The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-07-19
his TINT where he r7ts the word "witch,.

WQHt u cdlutOu! Dlu you oNol Sot taSto
Of it2 have more respect for the poor
vail OF the street that goes down under
| the gaslight, with no home and no God
| for she deceives no one as to what she is
| than I have for these hags OF respectable
society who cover up their tiger claws with
fine shawl and bolt the hell Of their
heart with O diamond breastpin!
The work OF masculine whisperers Is
chiefly seen in the embarrassment Of busi-
ness. Now, suppose. there are hundreds
| OF men here who at some time have been
in business trouble. I will undertake to
say that in nine cases out OF ten 1t was the
re- suit OF some whisperers work. The
whisperer uttered some suspicion in regard
to your credit. You sold your horse and
carriage because you had no use for them,
and the whisperer said: "Sold his horse
and carriage because he had to sell them.
The fact that he sold his horse and carriage
shows he Is going down in business"
One OF your friends gets embarrassed
and you are little involved with him. The
whisperer says: II wonder II he can stand
under all this pressurep think he Is going
down. think he will have to give up."
You borrow money out bank and direc-
tor whispers outside about It, and after
awhile the suspicion gets fairly started and
1t leaps from one whisperer's lips to an
other whisperer's lips until all the people
| \
right away and the business circles come
around you like pack Of wolves, and,
though you had assets four times more
than were necessary to meet your liabili-
ties, crush went everything! Whisperersl
Oh, how much business men have suffered!
think among the worst Of the wbis-
perers are those who gather up all the
harsh things that have been said about
you and bring them to you-all the things
| ooI fnok IN Il,
or against your style Of business. They
gather them all up and they bring them to
you, they bring them to you in the very
worst shape, they bring them to you with
out any OF the extenuating circumstances,
and after they have made your feelings all
rev, very raw, they take this brine,
| this turpentine, this aqua fortis, and
| rub It In with q coarse towel and rub 1t In
until IL sinks to the bone. They make you
the pincushion In which they thrust all the
sharp things they have ever heard about
you. "Now, don't bring me into a scrnpe.
Now, don't tell anybody I told yon. Let 1t
be between you and me. Don't involve mo
in 1t at ALL" They aggravate you to the
point Of profanity, and then they wonder
you cannot sing psalm tunes! They turn
you on a spit before hot FIRE and wonder
why you are not absorbed In gratitude to
them because they turn you on a spit. Pod
dlers OF night shade. Peddlers OF Canada
thistle. Peddlers Of nu1 vomica. Sometimes
they get you in corner where you cnnnot
very we'll escape without being rude, and
then they tell you all about this one. and
all about that one, and all about the other
one, and they talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.
After awhile they go away leaving the
place looking like barnyard, after the
foxes and the weasels have been around;
here winy, and there claw and yonder
an eye, and there crop. How they do
make tho feathers flyl
Jesus Christ had thece whisperers after
Him, and they charged Him with drinking
too much and keeping bad company. "a
wine bibber and the friend OF publicans and
Sinners" You take the best map that ever
lived and put detective oa his track for
| ten years, watching where he goes and
| when he comes, and with determination
to misconstrue everything, and to think
| he goes here for bad purpose and there
| for bad purpose, with that determina-
years he will be held despicable in the
sight Of a great many people.
II it Is an outrageous thing to despoil
mans character, how much worse Is it to
| damage woman's reputation? Yet that
evil grows from century to century, and 1t
Is all done by whisperers. A suspicion Is
started. The next wbisperer who gets
hold OF 1t states the suspicion as proved
fact, and many O good woman, as honor
able rs your wife or your other, has been
whispered out OF all kindly associations
| people say there Is no hell, but II
thsrs be no hell for such despoiler
OF womanly character it is high time
that some philanthroplst built one.
| But there Is such place established, and
what time they will have when all the
whisperers get down there together re-
hearsing things! Everlasting carnival OF
mud. We're It not for the uncomfortable
surroundings, you might suppose they
| where they are all bad what opportunities
for exploitation by these whisperersl On
earth to despoil their nelghbors some
times thcy had to lie about them, but
down there they can say the worst things
possible about their neighbors and tell the
truth. Jubilee Of whisperers. Grand gala
| day OF backbiters. Semiheaven Of scandal
mongers stopping their gable about their
diabolical neighbors only long enough to
60 up to the iron gate and ask some new
conner from the earth, "What Is the last
gossip In the city on earth where we used
to liver
Now, how are we to war against this in.
iquity which curses every community on
earth? First by refusing to listen to or
believe whisper. Every court Of tine land
has for q law, and u!l decent communities
have for law, that you must hold people
innocent until they are proved guilty.
There is only one person worse than the
whisperer, and that is the man or woman
who listens without protest. The trouble
Is you hold the sack while they fill 1t. The
receiver OF stolen goods Is just as bad rs
the thief. An ancient writer declares that
O slanderer and q man who receives the
slander ought both to be hanged-the one
by the tongue and the other by the ear.
And agree with him.
Oh, my friends, employ the tongue
which God so wonderfully created as the
organ Of taste, the organ Of deglutition,
the organ OF articulation to make others
happy und In the service OF Godl II you
whisper, whisper good-encouragement to
the fallen and hope to the lost. Alb, my
will all whisper! - The voice will be en-.
feebled in the last sickness, and, though
that voice could laugh and shout and
sing and halloo until the forest echoes an.
syered, 1t will be so feeble then we can
only whisper consolation to those whom
we leave behind a1d only whisper our hope
OF heaven.
While speak this very moment there
are hundreds whispering their last utter
ances. Oh, when that solemn hour comes
to you and to me, as come soon It will,
may 1t be found that we did our best TO
serve Christ and to cheer our comrades In
the earthly struggle and that we conse-
Grated not only our hand but our tongue,
to God! So that the shadows that fall
around our dying pillow shall not be the
evening twilight OF a gathering night. but
the morning twilight OF m everlasting day.
This morning, at half past four O'Clock,
I looked out Of my window, and the stars
were very dim. looked out few mo.
ments after, n Id the stars were almost In
| hntn ar q