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Show A CURE FOR GOSSIP. Everyone must talk about something. The poor fellow who was told not to talk for fear that the people would find out that he was a fool, made nothing by the experiment. He was considered a fool because he did not talk on some subject or other. Everybody must have something to say, or give up society. Of course the topics of conversation will relate to the subjects of knowledge. If a man is interested in science he will talk about science. If he is an enthusiast in art he will talk about art. If he is familiar with literature, and is an intelligent and persistent reader, he will naturally bring forward literary topics in his conversation. So with social religious questions. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." That of which the mind is full, that with which it is furnished, will come out in expression. The very simple reason why the world is full of gossip is that those who indulge in it have nothing else in them. They must interest themselves in something. They know nothing but what they learn from day to day in intercourse with and observation of their neighbors. What these neighbors do, what they say, what happens to them in their social and business affairs, what they wear, these become the questions of supreme interest. The personal and social life around them-this is the book under constant perusal, and out of this comes that pestiferous conversation which we call gossip. The world is full of it, and in a million houses, all over the country, nothing is talked of but the personal affairs of neighbors. What is the cure for gossip? Simply culture. There is a great deal of gossip that has no malignity in it. Good-natured people talk about their neighbors because, and only because, they have nothing else to talk about. Gossip is always a personal confession either of malice or imbecility, and the young should not only shun it, but by the most thorough culture relieve themselves from all temptation to indulge in it. There are country neighborhoods in which it ravages like a pest. Churches are split in pieces by it. Neighbors make enemies by it for life. In many persons it degenerates into a chronic disease, which is practically incurable. Let the young cure it while they may. |