The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1902-09-20
Why Some Women Indulge in Gossip
Lavinia Hart. In Golfers Weekly.

laylnla Hart, IN Golfers weekly.
At the summer hotels gossip among
| women reaches its high water mark. The
gossips fall together and form a scandal
mongers' society as naturally as geese form
flock. The beauties of life in the coun-
try and its possibilities for healthful exercise
pass by them. Their occupation is tatting,
their recreation character smirching. They
are usually sour old maids upon whom no
chance, and nervous, irascible women whose
husbands are 'stoo rushed at the office to
commute Upon these the excesses of
gossip have begun to tell. The lines of
malice, envy and deceit mark the face of
the habitual gossip as surely as bloated
cheeks and bloodshot eyes indicate the
habitual drunkard. Yet how infinitely
superior is the latter, who directly hurts
only himself and who punctuates each
downward step with decent, graceful periods
of remorse
The motive which actuates the gossip is
nine tenths jealousy. The women who
gossip at the summer hotels are not the
women who receive attention. The women
who gossip in town are not they whose en-
gagement tablets are kept filled. Not only
are these women too busy with their own
to meddle with the affairs Of other people,
but popularity and adnlation leave no sting.
They tend rather toward amability and 4
contented spirit. Therefore, aside from
every consideration of good taste, the gossip
brands herself with the stamp of inferiority.
She proves that she feels that inferiority,
and she proves that it goes deeper than
face and form To find so much of bad
ness in others requires much of badness in
one self The good seek and find some
good in every one. A woman who will
take liberties with the character of another
should not be trusted with her own. She
is no respecter of character. She knows
not its worth nor its cost, else she would
reverence it. Lacking that reverence and
respect for character, she will permit her
own to slip away when the first good op-
portunity presents itself.
There are women who gossip from
thoughtlessness They differ from the ma
licious gossip only in the length of their
apprenticeship. They are malicious gossips
in embryo Thoughtlessness is of itself
crime, the initial step to every vice. List
ening to gossip is quite as bad as repeating
it. It constitutes tolerance and encourage
ment of vice. When the gossip approaches
with sweet smile and inquiries ''Did
So-and-so tell you Of the shocking way
Miss So-and-so behaved tit is simple
enough to say, "No, she did not; she knows
[ never listen to those things.
It is compliment of worth that the
gossips do not confde in you. 1t is like
wise comfort. The woman who gossips
to you will gossip about you. We have
probably all been in that unhappy predica-
ment where duty called us hence, yet we
remained till the last guest of a gathering
had departed, because it was not safe to
leave reputation in the hands of two of
them.
Women have small comprehension for
the virtue of charity. To most Of them 1t
has something to do with flannel petticoats
and foreign missions. Simultaneously they
put together the petticoats and pull to
pieces the regulations of their dearest
friends
"Faith, hope, charity, said St. Paul,
'sbut the greatest of these is charity. st.
Paul was wise in the wisdom of human
nature and knew the relative values of hu
man virtues. Faith it is that keeps us
alive, and hope it is that makes us glad to
be alive, but charity-this it is that makes
the whole world better for our living. 1t
is charity, in its loftiest, truest sense that
makes woman womanly. The woman who
comprehends charity in that sense and ap-
plies it in her daily living strikes the key
note to that virtue which is most pleasing
to God and man.