in thought and action. predisposes to the tell ing of idle tales and the easy dis cussion of the faults of those about us. Even the best of Us when sor- ruwesily seeking amusement fsli into such vain tricks of mentality. h. stances of the evil effect of gossip in marring some ones vacation, or possibly some ones future life, may te recalled by any one who has tray eled. The careless word may be : Exaggerating the thoughtless act oi some young girl whose head does not always remain steady under the ad - mirat;on her beauty excites; recall ing to strangers some long forgotten folly of a mans life, folly atoned for by years of honorable probation; repeating the little tattle of the maids arraignment of her mistress, Whatever 1t may be, m nearly every case the idly planted seed like the Canada thistle. multiplies a thous- and fold in places where il does the most harm. Always our word gos- sip (using gossip in the Websterian sense of mere tattle, idle talk ! springs from failure to set the tenor of persons life against trivial ac- ton.
 Cheap culture, it may be said, characterizes all small towns, any summer home or boarding house, or hotel where gossip is prevalent. Men and women who have any mental distractions, do not, as a rule, in dulge in malice and uneharltable- ness. They are too busy to hate or envy or condemn without mercy. Their world is too vast, too full of healthy life to be narrowed to an sold wife's idle tale" "a teacup med lev of gossip" To them recreation means gaining new strength for working days and broader outlooks over nature and the universe. When they consider details, they consider | them as vast and beautiful whole. < curious scientific discovery IS | that men of the same race do not detect their own race order, while they find quite intolerable the dis | tinctive odor of other races. An African. for instance, may find an
 Englishman as unpleasant in odor
 as the Englishman finds the African,
 As the same general laws, though
 less fully applied as yet, prevail in
 the world of spirit, as in the world
 of matter, We may fairly assert
 that gossip does not flourish in an
 uncongenial atmosphere. If there
 is much of 1t in our presence, we
 can not rank ourselves above those
 who gossip.
 The obligation to keep ourselves in a state of spiritual sweetness Is one that we cannot rightly slip away
 from even in summer days of recrea-
 ton. In fact, since We have more
 time then for spiritual adjustment,
 we are doubly bound to keep our
 selves in that condition which shall
 prove as congenial to the good ill
 the human beings with whom we
 are thrown, as it is uncongenial to
 the development of evil. Many a
 half-starved soul finds renewed i'm.
 pulse to good in the presence of a
 sunny, warm-hearted charitable nat
 urea nature which, instead of mak-
 ing the most of evil. sorrows over it
 and forgives it, and uplifts the sin
 ner while condemning the sin. We
 can not all be strong in intellect
 but we can all be strong in hear,
 goodness, and if we try to be strong
 in love, charitable to one another
 We shall set ourselves resoluting to work to cheek the tide of gossiu