The Washington herald., 1918-01-25

the gossiper; shun these buzzing
pests Of society!
An old philosopher was right
when he said, Those who listen 10
slander would. II / had my way, be
hanged; the tattlers by their tongues
and the listeners by their ears"
Thou shalt not bear false wit
ness against thy neighbor"
There Is only one worse than the
slanderer. That is the man or wom-
an who will listen to the slanderer
without protest The receiver Of
stolen goods Is as guilty before the
law as the fellow that stole the
goods When you sit and listen
without protest, you are as black
hearted as the one that told you
And the fence is as guilty as the
thief
believe that story false that
ought not to be true. Did you ever
play the game OF gossip when you
were q kid? We used to line up on
the road; one would whisper to one
and that one next to that, and on
down and the one to whom Il was
told last would get UP and repeat
it. Then 1t would be compared with
the original and after a story or a
sentence had filtered through the
minds OF twenty or thirty people
you'd be dumbfounded to discover
that there'd be little or no resemb-
lance to the original When a story
starts it is like q snow ball.
Hear as little as possible that is
to the prejudice Of others; believe
nothing true-weu. until you are
absolutely forced to do 1t. Always
moderate what you hear about 9TH
ers and remember this. that there
are two sides to everything and IL
you'd hear the other side, you'd
have q different opinion than what
you have by hearing one. There
are two sides to everything on earth.
Thou shalt not covet-"
Must stand Test.
The law covers the desire for a
thing as well as the stealing of the
thing and one of the meanest traits
of character. 1 think. is covetous-
ness
We live in a testing world. Be-
fore Uncle Sam will accept q bat
tleship she's got to stand the test
OF speed, at reed draft for some
hours. Before he will accept q can
non she's got to be tried. We have
got to stand physical examinations,
mental examinations. all through.
oh, most OF the divorces and the
wreckage which follows comes from
coveting! Oh. that fellow wants
that other fellows wife! That wom-
an wants that other woman's hus-
band. So on il goes. 1t comes from
coveting. Thou shalt not covet."
Cardinal Gibbons in an article not
long ago. said. Divorce is becoming
so prevalent that marriage is be-
coming a little better than q sys-
tenn Of free love-"
People are too much bent on
pleasure nowadays. The divorce evil
is called from the false, loose in
terpretations of the gospel. Every
one Of the gospels are opposed TO Il.
There are times when separation
is justifiable: there are times when
separation would be necessary, 1
think, and even commendable, but
remarriage is the radical evil. and
the remarriage is sought by ninety
out of q hundred. And wherever
somebody is mentioned in the di-
vorce proceedings, that man or wom-
an turns around and marries the
correspondent thus named. Covetous-
ness. That Is one Of the causes of
evil today and the wreckage OF our
homes.
One reason why divorce is on the
increase is the attitude people take to-
ward divorced persons. The family is
a social unit, and the social life is a
reflection Of the family life and /
know what the family life is by what
the social life is, for the social life
simply reflects what the family life
is.
Now, then, II by some miracle every
unhappy married couple could be
caused to disregard their children and
their claims, / think, tens OF thousands
Of applications for divorce would be
filed-and II the present ratio, my
friends, of the increase Of crime and
desertion and drunkenness and d.
vorce continues, the American home
is going to sound the depths Of hell
Yonder in Virginia, a young man
had everything that an indulgent
father could give him. In school he
changed books for wine. cards and
cigarettes. He married a beautiful
girl. He shot her in his automobile.
He died in the electric chair in Rich
mond, leaving a father in desolate
home, with the narrowing memories
tearing at his heart And over the
life of his baby are clouds woven
from the worlds misfortune. He sent
another woman to wander in painted
shame outside of lfe's Eden Of puri-