Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-12
Tongue of SANDER.


There are many ways in which men
speak evil one of another. BY the tongue
Of SANDER, Of f1attery, of rudeness i'm
measurable harm is done.
SANDER Is the foulest offspring OF the
devil. The original word from which
the name Of devil is derived means an
accuser, slanderer. He who ISLANDERS
is of the devil and all his works are
devlish He "backbiteth with his tongue
and taketh up a reproach against his
neighbor." He does this by constructing
lies out Of whole cloth. or by represent
ing things worse than they really are He
finds faults and failings in others which
do not exist, or dwells upon and magnifies
! those that do exist. He takes delight in
exposing and charging the foibles of his
neighbors.
There is no greater crime than that OF
forging calumnies against a good man to
destroy his character which is more
precious to him than life. 1t may be in
some cases a greater crime to murder
the character than the body. And to
represent bad man as worse than he
really is displays like kind of devil
ish malignity.
To SANDER any one, good or bad, is an
abhorrent crime. All recognize this to be
true. yet the unregenerated tongue dispels
its poison of detractfon and calumny.
Only the check rein Of Gods grace can
bring this unruly member into subsection.
X X n x
Causes of Evil Speaking.
Evil speaking arises from cruelty of
disposition, from malice and revenge,
from envy, and sometimes from mere
| impertinence and wantonness and a
spirit of diversion. 1t is the absence of
love and tenderness that causes men to
| injure their fellow-men. When love ex-
lists. cruelty. malice, revenge and envy
are not harbored in the heart, and evil
speaking is put aside.
There are some who utter SlanderOus
words through wantonness and a spirit
Of amusement, and when their attention
is called to it they laugh over 1t as a
good joke and say it was done in sport.
1t is hard 10 conceive that any one could
find sport or amusement in the ruin OF
| anothers character, but there are many
fools in the world, and it is their nature
to be meddling.
Tongue of Flattery.
Another kind of evil speaking is in the
use Of f1attery. A flatterer. while not so
destructive as slanderer, is a despicable
character. If he is not hateful to him
| self, he ought to be, and cannot fail to
| be SO to others. To praise those he
| ing of praise is distasteful and IN
worthy task. 1t may ruin the one fiat
| tered; the fiatterer is already ruined.
"A lying tongue hateth those who are
| afflicted by it, and fattering mouth
| worketh ruin
We may commend and praise one FOR
meritorious work or conduct Wnen our
Communications are strictly true. there Is
| no f1attery involved. The words are spok-
en- for encouragement and because the
praise is justly due.
Loving words will cost us little,
AS along through life we go;
Let us then make others happy
If you love them. tell them so.
II any one you know has performed a
| duty we'll, tell him SO in words OF truth
and sincerity. That is very different from
| the fiatterer who fawns and gives I'M
merited praise, to serve his own interests,
seeking merely to gain favor by deceit.
He does not usually succeed beyond a
brief time. The flatterer is not long
| lived animal; he seldom long escapes de-
| lection.