Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-08-17
THE GREATEST OF VIRTUES.

What is the greatest of virtues We
were taught in the Faith. Hope and
Charity days of our childhood that the
greatest Of virtues WAS the charity
that covers Y multitude ~ sins. II
would be irrcvcrent or presumptuous
on my part to differ with the maxims
laid down in the Good Book itself. hut
a wide range Of experience ana OBJ
Scrvation has taught me that the
rain. straightforward. commonplace.
natier-of- fact unwfittcn law. Mind
Your own business" cmbodirs even
more than the greatest Of virtues
charity. says written In the rittshuIg
Dispatch.
Homes are wrecked, hearts are
broken. cstranred. the hearts nf par
cnts hardened and emhitt"red. lovers
parted ana a thousand and unc in
dividual SORROWS are trfcoahr t. thc
iondncss that people hay" for at
tending to the affairs oi others.
If 4 man or a woman takes the tim"
and pains to attend strictly to their
own concerns there will he little time
left wherein to rccaic their curiosity
81 comment on the affairs of others.
have seen children cmbittered until
all confidence ana love was eliminated
from their little lives because Of the
tale-hearing Of the dear. intimate
friends. and have felt like making Il
funeral pyre Of all the dear. intimate
friends in creation.
An impulsive act may be bitterly re-
GREETED. even before consummation,
which. if kept secret by those con-
ccrncd. no harm may result. But let
some busybody learn the facts and re-
Peat the story. then there ensu"S the
hcartaches and humiiiations that may
lead 10 the wreck of ones life.
Gossiping ne2hbors who criticise
young people are like balefu plants
that poison by contact. Dispositions
are 50 varied that one may be guilty Of
an impulSive act. outWardly having
Il bad showing. yet which may be
han mlesS of itself. while another With
an universally calm exterior may be
guilty of far more iiagrant breaches of
d. corum. The first may be infinitely
purer Of heart and vet appearances
are against them and some eVily dis
posed person witnessing the act CON
StrueS II to suit an equally eVilly dis
posed mind and tells the story that
begets ruin.
hate people who are always inflated
with "A balloon-like sense of duty"
who. after being guilty of all sorts of
mean. despicable things take refuge
behind the tiimsy excuse that such
meanness resulted from a sense of
duty. There is nothing so maligned
OF libelled as this subterfuse "a sense
of duty. To mind ones own business
should be paramount. and then duty
could come in at the end of the line
and no one would be the worse for it,
Years ago. a schoolmate older than I
VINO Is now ii lovely gray-haired matron
taught ne 4 nevcr-to-be forgotten lesson
was talking for all | WAS worth aaj
unconsciously fairly jumping ON the toes
OF one person present. She shut down
the brakes on the ventila tion of my opn-
ions by remarking laughinyly: There
If YOU tell all YOU know You will not be
so Interesting the next time | had
sense enough to take the hint and was
glad afterward when she explained that
She had called a hal: that saved me from
cn,ightennS the others regarding a mat
ter ttat would only have wounded with
out doing any good.
One can find plenty to talk about with
out picking to pieces and commentinc
upon the conversation or toings Of others
Horribie ana tircSome as il may be Ia
Ilsteh 70 one taiking of ones self. yet
even TINS IS preferable to hearing gossip
of others. 1t may not be SO interesting
vet 1t Will not harm anyone but the per-
son talking.
The meddiesome sense of duty that i'm
pclS people 10 tell a husband or wife any
thing that may have been learned 10
the detriment of the other is often re-
sponsible for the breaking up of home
and yet people will rush as if shot out
of catapuit to tell all they know: or
worse still what they think they know
and Sarnish the story with IA lot of frills
and trimmings that make it hidcous, VI