Show J i DID YOU EVER PLAY PLA V rJ t THE By Rev P Lawson L awson 0 tI 1 b GAME GA ME CALLED SLANDER SLA 0 Carter Eich 1 I I THINK most grownups look back backwith backwith r I with real delight to the games hey bey tA used to play at parties when they the I we There was Old Od Family Co Cc ii h with its somewhat boisterous c fr 11 ii 11 i it it iid the possibility of finding YI yc t T i If without a seat eat and Copen Copenh Iw h w I Going to Jerusalem aleID and andt andi i m Tn t I u ir rs i Must Most of these games in m inI l I a large circle of chairs placed I d Cl t guther ther an anil T however full the thero ro roo roof ht be no 01 tiLt Lc t ever complained of 1 l m in jug too crow 1 l Slander was L suf interesting ng for the tui it of or whispering softly In nir i fair tar lar the bd bl c u value of nt the results ob obi ti tatt taH 1 i ei interfering with the 1 j merit of the thy apart The thing wa to to t I start going some bit of In for mUT u n l iy hy p rakIng aking confidentially to the part partir iff wr on un n your jour right This player wul tin n convey the Information in su sir Hilt i fashion to the next neighbor and ami Hi I f h 11 game name proceeded The start startling startling startling ling r fan pa i i t the proceedings came when thi irk i r U Had hd been completed and the stat m rn it nt that bad had first been made was ann annun an 1 together with the result af after ter it t h hll hiJ ul been passed through so many hands lianas A ir rj modest remark referring to the ami amiable Mt qualities of some member of the theo o part party after having haYing been retailed from one tu tc t another with some degree of ot mys mystery mystery mystery tery cause much astonishment and many blushes when finally re repeated renT nT d at the close of the game Whither Whether the Ute game was waa wa originally pro proposed posed po ed by some very wise person who In the dawn of civilisation feeling im impressed pressed by the dangers resulting from indiscriminate gossip took this method of Inculcating a lesson under the guise c 0 of sport will probably never be known But one might very wisely make use of this exhibition of the danger of re repeating repeating little statements more or less true which have been caught up in conversation with friends and which may not always have a tendency to toI j I I work to our neighbors good Bad I news travels swiftly is an old old sayIng Baying and there is a great deal of ot truth in it Why we e should take delight in re repeating repeating reg anything that has an unpleasant ant savor vor is ill one ane ne of those difficult ques questions questions z which will probably never be g satisfactorily answered but it is certainly certainly cert t a fact that people enjoy listen listenIng listening listenIng Ing to gossipy stories without regard 1 to their truth Many lany worthy persons very scrupulous in m other respects seem 1 to have no hesitancy in repeating state statements statements I ments as bona fide facts when they really know nothing about their truth troth i or falsity I fancy fa lcy that this is one of the evils forbidden by the command commandment commandment b ment Thou not bear fa toe wit witness witness f ness against thy neighbor Definite t premeditated lies are certainly the foun foon foundation j dation of a great deal of harm If we know that our neighbor i Is addicted to drawing the long Jong bow we never can cantell cantell cantell tell what to depend upon when he makes a statement we take all aU he has hasto hasto hasto to say mOle moie or less Ie with a pinch of Fait salt realizing realising that we have to form our own conclusions from such prem premises premIses premIses as he may present to us as to toiv iv what hat really are the true facts in any given case cie I But a much more insidious evil is ill the c habit of ot making apparently innocent statements which in reality reflect upon our cur neighbors and for which we have no warrant What makes the matter worse orse is that there is frequently not the least possible occasion for these rash remarks except a desire on our part 10 make ourselves our appear entertaining to our friends I once heard an esti estimable estimable I mable lawyer hi wyer make the th statement that I it was a axiom that thata a policeman had no respect whatever for tor his oath There are surely notable ex ox exceptions exceptions to this sad criticism of the re regard regard regard gard in which the truth is held by b the noble defenders of the peace I eer certainly shall not tell you ou of ot what par particular particular city the broad statement was made But one can not but feel that it itis itIs Itis is a rather curious criticism on the state of our civilization civilisation that we find it necessary to exact an oath at atall atall atall all to secure from a person upon whose testimony the fate of a de do depends depends ponds an honest statement of the facts as he understands them themA A great deal of business is done upon the assumption that the person you are doing business with will deceive you whenever it is to Wilds this interest to do so J You give no credence unto his word and you feel it necessary to substantiate sub substantiate tan all his statements by some con concrete concrete concrete crete evidence of the facts fa which he presents presen ts More tore pitiful possibly is the harm done in undermining peoples characters by b retailing gossip which may have no basis in fact Holy Hol church teaches us that if we are conscious of having ba ving done our neighbor an injury through any an misuse of our out power of speech we must endeavor to make amends Give satis satisfaction satisfaction faction to the best of our ability and undo the harm we have occasioned Earnest souls convicted of the wrong I they have done through making mis that have worked to an others hurt suffer most moet keenly from a realization realisation no matter how imperfect it may be or how far tar the evil has gone and how impossible it is to recall it it For every idle word thou must give an account O 0 how many idle words I have spoken One of the most inter interesting interesting Interesting esting inventions of the last few years e rs is an application of the discovery dl covery that telephone tf messages may be recorded magnetically ma on a perfectly smooth steel wire without leaving the slight slightest est eat trace visible to the eye even when aided by the most powerful microscope When a telephone is equipped with this wonderful bit of apparatus the wire passes rapidly near the diaphragm of the sending ending instrument while a mes moe message message sage is being spoken into It It being rolled upon one spool as It uncoils it itself itself Itself self from another The message me sage having been completed d the process is reversed and the wire slowly lowy unwinding Itself from the first spool Is capable of re reproducing reproducing reproducing producing In the diaphragm of the re receiving receIving instrument the words which were spoken by the sender this even after the toe lapse of an indefinite length of time O 0 my friends did it ever oc occur occur occur cur to you that the very walls of the room in which you OU live may be capable of recording the sounds which are ut uttered uttered Uttered within them Every Idle word that we have spoken has been recorded To be heard again on the morning of that great day when we shall all an be gathered to give In an account of our lives We would do well wen to treat ourselves a little litt more seriously remembering s that our lives Jives may bear a more im important Important important relation to others oU ers than we al always always always ways care to think Our casual re remarks remarks remarks marks taken up and repeated by other may have a greater Importance than thim we imagine The comfort Is that the possibility for good of the word spoken in kindness will surely be equally far reaching and will just as certainly be brought to the notice of our Judge when we are vainly trying to ber her any good gool thing thinK we have ever ver E done |