Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-04-08

Lady Florence Cecil in Woman's Mag
aZine
Idle Gossip Not
Always an Innocent Pastime.
1t seems to call for much wisdom to
| know just when to speak and when to
keep silence.
| We all know, moreover that silence
| which sometimes will carry more con
domination than words; and to keep silent
perhaps when some ones reputation is
being attacked is to add our vote also
against it.
1t seems almost pity to think how
many women there are who never seem
to realize that idle talk against another
| is doing that other "A positive wrong.
Many very good women see no harm
in a little conversation with "A friend
about a third party in which much is
said that had better been left unSaid.
Characters have been ruined in this
way since the Idle words are repeated.
more being added to them until at last
the tib or inaccuracy has grown to Il lie
of startling proportions.
All women love to talk. When the
weather, the fashions, the "help" and
the children have been exhausted next
on the list comes what she said Dr did
or where she" was seen or with whom
Sometimes among these thoughtless
takers there sits one who wishes she was
not there; who longs to get away or to
avoid listening; but after Il while she be-
comes Interested; and before she knows
it has joined in; lit is only harmless gos-
sip" With this thought she seeks to ST
leuce that little voice which says that all
of this is unkind and unnecessary: but
the habit of harmless gossip" grows un-
til she. too, is like all the rest and enjoys
nothing more than chat about mutual
acqualntanCes.
In town of my acquaintance lived a
woman no longer young. Hated and
feared with equal strength by all who
knew her. she sat in her home like some
loathsome insect and no name was ever
mentioned in her presence thar escaped
her evil and bitter SANDER
With it all she was witty and sharp.
and all who listened had to laugh; but
they knew, too, ut the same time that
when their back was turned, they too
came in for Il tanning.
This woman once had been young and
kind and generous; hut because she had
not much else to do she had little by little
become gossip. then a venomous gossip,
until now al last she is known Through
ont the length and breadth Of her home
town as an eyil-minded and eyil-sp0ken
woman, whose words are poisonous and
bitter
Oh, the heartachcs she has given! The
tears she has caused to be shed, the
quarrels she has caused. the homes she
has made unhappy, the regulations which
she has darkenedl 1t is heavy weight
indeed. which she must carry when the
final summing mp is made
But still she goes on getting worse as
she gets older: she has not one left to
love her any more, but in her lonely home
is waited on by a servant who stays be-
cause the wages are good ami the duties
light and from its windows the woman
peers out. watching, watching always for
food for her hateful thought.
DO we any of us wish to become as
she is? Not many have any such ann
hiti0n that is sure. Then let MS beware
of the company where idle or malicious
gossip is employed to pass the hours
oWay.-Loulsc Sathewaite in EXCHANGE.
~O+.O-
Power of the Imagination.
II don't know when I've been so put
out 10y little thing said Mr.. BilltopS.
las | was by the discovery thar my Their
mometer was four degrees wrong; it
gave me real hard little jolr for one
thing, and then i made me realize that
for two years had been making my
self uncomfortable over nothing.
out of doors | can stand the cold
as well as anybody, but indoors | like
TO be warm; - is about what suits me
in the house.
"rwo years ago | bought new Their
mometcr which | hung up in my room,
and | haven't been warm there in win
ter since.
"Other parts of the house seemed all
right in the paror and in the dining
room they got it mp To - apparently
without any trouble, but in my room il
never seemed to get above Is. | didn't
SILVER, but | never could get really
warm, and one day ! said to Mrs, Bill
| tops:
Elizabeth, why can't we get the
heat up III my room? Why should my
room be the only cold room in the
| houseY
around Il minute and then She says:
| "'Why Ezra. IT'S just MS warm here
/ MS il is anywhere else
| Nonsense. / says 10 her. l.ook at
| that thermometer, It's Is here, and it's
| y ut this minute in the parlor
| But Mrs. Billtops insisted that it was
! as warm IN my room aS IL WAS any
where else, and she said that probably
| the trouble was with my thermometer:
that my thermometer didn't mark cor
reCtly, and | said il did and Id show
her conclusively that the Thermometer
was all right, III prove 10 her that my
room was cold. Id put my THERMOMETERS
right alongside the one in the parlor,
and she'd see il so up in no time To -.
$50 we put it ont there, but il didn {
bulge, that is Upward. but il did 90
down one degree. Standing side by side
with the parlor Thermometer making -
mine went down to 81; they were FIVE
degrees apart.
THE temperature in the parlor, actu-
ally one degree colder than my own