The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-07-07
TO GOSSIP is A SIN.
DR.. Talmage Denounces the Practice
of Whispering of Evil.
Classes 1t Among the Worlds Great
est ViIlainies-More Harmful Than
Open SIander-A Destroyer
of Good Names.
Copyright, 1899, by Louis Klopsch.)
Washington,

ously arraigns one of the great evils
| that have cursed the world and urges
generous Interpretation of the charac-
tiers of others; text, Romans 1929,
Full of envy, murder, debate, deceit,
| malignity-whisperer
Paul was here calling the long roll of
the worlds villainy, and he puts in the
midst of this roll those persons known
in all cities and communities and places
as whisperers. They are so called be
cause they generally speak undervoice
and in a confidential way, their hand to
the side of their mouth acting as fun
mel to keep the precious information
from wandering into the wrong ear.
They speak softly not because they
have lack of lung force or because they
are overpowered with the spirit of gen
tleness, but because they want to es-
cape the consequences of defamation.
If no one hears but the person whis-
pered unto, and the offender be ar
raigned, 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
without disturbing others, but the crea-
lures photographed by the apostle in
my text give muhlHd utterance from
sinister and derravedl motive, and some
times you can only hear the sibilant
sound as the letter IS" drops from the
tongue into the listening ear, the brief
hiss of the serpent as it projects its
venom.
Whisperers- are masculine and femi-
nine, with a tendency to majority. on
the side of those who are called 'the
lords of creation" Whisperers are
heard at every window of bank cashier
and are heard in all countingrooms as
well as in sewing societies and at meet
ings of asylum directors and managers.
They are the worst foes of society, re-
sponsible for miseries innumerable;
they are the scavengers of the world,
driving their cart through every COM
munity, and to-day | hold up for your
holy anathema and eXecratiOn these
whisperers.
From the frequency with which Paul
speaks of them under different titles |
conclude that he must have suffered
somewhat from them. His personal
presence was very defective, and that
made him perhaps the target of their
ridicule, and besides that he was a
bachelor, persisting in his celibacy
down into the siXties-indeed, all the
way through-and, some having failed
in their connubial designs upon him,
the little missionary was put under the
ralzing fire of these whisperers. He
was no doubt a rare morsel for their
standardization, and he cannot keep his
patience any longer, and he lays hold
of these miscreants of the tongue and
gives them very hard setting down in
my text among the scoundrelly and the
murderous. Envy, murder, debate, de-
ceit, alignity-whispere
The law of libel makes quick and
stout grip of open SANDER. If [ should
in q plain way, calling you by name,
charge you with fraud or theft or muir
der or uncleanliness, tomorrow morn
ing l might have pcremptOry docu-
ments served on me, and l would have
to pay in dollars and cents for the dam
age [ had done your character. But
these creatures spoken of in my text
are so small that they escape the fine
tooth comb of the law. They go on, and
they go on, escaping the judges and the
juries and the penitentiaries. The dis
trict 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 de-
sist. 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
of about 1000 or 1000 people where
everybody knows everybody, but they
also are to be found in large quantities
in all our cities.
They have prying disposition. They
look into the basement windows at tho
tables of their neighbors and can tell
just what they have morning and night !
10 eat. They can see as far through
zeyhole as other people can see with |
door wide open. They can hear CONVEX
sation on the opposite side of the room.
Indeed, the world to them is a whisper
ing gallery. They always put the worst |
on everything.
Some morning wife descends into |
he street, her eyes damp with tears, !
md that is stimulus to the tattler and /
S enough to set up a business for three
1r four weeks. 81 guess that husband |
ind wife don't live happily together l
wonder if he hasn't been abusing her?
It's outrageous! He ought to be dis
,iplined. He ought to be brought up
before the church. I'll go right over to
ny neighbor's and I'll let them know
Ibout this matter" She rushes in all
,ut of breath to neighbor's house and
ays: 'Oh, Mrs. Allear, have you heard
he dreadful news? Why, our neigh
,or, poor thing, came down off the
teps in flood of tears. That brute
# a husband has been abusing her.
Veil, it's just as / expected. saw
i'm the other afternoon very smiling
nd very gracious to some one who
miles back, and | thought then | would
ust go up to him and tell him he had
etter go home and look after his wife
nd family, who probably at that very
ime were upstairs crying their eyes
ut. Oh, Mrs. Allear, do have your hus-
and go over and put an end to this