Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-03-07

eth the matter"
''where no wood is, there the fire go
eth out; so where there is no tale bear
er. the strife ceaseth."
"And withal they learn to be idle
wandering about from house to house,
and not only idle, but tattlers also, and
busy bodies, speaking things which
they ought not"
Put away from thee forward
mouth, and peryerse lips put far from
"A wholesome tongue is tree of
life; but perversness therein is a
breach in the spirit"
But | say unto you, That every ide
word that men shall speak, they shat
give account thereof in the day OF
Judgment"
"If any manamong you seem to be
religious, and bridleth not his tongue,
but deceiveth his own heart that
mans religion is vain"
For he that will love life. and see
good days, let him refrain his tongue
from evil, and his lips, that they speak
no guile"
These are some of the many passages
of Scripture in which gossiping is con-
demned. They are found in Psalms-0,
Proverbs 25-23; Lev. 1916; Prov.
lib; Prov. 1920; l Tim. 6-13; Prov.
4-24; Prov. 15-4; Jos. 1926; 1 Pet. $40.
And the question comes up, Why do
we innocent people put up with it?
There is a law to deal with slanderers
and it seems to me that if the law was
enforced and compel gossipers to prove
their scandalous talk it would put u
check on such business. 1t has always
been said that a woman can't hold her
tongue, but it is getting to be that men
ere Just as bad They meet woman
or young lady who has lively dis
position and they, with a knowing
wink" and toss of the head, begin to
express their opinion, etc, and after all
it is all they can do. just insinuate.
lin, leel llhe Idhlh6 ouSh pOoPiS ~
the nape of their neck and the seat OF
their pants and pitch them headlong
into the river. And some newspapers
must he diluted with all the scandal
Gus and sensational gossip there is
ao;pg. And only God knows the harm
there is done by it. Only last winter
there was a certain scandal printed un-
Ger glaring headlines. There is no
doubt at all that the parties concerned
were guilty, but circulating it through
inc newspapers is the last way to eve.'
think of subduing such evil. chanc-
ed to be living in the neighborhood OF
enc party iii the case, and had an op-
portunity tc talk with her. and found
out that after all she was not so bad at
heart, and there was possible chance
that she might be redeemed. But af-
ter the paper scandalized her so, she
became more violent and reckless than
ever. And that brings to my mind the
case in the 8th chapter of John, where
Christ released the woman taken in ad-
ultery. Let he that is without sin
among you be the first to cast stone
at her." And they were convicted By
their own conscience. And when
Christ looked up again and found that
they were all gone, He asked what had
become of them and if no one had
condemned her, and she said mo man,
Lord" And he said, neither do con-
denim thee; go and sin no more" And
so it is today. You always find the
thief the first one to accuse some one
else of stealing. And it is a settled
fact in my opinion that those who are
so ready to accuse some one else of
wrong doing, either have done wrong
in their time, or are doing SO, else
they would not be SO ready to judge
others. Judge not that ye be not
judged, for with what judgment ye
judge, ye shall be judged"
Let everybody keep a good, substan-
tial, clean broom by him to sweep his
own yard, and pay no attention to his
neighbors' yard until he has his own
perfectly clean, and | think by the
time he is through he will have no time
to clean up for his neighbors. do not
write this for any one person in partic-
ular, but whoever the shoe fits can put
it on. Yours truly,
AN OBSERVER.