The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1900-01-24
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all the SANDERS down the same embank-
Disgusting Spectacles.

tacle when we become busybOdieS. What
a diabolical enterprise those undertake
who are ever looking for the moral lapse
or the downfall of others! AS the human
race Is most imperfect race, all such
hunters find plenty of game. There have
been sewing societies in churches which
tore to pieces more regulations than they
made garments for the poor. With their
sarcasms and sly hints and depreciation
of motives they punctured more good
names than they had needles. With their
scissors they cut characters bias, and
backstitched every evil report they got
hold Of. Meetings of boards of directors
have sometimes ruined good business men
by insinuations against them. The bad
work may not have been done so much
by words, for they would be libelous, but
by twinkle Of the eye or shrug Of
the shoulder or sarcastic accentuation
of word. yes, he is all right when he
is sober Have you inquired into that
mans history?" do you know what
business he was in before he entered
this = Il move that the application be
laid on the table until some investiga-
tons now going on are consummated."
1t is easy enough to start a suspicion
that will never down, but what despica-
BILE man is the one who started it! There
is not an honest man in any city who
cannot be damaged by such infernalism.
Can you imagine any creature so loath-
some as the one who feels himself or
herself called to question all integrity,
all ability. all honesty, all character?
Buzzards looking for carrion.
Most People Doing Their Best.
While | believe enough in human de-
pravity to be orthodox, L tell you that the
most Of people whom | know are doing
the best they can. Faults? Oh, yes. Ali
people except you and have faults. But
they are sorry about it, repentant on ac-
count of it and are trying to do better.
All people make mistakes-say things
that afterward they are sorry for, and
miss opportunity of uttering, the right
word and doing the right thing. But
when they say their prayers at night
these defects are sure to be mentioned
somewhere between the name of the Lord
for whose mercy they plead and the
amen that closes the duplication. THAT
has been my observation" says some
one Well, am sorry for you, my broth
er, my sister. What an awful crowd you
must have gotten into.4 Or, as is more
probable, you are one Of the. characters
that my text sketches. You have not
been hunting for cartridges and quail,
but for vultures.. You have been micro
scopizing the worlds faults. You have
been down in the marshes when YOU
ought to have been on the upla1ids.~ /
have caught you at last. You are IA
husvhod,- IN OIL mans
Two Opinions About Everybody.
How is it that you can always find two
opinions about any one and those two
opinions exactly opposite? | will tell you
the reason. 1t is because there are two
sides to every characterize best side
and the worst side. A well disposed man
chiefly seeks the best side; the badly dis
posed seeks chiefly the worst side. Be
ours the desire to see the best side, for it
is healthier for us so to do and stirs adj
miratiOn, which is an elevated state,
while the desire to find the worst side
keeps one in a spirit of disquietude and
disgust and mean suspicion, and that is q
pulling down of our own nature, a dis
figurement of our own character. | am
afraid the imperfections of others will
kill us yet.
A kindly man who wishes everybody
we'll soon demonstrates his disposition in
'his looks Look at him. Admire him.
Congratulate him. On the other hand,
if one be cynical about the character Of
others and chiefly observant of defects
and glad to find something wrong in char
acter, the fact is apt to be demonstrated
i'll his looks. He may smile, but it is
sour smile. There is a sheer in the
initiation of the nostril There is a mean
curvature to the lip. There is bad look
in the eye. The devil of sarcasm and
malevolence and suspicion has taken pos
session of him, and you see it plainly.
The slanderer almost always attempts
to escape the scandal he is responsible
for. When in 1741 John Wesley was
preaching at Bristol and showing what
reason he had to trust in the Captain of
His Salvation, q nearer cried out: who
was your captain when you hanged your
self? l know the man who saw YOU
when you were cut down. John Wesley
asked the audience to make room and let
the slanderer come to the front, but when
the way was open the slanderer instead
of coming forward, fed the room. The
author or distributor Of SANDERS never
wants to face his work
Gift of Evil Tongues.
On the day of Pentecost there were
people endowed with what was called the
"gift of tongues" and they spake for
God in many languages. But there are
people in our time who seem to have the
gift of evil tongues, and there is no end
to their Ubiquitous gable. Every city,
village and neighborhood Of the earth has
had driven through it these scavenger
carts. When anything is said to you de-
famatory of the character of others, imi-
tate Joseph John Quincy of England,
who, when a bad report was brought to
him concerning anybody, asked '.Dost
thou know any good thing to tell us con-
corning her? Since there is no good to
relate, would it not be kinder to be silent
on the evil? Charity rejoiceth not in in
iquity."
But there is a worthy and Christian
way of looking abroad upon others, not
for the purpose of bringing them to disad-
vantage or advertising their weaknesses
or putting in great primer" or paragon
type their frailties, but to offer help, SYM
pathy and rescue. That is Christlike,
and he who does SO wins the applause of