Arizona silver belt., 1893-01-28
Gossip and scandal.

Everyone with the least experience in the world knows the baReful infiu- ence of islander, and there are very few people 80 wicked that they would de- hberately set out to ruin the reputation acquaintance or friend. Yet good
 red, careless people very often pro-
 just the same effect as though
 d been playing the part of Sir
 n Backbite, with malice aiore-
 Sheridan in "The School for
 satirizes the scandal-mongers
 felicity. Some of his char
 yenomous, some of them
 gossips, but they play into
 hands, and one is quite as
 Aaother in everything except
 To the thinking person who
 dds the play there is great moral
 on conveyed by the comedy The ,roup of seandal-mongCrs is detestable, yet they are only exaggerated types ui men and womea who condemn them and laugh heartily at the wit of the satirist who puts them on the stage. The lesson they teach IS that it is a duty to guard ones tongue, and espe- cially to avoid gossip. The man with quick wit is under special temptation to score with an epigram some acquaint ance or friend. He makes smart re mark, which in itself might do no harm, but it is immediately taken up by gossip aud repeated with variations, ma til all the wit is lost and only the venom remains. His careless words, born very often of vanity and having no i'll purpose behiAd them, are turned to evil and rabkls in the heart of the vic tim until, perhaps, they hring about his ruin. It is not sufficient excuse that there was no intent to do any injury That may lessen the degree of the of fsnse, but does not wipe it ont entirely. In the physical world we are told that there is never any loss of energy; it may be transformed or disappear from isw, but it is never lost, Analogy, ! indeed experience, should teach us
 there is never any loss of thought
 aorld-that our words, though
 and seemingly soon forgotten, never perish It is at least true that slanderous sayings are eagerly repeated from mouth to mouth, and very often survive the recollection of their author. The thought should give us pause and make us wary of speech It would be
 world, no doubt, if everybody,
 ressed with this idea, should
 a measure speechless for fear
 offense. But there is no need
 ry the reform to such aa extreme order to gain the benefits of more considerate conversation. The fact of the matter is that much of the ordinary conversation of society is carried on without thought {; it is gossip, pure and simple, and it is in the effort to add a little spice to it that the mischief is done It is relatively easy matter, however, for cultivated people to talk freely, wittiIy and wisely about other [ subjects than the faults and foibles of their personal friends Literature, sci ence, the events of the day, furnish | them with an abundance of subjects about which they can talk freely with out risk of doing harm. They have only to guard against giving tho con ysrsation personal turn, to escape al together the evils of gossip, slanderous or otherwise. Sometimes the acts of men have to be discussed sometimes it is necessary to try to penetrate their motives, but asy such essays should be mads with serious thought, not flip panty. CUnsiderate people will always ayoid gossip if they can, and certainly never engage in it, If they cannot es- cape from hearing it, they can at least guard against repeating it, and ' sist temptation to become an a.
 after the fact. Baltimore Su
 For pains in the chez
 ing better than ne
 with Charnl