Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-07-07

| The district attorney cannot ma 'nelh'
the sheriff cannct find them. tie
grand jury cannot find them. shut
them Off from one route Of periidy ana
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 flock
OF crows. expecting them TO retreat un'
der the force of moral sentiment They
are to be found everywhere, these
whIsperers. think their paradise is a
country village of about 1000 OF 1000
people, where everybody knows every
body. But they also are to be found in
large quantities in all our cities.
They have a pryng disposition. They
| look into the basement windows at the
tables Of their neighbors and can tell
| Just what they have morning and night
to eat. They can see az far through a
keyhole as other people can see with
door wide open. They can hear con
yersation on the opposite side of the
room. Indeed. the world to them is
whispering gallery. They always put
the worst construction on everything.
A Fiendish Spirit.
Some morning a wife descends into
the street, her eyes damp with tears.
and that is n stimulus to the tattler
and Is enough to set up business for
three or four weeks. - guess that hus-
band and wife don't live happily to-
gether. | wonder If he hasn't been
abusing her? It's outrageous. He
ought to be disciplined. He ought to
| be brought up before the church III
20 right over to my neighbors and I'll
| let them know about this matter" She
rushes in all out of breath TO Il neigh
boris house and says: "Oh. Mrs. Allear,
have you heard the dreadful news!
Why. our nelghbor. poor thing, came
down off the steps In food Of tears.
| That brute of husband has been
abusing her Well, it's just as | ex'
pected. saw him the other afternoon
very smiling sad very gracious TO some
one who smiled back, and | thought
then would Just go up to him and
tell him he had better 90 home and
look after his wife and family, who
probably at that very time were up
stairs crying their eyes out. Oh. Mrs
Allear. do have your husband 70 over
md put an end to this trouble. It's
simply outrageous that our neighbor-
hood should be disturbed in this way
It's awful"
The fact Is that one man or woman
set on fire Of this hellish spirit will
keep a whole neighborhood a-boil 1t
does not require any very great brain
The chief reGulsition IS that the wom-
an have small family or no family at
all. because If she have n large family.
then she would have to stay at home
and look after them. 1t is very lmpor-
tant that she be single or have no chill
dren at all. and then she can attend to
all the secrets of the nelghhorhood all
the time. \ woman with large fami-
ly makes n very poor whisperer
Ii Is astonishing how these whisper
yrs gather up everything. They know
everything that happens. There are
| telephone and telegraph wires reaching
from their ears to all the houses in the
| neighborhOOd. They have no taste for
healthy news. but for the scraps and
peelings thrown out of the scullery in
to the back yard they have great avid
lty. On the day when there is new
scandal in the newspapers they nave
no time to go abroad. On the DAY
when there are four or five columns OF
delightful private letters published in
| a divorce case she stays at home and
reads and reads and reads. No time
for her Bible that day. but toward
night. perhaps. she may find time to
run out little while and see whether
there are any new developments.
satnn's Dominion.
Satan does not have to keep very
sharp lookout for his evil dominion III
that nelghbOrhood. He has let out to
her the whole contract She gets hus-
bands and wives into a quarrel and
brothers and sisters into antagonism'
and she dsgusts the pastor with the
flock and the flock with the pastor ana
she makes neighbors who before were
kindly disposed toward each other over
suspicious and critical, so when one OF
the ne&ghbors passes by in carriage
they hiss through their teeth and say
, "Ah, we could all keep carriages II we
never paid our debts.
When two or three whisperers get TO-
gether, they stir a caldron OF trouDle
which makes me think Of the three
, witches of Macbeth" dancing around
, n boiling caldron in dark cave:
Double. double, toll and trouble,
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet OF a fenny snake
In the caldron boil and bake;
} Eve Of newt and toe Of frog,
Wool Of bat and tongue Of dog,
Z Adders fork and blind worms SUNG
lizards leg and owlet's wing
For a charm Of powerful trouble
+ Like a hell both boil and bubble.
n Double, double, toll and trouble,
A Fire burn and caldron bubble,
Scale OF dragon, tooth OF woH
witche.' mummy. nav and gulf
+ OF the raund salt sea shark;
r Make the Cruel thick and stark;
Add thereto a tigers cnaudron
For the ingredients Of our caldron.
5 Double double, toll and trouble,
Il Fire burn and cadron bubble
g Cool it with baboon's blood
Then the charm is firm and good
Il would only change Shakespeare Il
n this. that, where he puts the Wor'
n ''witch" would put the word WIS
perer." All, what caldron. Did yo'
ever get a taste Of 1t? have more re
sneet for the poor waif Of the stree
!, u that goes down under the gasiigh'
with no home and no God-for she de
y :, ceiyes no one as to what she is-than
= - have for these hags Of respectable SC
- - ciety who cover up their tiger cla"
Il with n fine shawl and bolt the hell 0
ii their heart with a diamond breastpin'
20 Masculine whispererS.
"A The work Of masculine whlsperers
n chiefly seen in the embarrassment
20 business. Now, suppose. there ar
,s hundreds Of men here who at som
- -. a., h,,efupSs trouble.