Year: 1859

Slander.


Was there ever place upon earth, Of any
size whatever, where there was not tattling,
lying and slander continually going on, in
the little under-currents Of society," Proba.
bly, not. To such an extent does this condi-
ton of things prevail, in nearly every COM
munity, that, it is very frequently the case
that man is entirely ignorant of the esti-
nation in which he is held by one half of his
neighbors. The busy tongue of the tattler or
the backbiter has been weaving a network
of lies around him, all unknown to himself,
and the first intimaton that he has OF the
fact is the cold look of one who should greet
him warmly, the gradual withdrawal of the
best of his friendships, without any apparent
cause, or some sudden and deep injury from
quarter where he had no reason to expect
il. Men and women become enemies, and
bitter ones, too, when there is no earthly
foundation for it but some malicious. SANDER
GUS Misrepresentation thrown out by some
secret, venom-spitting toad of society We





friendship we valued and who once valued
ours, and we never did know the cause Of
their arrangement But, we very shrewdly
guessed it was the work of some sneaking,
sly and secret slanderer who had poisoned
our friends ear against us. by some base,
full fedged or insinuated falsehood There
are, no doubt, hundreds Of individuals who
can recall like cases.


The evil prevails more alarmingly, how
ever, among the gentler sex. One or two
lying, tattling women will keep whole
neighborhood of femininity in hot water
for months at time Mrs. So and So has
said this thing about Mrs. Blank, and Mrs.
Some one else has asserted something else
about Mrs. Some.other body, and, 10 and be-
hold, sworn friends have suddenly become
sworn enemies for life, and chickering's and
backbitng are the order of the day. Aggra-
waited by false report that Mrs. j. has said
something harsh about Mrs b., Mrs. B. reel
ly does say something harsh about Mrs. j.,
whereupon Mrs. j., being perfectly innocent
of having given Mrs. B. any cause, becomes
justly indignant, and retalintes still more Sc
verely, all of which is duly reported by the
self-consttuted news carrier, and open war is
declared between the two families. Hus-
bands are told of the mutual injuries received
and they become involved in the difficulty
and frequently get to hating each other like
very demons, for no earthly reason whatever.
Happy is the man whose wife attends to her
own business, and has the good sense to keep
her tongue quietly in her head, when she
either has cause, or has not cause, as she may
think, to be severe upon her neighbors In
nine cases out of ten, the report that Mrs. So
and So has said thus and SO about Mrs. Some
body-else is, in the beginning, a downright
lie. But if the latter person believes it is
the truth and retaliates for an imagined injury
by real one, why, then, there is foundation
for quarrel-the real ground of offense has
been gwen, and it needs only the perpetrator
of the original falsehood to carry the speeches
of the belligerents respecting ach other back
and forth, until the regulations of both par
ties have suffered materially in the contest,
in order to get up a most beautiful state of
affairs


How can the evil he remedied? 1t cannot
be SO wholly, for the Shiny slanderer, be it
male or female, is not to be extirpated. The
secret liar is one of the evils inherent in the
organization of society, But sensible men
and women need not beIieUe everything that
they hear There is the point at which to
begin curing, or rather mitigating the evil, for
it cannot be wholly cured. There are always
a sufficient number of shallow people to lend
credulous ear to every sort Of report
that is started. But sensible men and wo-
men should never permit themselves to be
drawn into that circle. Trace out every re-
port that you hear, derogatory to yourself or
friend, to its true source, and see what there
is in it, before you wag your tongue SO much
as hairs breadth against your neighbor.-
In nine cases out of ten, as we have intima-
ted above, you will find that there is no
foundation for the report Proceed upon this
plan, and you and all your friends will stand
much better chance to be happy Some
of your friends, it is true, will inevitably be-
come estranged from you, in spite of all you
can do for some venomous tongue is always
at work, but then, you will, in the main, be
apt to keep the peace between yourself and
those whose good esteem you value


"Be Just and fear not" At all events do
right-wield a truthful tongue of your own,
and whatever evil other tongues may do you,
you will at least have the approval of your
conscience; remember, as a true-hearted
poet has we'll said


Though to vice thou shalt not pander,


Though to virtue thou shalt kneel,


Yet thou shalt not escape slander-


Gibe and lie thy soul must feel;


Jest of willing, curse of clown;


Heed net either LiUe them down I"


THEArER.-A very respectable number Of
the lovers of the opera were present. last
/ Al 4 CT