Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-07-11
Dos,r KNOCK.
An Organization Formed That Is Designed
To Operate for Good win.

An Organization Formed That Is Desirnea
To Operate for Good win.
New York Sun.
Another good thing comes out n,
Buffalo, q town entitled to exaIt ;ta
horn. Last week the Commercial
Travellers Association gave hearing
TO Mr.. Maurice III. Case, suprems
supreme secretary and treasurer of tba
Order of Don't Knock, which was In.
corporated March Goth. The chartsr
members are Butfalonians. Every
person who joins the order solempy
binds hismelf to pay fine of one cent
every time he is caught knocking
The proceeds OF the fines are to 90 ia
charity.
ITO knookn il beginning of.tbe.
century English for to backbite, - to
speak i'll of. - 1t Is the purpose al
the new society to repress habit
which is altogether too common and
springs sometimes from thouRhtlessness
as much as from malice. Sometimes il
seems to be infectious. Let somebody
in any company begin to say mean or
unkipd things of some absent person,
and ten to one som ebody else viii take
up the tale and add spite to spite. 1t /
ought to he as easy to speak good as to
speak evil of your friends anil &C.
quaintances, but notice how a sneer,
an unjust criticism, scandalous story
is rolled along from tongue to tongue,
gathering venom in its passage. Some
cynics say fankly that they don't
scruPle 10 talk about their friends
because they know that their friends
don't scrunle to talk about" them.
| a scurvy plea, as If 1oul must be
sneak and gossip because Dick and
Harry are.
The amount of suffering that is
| caused by tattling, backbiting and
''they say" especially in small COM
| munities where everybody knows every
body and every word OF depreciation or
scandal is sure to reach its mark, is
| incalculable. You can hardly take up
a newspaper without finding in it some
story of desperate ARRAY or snicide or
murder, OF somebody done to death by
poisoned tongues But even these posi-
tive and palpable results of Knocking
are not SO sinister as the effect Of it upon
the hardened, though perhaps uncon-
scious practiser OF it. He or she,
acquiring the censorious, snooping,
backbiting habit, becomes nuisance
| and a curse, a mere bag Of bile and
| iaundioe, collector of the offal of i'll
\ nature. In some cases knocking
becomes an incurable disease, but in
its earlier stages it yields readily to
SUCH treatment as the Don't Knock
Order proposes. The object of the order
1 are thus described in its constitution:
/ "Section l. To overcome in it's
members the deplorable habit Of speak
ing i'll of our fellows--otherwise known
as 'knocking'-- by precept and ex-
ample trying to induce others to do the
\ came.
"Section 2. To better the social and
moral condition of mankind by true
devotion in its members to the cause
| OF charity in its broadcast sense.
Section 3. 10 keep the Golden Rule
ever IN the minds of its members.
''Section 4. To bind it's members
together In a social and fraternal
manner"
And there is little bit of the
healthful creed:
1--WE believe that the practice of
speaking i'll of our fellow men, other
wise knocking, is detestable, un-
biotherly, and unoharitable.
I'VE 6eliove it our duty to conceal
the imperfections Of our fellows tpro-
vided their actions are not of great
menace to the welfare OF the COM
muity), and do all we can by precept
and example to show them where they
err.
"We believe that many lives are
ruined daily, that many hearts are
made miserable, and many men and
women driven to desperation by the
despicable practice Of knocking
1--WE believe that in must instances
knocking is done thoughtlessly, and
even those who knock inaliciously and
with evil intent would refrain IL they
would but give a thought to the pos
sible consequences of the act.
1--WE believe that simple little
knock unthiukingly made sometimes
grows to SIGH proportions as to he
more cruel and dangerous than the
plun2ing of sharp knife into the
vitais of the victim.
We believe that a persistent, de-
liberate knooker is as vile and as
dangerous to the welfare of a COM
munity as a murderer.
I'VE believe that many people judge
others by their own standard, and that
because they are not tempted or are
able to resist some particular thing
that they consider wrong, they feel
themselves warranted in despising and
criticizing those who are weaker than
themselves or whose opinions differ with
their own.
| Don't knock, and don't rubber
neck" to excess.
NAVIGATING THE AIR.