Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-14
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES 6. TRACEWELL.

have trained himself In the art Of
steeling himself against the talebearer
long ago. One ought always to re-
member that the talebearer's tale-S
times out of lois an enlarged or dis
torted version Of the real thing.
Again human nature Is at fault. NO
two men see an accident alike, few are
able to describe anything they see.
Even fewer are able to repeat SEN
tence as said. Every one knows that
facial expression, or the very tone OF
an utterance, has much to do with
meaning. Words are things, indeed;
what one man makes of them may be
entirely different from the meaning
given them by another.
Thus the most harmless utteranceS,
when accompanied by certain look,
can take on evil connotations; inintcal
ideas, spoken with kindness, may be-
come good. The change of so little as a
comma in writing often makes the dif-
Inc what happens, then, to the spoken
word, when the one who repeats gets
the things slightly twisted.
X \ \ X
Then there is the matter of inference.
Here, We feel certain, is the crux OF
the matter Tale bearing would not be
the evil 1t is If it were not for the in
fallible ability of most human beings
to infer what Is not said at all, but
which somehow their minds jump to as
the result of the impact of an idea.
The dizziness with which they can
make these jumps never ceases to be
amazing TO those who study the matter.
Great newspapers know that even the
best Of copy readers will at times put
into his heads" statements which are
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he has inferred from what he has read.
In everyday conversation many a
man has found his ideas ridiculed and
himself maligned because some nearer
has taken something he has said and
Immediately fastened onto 1t mean
ing which was not in it originally.
This Is, We believe, the essential dam
ger in repeating the words of others.
The wise man, therefore, makes 1t a rule
to retail only such utterances as are
kindly, complimentary, laudatory. Beau
tiful upon the mountains are the feet Of
those who bring tidings of peace.
Since so many people, however, are
neither wise nor kindly (this Is too bad,
of course, but unfortunately so), repeti-
tons Of remarks to persons about whom
they were made commonly cause trou-
bic. It Is difiicult to conceive how the
idea ever grew up that our friends we're
not going to talk about us, for every
last one Of us knows that we, in our
turn, make a few remarks now and
then about the people we know. Yet, in
stead of readily admitting that we are
as big a fool as he called us, while talk
ing to another, we feel hurt, depressed,
downcast, angry.
1t is perhaps just that the real resent
ment falls upon the talebearer. Let the
dyed-in-the-wool talebearer keep this
in mind. He becomes an object of dis
like and suspicion. He Is held to be the
troublemaker which he really Is, and
even the most forgiving natures cannot
help comparing him with the provoca-
tive agents whom the Romans kept in
their legions to discover such soldiers as
dared to speak against Caesar. The ma
licious talebearer, the merely foolish
talebearer, each Is troublemaker, and
the sad thing is that the latter is often
given credit for being the former. The
modern man or woman has little time
for such analysis as we are attempting
to make here. He leaves discrimination
for, the easier and speedier task of
Judgment. If his Judgment is wrong,
1t is just too bad 1t is the price one
must pay for the vice of repeating tales
out of school. The satisfaction Is not
worth the price, in any instance. Re-
member the ancient Injunction, "Thy
secret will not hurt thee; it will not
burst thee" Yet those words, written
5000 years ago, did little good; these,
fresh from the press, will do less. The
world moves, but human nature changes
little.