The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-11-16

A PARADOX IN of it in this way. but
THE CHEAPEST it's so, and you'll ac-
AND DEAREST. knowledge it, if you
do your own thinking
Tor awhile. Gossip, like advice, is cheap
too, and there's paradox for you. Cos
sip is cheap and gossip is dear But para
doxes are plentiful, you can chase them
out of almost any old clump of bushes
and make them as ''it' as a prize fighter
when heIis in the pink of condition Tha,
suggests another thought about gossip,
and 1t is that it is like the champion
prize ring belt holder in that it han
Knocked out many a good man, and by
the same token, many a good woman
likewise.
Charity covers multitude of sins"
is quotation that some people smack
their lips over. But
A CHARITY they don't think what
THAT COVERS the sentence really
is NEEDED. means. I've always
had the idea that when
1olks boosted about the charity they
dished out that it was to cover up a lay
out OF shortcomings, if l may so euphe-
mise sins with potter term I've no
idea that one good deed, even if it's
charity, is going to offset any violation
OF the Decalogue, and I'm quite sure
that If the sin, (pardon me, short COM
1ng), is that of injurious and evil gossip
no amount Of charity as regards any 9TH
er matter is going to put a salve on the
raw sore which venomous tongues have
touched with delight, despite the moan
ing and anguish that is the portion of
those so sorely afflicted.
or course, there's gossip and gossip,
and some of it comes in mighty handy
when a visitor is
THERE'S GOSSIP trying to smother
AND THEN TOO yawn and at the
THERE'S GOSSIP. same time keeping
tab on the clock
out of the tail of her eye. Gossip of the
dear delightful kind that deals with
dress, and the latest trimming of the hat,
and the name that is to be given the
new baby, and the dear, delightful
sociable, and the visits that have been
made or are going to be made, and all
such innocent bric-a- brac is all right,
and has the hall mark of everybody's ap-
probation hitched on to it. It's not the
uxharmfess and innocent gush and gurgle
Rbout things that leave no sting behind
but it is of the other kind that / would
Etalk.
For there Isl gossip that wherever. it
crawls leaves behind it the trail of the
serpent 1t is the
THE TRAIL OF gossip that is born
THE SERPENT in the womb of
THAT KILLS. hate, and envy and
spite and malice;
Ie gossip that is nurtured at the breast
Y0fcslander and which full grown stalks
about with thirsty dagger ready for a
vital blow at the purest, and which When
it has inserted it's poisoned weapon is
ready to twist and turn it in the gaping
wound till it has driven to desperation.
1t is that gossip that knows no mercy
and that gossip that has not even dreampt
of the meaning of justice that inspires
these lines.
And it does exist as a blot upon HUI
manity. God has sent the rain on the
just and the unjust
AS A BLOT alike, and he per-
IT EXISTS mits this to live
AND GROWS. and flourish among
the sons of men,
and the daughters, too. 1t has its pur-
pose in the eternal cycles of time as have
all things, but when it is upon you in
it's vindictive fury, when the storms
which it raises are beating about your
life. then you would that it be strangled
as it burns it's venom into listening
ears, and speeds on and on with the rush
of the wind to your undoing. 1t knows
no barriers but finds an entrance at the
smallest crevice. Once it has leverage
it topples over the very strongest as
easily DIS the snow flakes drop.
1t is but a whisper that needs to give
it life, and you who read may have
heard its first
A WHISPER sibiance If it has
THAT STIRS never touched you
THE WORLD. or yours return
thanks this day
with renewed fervor to Him whose wings
have sheltered you from its storms, for
blessed are you. Look about you and
see what it has done for others. From
many homes it has taken heavy tribute
as it has smirched once spotless reputa-
tions, because of some thoughtless acts
from which it has drawn evil inspira-
lions. Like the avalanche that starts
with one spoken word on the icy air, it
grows in volume as it passes from
mouth to mouth and with the cumula-
tive power of time and opportunity, it
rushes on and on, until that which was
once pure is dragged in the mire. is tat
tered and torn, and is tabooed of all.
Would you have in the concrete that
which has been written in the abstract.
1t would be easy
IN ABSTRACT to pen it, for in
AND ALSO IN almost.-aye in
CONCRETE. every community
it exists and has
existed. Perhaps some girl has been
thoughtless with the innocence of youth
in her doing, and with no thought OF
the censorious world that encircles her
in it's narrow limits. The gossip pounces
upon the slightest departure from the
conventional and soon the Harpies of the
age are busily employed in tearing in