The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-04-17
ISLANDER.

II Is IldlNtlOuS HOW ptOplt VIII lhAh-
ufacture i'll natured and baseless
stories about their neighbors and how
readily the best of people will swallow
and circulate them. The charge of
gossiping is chiefly brought against
women, and it is true that the fair sex
is prone to chatter over the piccadil.
loes of sinners, but the male old
woman is perhaps a more inveterate
gossip than any member of the fairer
sisterhood.
Much gossip is harmless, and though
it does no good, still it does very little
harm, except to the minds of those
who retail it, Whether Mrs. Smith is
eXtravagant and uses butter where
dripping would do, or Mrs. Jones is
she ought to use four in her cakes, is
no great matter. Of course in either
case it is Mrs. Smiths or Mrs. Jones'
own business and not that of anyone
else. Moreover no one is obliged to eat
Mrs. Jones cake. Such things as these
are the minor subjects of gossip, and,
while not elevating in tone, are prac-
tically innocent.
That the islands, being small, are
full of such stuff is perhaps not to be
wondered. Cut off from the rest of
the world for a fortnight or so at a
time, like all small communities, they
fall upon one another's foibles tooth
and nail and enjoy the process.
But there is a far more serious side
to gossip. This is slanderous gossip.
In no way are people of this class
more ready to err man when dealing
with the reputation of women. And
none are more bitter in commenting
upon and in industrIously circulating
such ISLANDERS than those who are
known as good women. Without in
veStigation, without thought as to the
probability of the charge, it is banded
from mouth to mouth, ever. growing
as it advances, till it assumes proper
tons that the originator never
dreamed of.
This kind of gossip is outrageous
and the law should be so framed that
the person injured could have redress
both criminally and in the civil courts
as strictly as the law allows like re-
dress for printed libel. The effect of
such a law would be to close the
mouths of many scandal mongers, and
to make people who repeat scandalous
stories very circumspect as to what
they retailed.
Quite recently two cases of this kind
have been investigated by those who
We're the Victims of such gossip. In
the one case Chat of young LADY, she
was on the point of losing her posi-
ton, the stories having been most per-
sistently circulated against her by a
fellow worker. Careful investigation
proved the accusations to be absolute
ly false in every particular and the
young lady's place was saved. She was
entirely eXonerated and the fact that
She was eXonerated was duly recorded.
Here was a case where such vicious
gossip nearly prevented an honest,
hard working young woman from OBJ
tanning her livelihood. and it was a
case in which a number of people were
seriously prejudiced against the unfor-
tunate victim.
In the other case a most scandalOus
charge was circulated against young
man. His friends took it up and en-
deavored to trace it to its source. But
to each person spoken to, it was al
ways, so and so told me. In this case
there was no question of losing posi-
ton, the charge was at once disbe-
lieved. But it is outrageous that such
things can be circulated and no pun
ishment can be inflicted upon those
who sometimes heedlessly, more fire.
quently maliciously, retail the filth
and noisomeness born of prurient
minds.
The average man or woman depends
upon the good name and the good
character he or she bears. The bread
they earn by their skill or their labor
can only be earned as long as that
good name is retained. To take away
that good name or to strive to under
. mine it, when there is no ground work
for the story which is put in circula-
ton is one of the most dastardly
things that can be done, and the per-
son who passes on such a tale is al
most as criminal as the one who in
vented it. A strict law of SANDER would
make life considerably more worth liv-
ing. In former days the laws of the
duel kept SANDER in its proper place,