The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-06
At Gossip Inn.

Baltimore American
II am going to Gossip Inn this summer"
said a woman 10 another one sadly. do
you not envy me?"
"Oh! wildly was the reply, but why do
you go7"
TT cannot be helped" sighed the first
speaker, I'VE have to go somewhere, and 1t
Is a convenient sort OF place; the husbands
can go in and out to business and the chill
dren can tear about the lawns and piazzas,
ride up and down in the elevator and make
themselves generally noisy and disagree
able, while we women can sit all day on
the verandas or under the trees and talk,
talk. talk, with an occasional game of
~seven-hand euchre or bridge whist II any
really great minds are among US
Dear me- how exciting-do invite me
out TO luncheon some day, won't your
"A real boon If you will come and change
the gossip current a bit, for we can pull
you to pieces for a week or more after
wards. we can discuss your doings. your
age. your income, your disposition, your
appearance and your good points. for even
at Gossip Inn good points do com In some
time, they really do"
tener, the good points are mentioned SIM
ply 10 give a stronger edge to the bad ones.
You will say: Mrs. Me is an awfully nice
woman. but such a pity she dresses so
atrociously. / wonder II she has any
but 1 dare say they were presents. She is
bright. too, l hear. but she don't know a
thing worth knowing. etc. etc, etc"
Yes. that Is just what we will say, only
"a great deal more. we will generously add
five or six birthdays 10 those you already
possess. We will insist that you have
grown stouter. and We will deplore your
hippant style and declare that 1t is put on
and that your cheerful manner is a cloak
only for a multitude OF cares and sorrows.
Doubtless you will be nearer the truth
in that matter than most gossip is: only If
i do not hear II repeated afterwards IL
won't matter"
you are very different then" commented
the first woman. from our mutual friend,
Mrs. Blank. She always insists that she
likes 10 hear everything. good, bad and in
different. DO tell me- she 6egs, just what
you have heard about me-"
Yes, / cannot understand why she wants
TO hear II. for ten to one the person who re-
peats invariably tells the disagreeable
things instead OF the pleasant. My theory
f. what Is not heard is practically not said.
But tell me-. do men gossip too at the inn,
or are they above such small amusements?"
My dear. believe me, they are often
worse than the women. and they sit around
I'm the evening Ike a parcel of old hens
cackling over what they have picked up
somewhere or other. IL don't matter where,
and they always tell the women they are
fond OF Just what others say Of them. They
are inquisitive. too. Only the other day
heard one OF them specializing for a long
time upon Mrs. Dashesis age. One would
have thought that he was going into the
census business"
sDreadfuI," declared the listener. 'I fear
there Is no place on earth where one can
free oneself from gossip. 1 am glad. after
all, that 1 will be I'm town alone, for there,
at least. one cannot see nor hear anything
either 10 notice or repeat. But don't you
think there Is a remedy anywhere
mot I'm our time, I fear" was the pessi-
mistic answer. Perhaps the next genera
tiOn may discover something to take the
place OF gossip, and inns Of this kind will
not flourish. but as IL Is now II seems hope
less. However, i have made up my mind
20 one thing. anything repeated TO me about
myself i shall at once go TO the people who
said II and tell them my authority. so. at
least. / need not be obliged to hear dis
agreeable things ad Hbitum."
Perhaps a good plan, but you will have
few friends IL you do"
"A few so-called ones. but possibly some
pleasant acquaintances."
But the pleasant acquaintance often de-
teriorates into an intimate one" suggested
the other in a Jobs comforter manner.
But the hrst woman was too tired to con-
tinue the conversation. and sighed again
as she thought of her coming time at Cos
sip Inn.