The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-05-05
Information Bureaus.

Information bureaus are handy
servants of the general public and
are institutions which we could not
well do without. Most of us are af-
ter knowledge of some sort or other
and are properly grateful to those
agencies which place that knowledge
at our disposal in the most rapid and
thorough manner, but there are GER
tain kinds of information bureaus
which we could we'll do without al
though the eradication of these would
deprive not a few individuals OF
doubtful inclinations of self-m-
posed task which they engineer with
considerable credit to themselves ac-
cording to their way of thinking, but
whose unwisdom in the suppression
of what should have been circulated
and the circulation of what should
have been suppressed mas caused Sc
rious doubt to arise as to the efficien-
cy of their management or the use
fulness of their service to mankind.
] refer to the gossips, the tale-bear-
ers, the chattering circulators of VIC
ious or idle information which does
no service and wreaks much havoc
and which creates and excites in NOR
bid minds a foolish curiosity for that
which is unwholesome, unhealthy and
dark
Sometimes the manager of this sort
of information bureau is known as
"oueerer" who wetblankets the choice
schemes and fond ambitions of his
neighbors and discourages the fresh
start of the man who is morally
showed in under but eager with out
er assistance to regain firm foot
ing. 1t may be he achieves results
by means of those provoking little
silences which are potent with shad-
owy significance when his opinion is
sught concerning the reliability, the
man under question. Mayhap it is the
ghrug of the shoulder, the careless
life of the eyebrow which may mean
anything or nothing, the soft "Oh, he
may be a good sort, but you know
L" and trailing into the silence that
speaks more clearly than words he
turns you aside with doubt in your
attitude and prejudice in your eye.
You feel a righteous anger toward
the man who spoil> a slow-ripening
friendship with insinuation in man
ner or voice. You endeavor to shove
his verdicts aside but you cannot
avoid the measure of suspicion which
henceforth taintS your regard or
your opinion for the next man.
Information bureaus of this sort
are said to be most successful, in
the eye of the management, in small
communities where you know every
body and everybody knows you. One
of the most difficult things for the
"queerer" to attempt is to forget the
past its mistakes and blunders and
follies and wastes. He simply can't
do it. Neither can his wife. They
pride themselves on bringing to light
the wretched Stiffness of the past
deeds which were long forgotten by
their perpetrators and mercifully
buried by a generous-minded public.
They set the ball rolling skillfully.
1t may be at an afternoon tea, or ov-
er the dining table, at the club or on
the street. And the strange thing is
that no one seems more astonished
than the "queerer" himself when the
magnified tale returns to its source
in strange disguise which makes
recognition of its former character
istics difficult
There are information bureaus and
information bureaus and if, by any
chance, yours is the kind that dead
ems and blackens and Injuries and
wounds, draw down the shutters, lock
the door and throw the key to the
bottom of the we'll. Then, perhaps,
you will have just begun to be of SER
vice to your fellow men. At least
you will not longer remain in the
ranks of malefactors and that will
bring upon you the gratitude of an
entire community which has long suf-
fered unjustly at your hands.