The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27
A Vlndictlve Tongue.

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 The evil tongue of man, in the first place, Is vindictive tongue. It has stored up among it's deadly polsons the accumulated malice, not cnly of days but of weeks and months and years Like the North American savage of old, 1t never forgets a supposed injury which some one has done against 1t. It will go out of it's way hundred miles, thou sand miles. aye, it will stealthily lie in ambush for years, to get a suitable op- portunity to strike It Is not like an ordinary snake, which will leave you alone unless you trample upon 1t, but 1t is like a panther stalking its prey. It Is like a hound on the track of deer. It is like a lioness following the man who has robbed her of her whelps. It will persue a supposed enemy for miles and miles, and for years and years. always seeking the right moment when it can bury its fangs in the hearts of it's foes. And when that time comes. like Shylock 1t will always strike for the vital pound of flesh nearest to the beating heart. Oh the abject merclessness of a vindictive tonguel You well know its unforgiving [ relentless nature; for It may be that such a vindictlve tongue has been follow | ing you for years.
 It may have pursued you, a minister, | for a quarter of a century. When you | LOOK your n1St CnnTtn NOu loullu NOul choir loft in the viselike grip of an elder. One of his daughters was the organist. Another daughter sang as the soprano. future son-ln-law was the tenor. The music was an utter failure What were you to do? You could no more run successful church without good music than you could run 1t with out the right kind of preaching. One day. In q state of desperation, you called | n. ..grs. q manded a complete change in your musi- cal leaders You got 1t. but you got it at the cost of that elders unrelenting | hate. He never ceased to persecute you. | He did everything he could to undermine your ministry. He pursued you even after i you left his church. He wrote letters to distant cities against you. As the ven detta is carried on for generation after ' generation in certain families In southern Europe. so the children of that old elder are still pursuing you. Their hatred has never let up. although their father has now been dead for years.
 | The same poisonous tongue of hate may have been following you as a law yer or doctor or merchant or musician.
 You entered the town and put out your shinele or opened your store. You said
 to yourself: "Now I will be honest and
 square and work hard and build up a | name honored in this little community" i Work hard you did. Clients or patients
 or customers began to come your way. Then your enemies began to collect. | 'Aha!' they said to each other. we
 must stop this young upstart He Is | taking away our money. We must pre- pare for him some lion's den" Then
 they begin to attack your moral charac- ter. They begin to vilifv vour family. They denounce you as guilty of every
 crime in the criminal calendar. and the
 peculiaritv of their enmitv is this-'t has
 gone on for years and years. The longer lived that hatred tho more bitter it is
 "Yes." you answer, that is true. Why | I have my enemies all over townl It does seem that the more try to be good and the more my friends learn to respect me
 the more these enemies hate me and try | to do me harm"
 Venom ous Cobra.
 | My friend. I sympathize with you in that persecution. You say you do not
 bear, your prosecutors any i'll will. for you have triumphed over their attacks But asN you were once persecuted as a young man. now as we'll established