The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-07-11
WHISPERED VENOM.
DR.. Talmage says the PurSeyor Of Idle
Tales IL b POisOner Of Society-A
strong Arraignment of Liars and
TattlerS.

tIipyTlSuL, LOUIS hlOpScQ, 1881
In this discourse DR.. Talmage vigor-
ously arraigns one of the great evils
hat have cursed the world and urges
generous Interpretation Of the charac-
ter Of others; text, Romans !, 20, Full
of envy, murder, debate, deceit, ma
Lightly; whisperers."
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 call
ed because they generally speak under
voice and in a confidential way, their
hand to the side Of their mouth acting
as a funeral to keep the precious infor-
nation 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 gentleness, but because they want
to escape the consequences of defama-
ton. If no one hears but the person
whispered unto. and the offender be
arraigned, he can deny the whole thing
for whisperers are always first class
liars!
Some people whisper because the
are hoarse from a cold or because they
wish to convey some useful informa-
ton without disturbing others, but the
creatures photographed by the apostle
in my text give muff1ed utterance from
sinister and depraved motive, and
sometimes you can only hear the sibi-
liant sound as the letter 'S'' drops from
the tongue into the listening ear, the
brief hiss of the serpent as it projects
it's venom
Whisperers are masculine and femi-
nine, with a tendency to majority on
the side of those who are called 1.-The
lords of creation" Whisperers are
heard at every window of bank CASH
Ter and are heard in all counting rooms
as we'll as in sewing societies and at
meetings Of asylum directors and man
ayers. They are the worst foes of So
ciety, responsible for miseries innu-
merable; they are the s~cavengers of
the world, driving their cart through
every community, and today I hold up
for your holy anathema and execration
these w~hisperers.
PAUL A VICTIM.
From the frequency with which Paul
speaks of them under difreGent titles 1
conclude that he must a 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
raking fire of these ~Whisperers. He was
no doubt a rare morSel for their scan
dalization, and he cannot keep his
patience any longer, and he lays hold
0f thAnn ~ntcarnn fo nf = ~ md
gives them a very hard setting down
in my text among the scoundrelly and
the murderous. Envy, murder, de-
bate, deceit, malignity; whisperers."
The law of libel makes quick and
stout grip of open SANDER. If l should
in a plain way, calling you by name,
charge you with fraud or theft or MUIR
der or uncleanness, tomorrow morn
ing / might have ~peremptory docu-
ments served on me, and / would have
to pay in dollars and cents for the
damage I a 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 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 annOt by
the force of moral sentiment persuade
them to desist. You might as we'll
read the Ten Commandments to a flock
of crows, expecting them to retreat I'M
der the force of moral sentiment. They
are to be found everywhere, these
whisperers. I think their paradise is q
country village Of about 1000 or 1000
people, where everybody knows every
body. But they also are to be found in
1oroa n1l1ntitipS in all Onr cities
They have a prying 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 as far through a
keyhole as other people can see with a
door wide open. They can hear con-
~versation on the opposite side Of the
room. Indeed, the world to them is a
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 mat is a stimulus to the tattler
n is enough to set up a business for
three or four weeks. 81 guess that nus
gether. l 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. I'll
go right over to my neighbors and I'll
let them know about this matter" She
rushes in all out of breath to a neigh
boris house and says: "Oh, Mrs. AL
len, nave you heard the dreadful
Why, our neighbor, poor thing, came
down off the steps in a flood of tears.
That brute of a husband has been
abusing her. Well, it's just as 1 ex-
pected. I saw him the other afternoon
very smiling and very gracious to some
one who smiled back, and I thought
then I would just go UP to him n
tell him he had better go home and
look after his wife n family, who
probably at that very time were up
stairs crying their eyes out. Oh, Mrs.
Allear, do have your husband go over
and put an end to this troublc 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-poil. II
does not require any very great brain.
The chief requisition is that the wo-
man have a small family or no family
~ III $500 90 zho no IVA q lQrUa RAM