The Washington weekly post., 1899-07-04

Taking for his subject. Whispers: Or.
of envy, murder, deceit, malignity; whisp-
ers.' Dr. TalHage said yesterday:
Paul was here calling the long roll OF
the worlds viliainy. ard he puts in the
midst Of this roll these persons known in
all cities and communities and places as
whisperers, They are so called because
they generally speak under voice and in
a confidential way, their hand TO the side
Of their mouth acting as a funnel TO keep
the precious information from wander
ing into the wrong ear. They speak soft
ly. not because they have lack of lung
force or because they are Overpowered
with the spirit of gentleness, but because
they want to escape the consequences of
defamation. IL no one hears but the per-
son whispered unto. and the offender be
arraigned, he can deny the whole thing,
for whisperers are always first-class liars
Some people whisper because they are
hoarse from cold, or because they wish
to convey some useful information with
out disturbing others; but TIE creatures
photographed by the apostle in my text
give muffled utterance from sinister and
depraved motive, and sometimes you
can only hear the sibilant sound as the
letter S drops from the tongue into the
listening ear, the brief hiss of the serpent
as it projects its verom.
''Whisperers are masculine and femi-
nine, with a tendency TO majority on the
side of those who are called the lords of
crea ton Whisperers are heard at every
window of bank cashier. and are heard in
all counting rooms, as well as In sewing
societies and at meetings of asylum d-
TeCtoTs and managers. They are the worst
foes of society: responsible for miseries
innumerable; they are the scavengers of
the world. driving their cart through
every community, and to-day | hold up
for your holy anathema and execration
these whisperers.
Paul Must Have Suffered.
From the frequency with which Paul
speaks of them under different titles.
conclude that he must have suffered
somewhat from them. His personal pres
ence was very defective, and that made
him, perhaps, the target of their ridicule.
And besides that, he was a bachelor, per-
sisting in his celibacy down into the six
ties, indeed, ali the way through, and
some having failed in their connubial de-
signs upon him, the little missionary was
put under the raking fire of these whis-
perers. He was no doubt d rare morsel
for their standardization; and he cannot
keep his patience any longer and he lays
hold of these misereants of the tongue
and gives them a very hard setting down
in my text among the scoundrelly and the
murderous. Envy, murder, deceit, malign-
ity; whisperers.
THE law OF libel makes quick and stout
grip of open slander. If | should in a
plain way, calling you by name, charge
you with fraud, or theft or murder, or
uEcleanness, tomorrow morning / might
have peremptory documents served on
me- and l would have to pay in dollars
and cents for the damage ] had done
YOUR character. But these crea lures spok-
en- of in my text are so small that they
escape the fine-tooth comb of the law.
They go on, and they so on, escaping the
judges and the juries and the penitentia-
ries. The District Attorney cannot find
them, the Sheriff cannot find them, the
Grand Jury cannot find them. Shut them
off from one route of perfidy and they
start on another. You cannot by the
force of moral sentiment persuade them
TO desist You might as well read the Ten
Commandments TO a flock of crows, eX-
pecting them TO retreat under the force OF
moral sentiment. They are to be found
everywhere these whisperers. | think
their paradise Is a country village oi
about one or two thousand people, where
everybody knows everybody. But they
also are TO be found in large quantities In
all our cities.
Know Everybody's Business.
They have a prying disposition. They
look into the dining-TOOm windows at tht
tables of their neighbOrs, and can ;el
Just what they have morning and night tC
eat They can see as far through key
hole as other people can see with door
wide open. They can hear conversation
on the opposite side of the room. Indeed
the world to them is A whispering gallery
They always put the worst construction
on everything.
Some morning a wife descends into In,
street, her eyes damp with tears, and tha
is a stimulus to the tattler and is enough
10 set up a business for three or fOul
weeks. L guess that husband and wif'
don't live happily together. l wonder 7
he hasn't been abusing her? It's out
rageous He ought to be disciplined. FL,
ought TO be brought up before the church
I'll go right over TO my neighbOr's and II
let them know about this matter Sht
rushes in all out of breath 10 neghbor':
house and says: OH Mrs. Allear, hay'
you heard the dreadful news2 Why, Oul
neiehDor, poor thing, came down off III,
steps I'm flood of tears. That brute OF Z
husband has been abusing her. Well
it's Just as | expected. | saw him tn
other afternoon very smiling and yerl
gracious 10 some one who smiled back
and | thought then ! would iust 90 up 4
him and tell him he had better go homi
and look after his wife and family. WI,
probably at that very time were upstaIr.
CRYING their eyes out. OH Mrs. Allea
do have your husband go over ami pu
an end TO this trouble. Its simply out
/ ageous that our neighbOrhOOd should b
| disturbed in this way. It's awful
"I'he fact is that one man or woman Sc
| on fire OF this hellish spirit will keep
| whole neighb0rhood aboil. IL does not re
| duire any very great brain The chic
/ requisition Is that the woman have I
| small family or no family at all. because
| II she have large family, then she woult
| have 10 stay al home and look after them
| II is very important that she be single, o
/ have no children at all, and then sh
can attend 10 al the secrets of the neigh
/ b0rhood all the time. A woman with
/ large family makes very poor whispereT
Don't Want Healthy News.
1T Is astonishing how these whlsperer
gather up everything. They know every
| thing that happens. They know thing
/ that never happen. There are telephon
/ and telegraph wires reaching from thel
/ ears 10 all the houses In the neighborhood
( They have no taste for healthy news, bu
/ for the scraps and peelings thrown ou
/ Of the scuilery into the back yard the
/ have great avidity. On the day Whs
/ there Il z neW scandal in the newspaper
they have no time TO go abroad On IN
day when there are four or five col
urnns OF delightful private letters publish
/ ed In a divorce case, she stays AT hom
| and reads and reads and reads. No tim
/ for her Bible that day. bat toward night
| perhaps she may ind time 10 run out
little while and see whether there are an
new developments.
Satan does not have 10 keep a yer
| sharp iooSou, for his evil dominion i
that nelghboFhood- He has let out TO he
| the whole contract. she gets husband
and wives into a quarrel. and brothers an
I sisters into antsROnlEm and she dfsRust