The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-10-16
the Ninth Commandment.

It is curious that men should make
so much distinction among the Ten
Commandments, attaching so much
importance to some of them and so
little to others without their being
anything in the Bible t5 variant their
doing so or to indicate that in the
sight Of God they are hot equally
binding, On the. CONTRARY, the Mas
ter; ciassing the first fodr together as
ouf duty to DIR neighbor, declares
that upon these chang all the law"
and again We are told "whoso shall
offend in one point is guilty of all
And yet, notwithstanding the clear
ness of the Scriptures upon this sub
ject, men persist in afixing different
values to them. He who would be
horri6ed at the idea of worshipping a
heather idol takes the name Of God
in vain without the least compunction
or deseorates the Sabbath with an
easy conscience. A thief is despised
by every honest man, and murderer
is condemned by the whole commu-
nifty, but those who bear false witness
against their neighbor are to be found
in every household, and they are mis-
takenly think that because they are
not called upon to affirm with an oath
every bit of false testimony they give
utterauce to they are doing no wrong.
1t is a pity that men and women
who ora Iuronofn]lv accDsed do not
more frequently have the courage to
trace oalumnious reports back
to the originator Of them. In the
days when "the code Of honor was
in force people were rather more
cautious about repeating every SIAN
derous statement they heard, for fear
Of being called upon to prove or re-
tract it at the point Of the sword. In
our times they have'comparative secur-
ity since lawsuit is cumbrous mode
of seeking reparation, and a man is
not always physically capable of
Furnishing his defamer as he de-
serves.
Unfortunately, a love Of slander
and gossip is not entirely confined to
the sex that can thus be called to ac-
count for the too free use of the
tongue. While we do not believe
women are any more prone to gossip
than men, yet they can rightly claim
a perfect equality in this respect: and
it is to be hoped that, when they have
secured the right to vote, and all those
other privileges that will put them on
a level with their brothers, they mean
to assume a like responsibility for
their words, and be ready to "give
satisfaction when called to account
for them.
Their present immunity in this re.
spect makes them rather reckless, and
very few Of them take the trouble to
inquire into the absolute truth OF a
report about neighbor before setting
to work industriously to circulate it.
Even one who is irreproachable IN
other respects cannot resist the pleas
ure of being the first to repeat piece
of news to circle Of her friends, and
will take keen delight in seeing their
interest and surprise. If it be some
thing very bad she will probably have
the grace to preface her remarks by an
expression of regret for the occurrence,
more or less sincere, but she would
show her sincerity more efectually by
keeping silence upon the subject.
There are, Of course, some kinds OF
gossip that are almost harmless and
that may be INDUCED in by Christians
of both sexes with little qualms Of
conscience. The latest engagement
may be ranked among these, for even
though the young-or old-couple that
have just become engaged may have
reasons for desiring to keep the fact
quiet for time, no one is bound to
respect their wishes, since they have
shown so little regard for the feelings
of others as to select one another from
whole world full of men and women,
and then, too, it can do them no great
harm to have their affairs made public.
Even when this kind of harmless gos-
sip becomes false testimony through
there really being no engagement at
all it is not to be very severely con-
demned.
tits when the false witness y affects
the character and fair name Of another
chat it cannot be too harshly condemn
ed. These are things that no amount
of retraction or apology can repair.
For ten nersons that have heard the
story not five will hear the contradic-
tion; from the simple fact that the
most inveterate gossip cannot find
much pleasure in denying story he
has BEEN instrumental in spreading !;
and it is always humiliating to confess
one has been mistaken. Then, too,
most of those who hear the refutation
of scandal will probably persist in
believing there must have been some
truth in it, on the old principle,
''there could not have been 80 much
smoke without some fire." And even
when convinced beyond gainsay they
will generally continue to have dis
agreeable impression Of the person
slandered and feel they were some way
to blame for the circulation OF such
reports about them.
If scandal was only INDUCED in by
persons known to be evil-minded and
censorious, one might be on ones
guard against it, and always take what
they said with some doubts Of its
truth; but, as We said before, it is
also a weakness Of otherwise good peo-
ple, who are filled with remorse when
they find they have done irreparable
injury by their talk, and who are
ready to declare they did not intend
to harm others, or that they thought
the story was true. But, allowingit to
be true, is it kind and Christ. like to
help to make public another's dis
grace ?
There is a simple test, one very
easy of application, we can use when
we hear anything to the disadvantage
of an acquaintance. It is usually
known as the "Golden Rule. If the
report be one We would not like to
have circulated about ourselves, then
"Do as we would others should do to
u.s. and refrain from repeating it.
This requires great self-denial, but
one should feel repaid by the knowl,
edge that he has done what he could
to shield the name and fame OF an
errinp fellow-creature; and who can