The Penn's Grove record., 1899-07-07
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BfTHE NOTED
DIVINE.

Subject: whispered Nenom-The Voice of
the Gossip Like the serpent's Hiss
Purvoyors of Idle Tales Are Prisoners
of Society-An Arrangement of Liars,
copyright, Louis Kiopsch, 1881
WASHINGTON, D. Gin this discourse
DR.. Talmage vigorously arraigus one of
the great evils that have cursed the world
and urges generous Interpretation Ct the
character Of others; tex, Romans t., 80,
Full Of envy, murder, debate, deceit, ma
lightly; whisperers."
Paul was here calling the long roll OF the
worlds villuiny, and he puts in the midst
OF this roll those persons known in all cities
and communities and places ms whispefors.
They are so called because they generally
speak under voice and In n confidential
way, their hand TO the side OF their mouth
acting as n funnel to keep the precious in
formation from wandering into the wrong
ear. They speak softly not because they
have lack OF lung force or because they arc
overpowered with the spirit OF gentleness,
but because they want to escape the conse-
quences Of defamation. II no one hears
but the person whispered unto, and the Of
fender be a~rraigned, he can deny tho whole
thing, for whisperers are always lrst-class
liarsl
Some people whisper because they are
hoarse from a cold or because they wish to
convey some useful Information without
disturbing others, but the creatures photo
graphed by the apostle iu my text give
mufled utterauce from sinister and de-
PRAYED motive. and sometimes you can
only hear the sibilant sound as the letter
IS" drops from the tongue into the listen
Ing ear, the brief hiss-of the serpent as it
projects its venom.
Whisperers are masculine and feminine,
with a tendency to majority on the side of
thnsp who nrA Pulla1 fIhn lnr1a nf
creation" Whisperers arc heard at every
window OF bank cashier and are heard in
all counting rooms MS well as in sewing
societies and at meetings of asylum direc-
tors and managers, They are the worst
foes of society, responsible for miseries in
Vulnerable; they are the scayengers Of the
world, driving their cart through every
community, and to-day l hold up for your
holy anathema and execration these
~whisperers.
From the frequency with which Paul
speaks of them under different titles I con-
elude that he must have suffered some
what from them. His personal presence
was very defective, and that mad him,
perhaps, the target of their ridieule. And,
besides that, he was a bachelor, persisting
In hisecelibacy down into the sixties, In
deed all the way through, and. some hav-
ing failed in their %connubial designs upon
him, the little missionary was put under
tne THklDB HFe OIL THESE WHlSpereFS. lie
was no doubt q rare morsel for their scan
dallzation, and he cannot keep his
patience any longer, and he lays hold Of
these miscreants OF the tongue and gives
them a very hard setting down In my text
among the scoundrelly md the murderous.
Envy, murder, debate, deceit, ~malignity;
whisperers."
The law Of libel makes quick and stout
grip of open SANDER. If / should in a
plain way, calling you by NAME, charge
you with fraud OF theft or murder or un-
~cleanness, tomorrow morning. might have
peremptory documents served on me, and
I would have to pay In dollars and cents
for the damage l had done you character.
But these creatures spoken Of in my text
are so small that they ~escapethe 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 of from II route of perildy 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 toa flock OF crows, sex-
pecting them to retreat under the force of
moral sentiment. They arc to be found
everywhere, these whisperers. I think
their paradise is a country village of about
1000 or 1000 people, where everybody
huOMS 6Nt1N DOtNs DIA Aut1 hl7O L w ~
found In large quantities In all our cities.
They have a pryipg disposition. They
look into tho 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 MS
other people can SEQ with n door wide
open. They can hear convers alton on the
opposite side of the room. Indeed, the
world to them is u whispering gallery.
They always put the worst construction on
everything.
Some morning a wife descends into the
street, her yes damp with tears, and that
is d stimulus to the tattler and Is enough
to set up n business for three or four
weeks. 81 guess that husband and wife
don't live happily together. | wonder II he
hasn't been abusing her? It's outrageous.
He ought to DO disciplined, He ought to
be brought up before the church. III go
right over to my n%eighbors and III let
them know about this matter" She
rushes in all out of breath to q ~neighbor's
you heard the dreadful news? Why, our
neighbor, poor thing, came down of the
steps In a food OF tears, That brute OF u
husband has been abusing her. Well, it's
just as l expected. 1 saw him he other
afternoon very smiling and very gracious
TO some one who smiled back, and |
thought l would just go up to him and tell
him he had better go HON and look after
his wife and family, who probably at that
very time were upstairs crying their eyes
out. Oh, Mrs. Allear, DO have your hus-
band go over aud put an end to this
trouble. It's simply outrageous that our
neighborhood should be disturbed In this
way. It's awful"
The fact Is that one man or woman set
on Are of this hellish spirit will keep n
whole ~nelghborhood a-boil. 1t does not
reEuire any very great brain. Tho chief
reouisition Is that the woman have a s%all
family or no family at all, because. il )he
nave q large family, then she wonld have
to STAY at home and look after them. 1t is
very important that she be single or have
no children at all, and then she can attend
to all the secrets of the neighborhood all
the time. A woman with a large family
makes a very poor whisperer.
1t is astonishing how these ~whisperers
gather up everything. They Know every
thing that happens. There are
and telegraph wires reaching from their
ears to all the houses in the ~neighborbood.
They have no taste for healthy news, but
for the scraps and peeling thrown out of
scullery into the back yard they nave great
avidity. On the day when there IL a new
scandal in the newspapers they nave no
time to go abroad. On the day when there
are four or Ave columns OF delightful pri-
waite letters published in n 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 timo
to run out u little while and see whether
there are any new developments.
Satan does not haveto keep a very sharp
lookout for his evil dominion in that
neighborhood. He has let out to her the
whole contract. She gets husbands and
wives into a quarrel and brothers and SIS
tiers into antagonism, and she disgusts the
pastor with the flock and the Hook with