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Show I " A FEW OPINIONS ON GOSSIP. I I f . 0irE "weeks ago I gave a little talk r- on gossip on this page and asked i tb0 opinion of some of tho Corncr- K Uoa on tho vlows I put forth at that 3 time. Following are a fow of tho jj lettcis I have received on the subject, j and I am sure It will Interest othera aB 'I well as myself to obsci vo the w ldo dlvcr- gence In points of judgment. ; Tho first letter I give Is from a valued cono3pondent whoso communications have frequently appeared on this pago and always -with pleasure and profit to the readers: ' I was much Interested In your chat H j. on gos3lp, and I bellcvo it is a subject on I V- which we should all think seriously. Flrat, wo should ask ourselves. What la gossip?' " I am so thoroughly Interested and In sympathy with every one I meet that sometimes I'm afraid people may think me a gossip, so I should bo glad to have some one define the word 'gossip.' I have mot a few scandal mongers, but I always gave them a wido berth. But If we dlscusB our neighbors, even their ln-tlmnte ln-tlmnte family affairs, I can't sec why wo Sehould bo supposed to be gossiping. " Let something unusual happen any- I where and how quick the papers are to get the details and how quick we are to get those papers! "Why? Is it because we are natural born gossips? No, but, because It 1b human naturo always to be asking for the unusual. "Wo listen to unusual talcs about our neighbors, not j . because wc delight to see the evil of tholr ways, but that we may compare them 5 with ourselves or with other people's f? affairs and learn what is beit or not best 6 in life "Women would not have been slaves so long If they had not covered up j their domestic affairs and tried to mako fr other women think thej lived lives of connubial bliss, but as they grew wiser jj and compared notes with other woman Bthey learned that others were suffering the same neglect and abuse, and so thoy held a conclave and decided to tako mat-tors mat-tors in their own hands. ' ' " Somehow I can't agree with tho worn- an who said, ' There Is something of the '& carrion crow In each of us.' She goes on to say ' The woman fairly smacked her 1 lips after telling somo bit of scandal, as though she had Just had something good to eau' I bollevo that the woman was only gloating because she had been the b first to tell the news. Don't our daily papers boast In large type how their own jj columns wcro the first to publish tho t news? Then why should a woman bo condemned by doing whatwo are willing J and anxious to pay the newspapers for J? doing? ' " Most women's lives are oo narrow and cf monotonous that gossip, as It Is called, lo j really necessary to rouse them out of tho jut they are in. That Is why. In email I communities, one hears such trivial gos- I sip. Jj " Tho harm In gossip ie that so fow ever toll a. thing a3 they hear li. I think It $ w ould be a f ur.ny world If nobody wanted Jj to know about any ono else. If somo j woman comeB to me with an unlikely talo about people I know well I question her S authority, and if I think she has mla- fe judged these people from tho Information ; she has had, I try to argue her out of It ma kind, friendly way. If I think Bho $ tells tho story Just for splto or that sho knows nothing for cure, I tell her plainly ! how un-Chrlsrlan sho Is To my knowi- '3 edge I have never mod an enemy or an 1 unpleasantness by following this plan i 'I hat Is the stand I have taken in sup- '? pressing gossip. 'I " I may be wrong in my Ideas. If bo, I . wish BOtno one would convince me other- y wise, because I try to live my life as near-;t near-;t ly right according to my lights oj pot- eJble. I am alwayo willing that every a one who cares to may ' gossip ' about mo to their heart's content, and I furnish ail the material I have., but It would help H me so much if I only knew how thoy saw ? me, so that I could mond my ways. " AUXT MAUD." The paragraph of this letter which askB for a definition of " gossip " I can answer with tho aid of the dictionary. " Gossip; ) ldlo talk, 03 of ono friend or acquaintance to another; especially, confidential or minutely personal remarks about other people; tattle; scandal; trifling or ground- i - ' -i less report." Also, " To goesip. to talk Idly, especially about other people; chat; tattle." Personally my great objection to gossip lies in tho fact that It Is Just what the dictionary states Idl6 talk, even If It degenerates de-generates Into nothing worse. I fall to &cc how thoro can be anything uplifting or Inspiring about It, as there might bo about tho dlscuusion of topics that aro better worth while But I am not so much concerned In j.iv-InT j.iv-InT my own opinions today as thoso of others. Here Is a second letter: ' Y'U ask the opinion of others on gos-rlp gos-rlp and what con bo done In order' to stop it " I try hard not to speak unkindly of nny ono or to repeat unkind stories I havo heard. It 1h quite true that if you appear uninterested In what your neighbor tells you of another neighbor sho may bo offended of-fended and become unfriendly. I havo tried It and that Is Just what happened. I am not exactly disliked by my neighbors neigh-bors now, but they nro not qulto friendly, for I rofuso to talk with one-half of them about tho othor half. Therefore I am quite unpopular, and ee-ch half criticises criti-cises me to tho other hah, sarcastically, cruelly, or pityingly. I am called odd. by many people, but I still refuse to bo Interested" In-terested" in how Mrs. A. neglects her children chil-dren or Mrs. B. overdresses and has too many beaux.. For I hate such gossip and I ,wlBh that every tlmo I forget myself and repeat eorao of it that some one would remind re-mind me. MI think If women who repeat little mean things, or criticize or repeat stones ubout others would only stop and think how thoy would feel to havo othere troat them likewise that moKt of them would keep silent. Tho one who Is gossiped about otfacra would only etop and think later and by tho timo It has gotanound to her It Is generally three or four times worse than when it started. " And how it hurtsl I can't understand why women wish to hurt other women. I thing that gossiping tongues arc tho crudest, crud-est, most poisonous weapons they could uso, I do not pretend to be anywhere noar perfect mysolf. I only try hard not to hurt others, for I have been unjustly hurt myself many times and not one of tho wounds has ever quite healed. " E. V." Here Is a writer who takes quite a different dif-ferent tono from " Aunt Maud." A third letter holds a course which might bo called midway between the two opinions: " I am much lntorestcd In your talk on gossip, and It has set mo to thlnldng. Perhaps I have been In tho habit of talking talk-ing gossip myself, for I am certainly always al-ways much Interested In tho affoira-of others and glad, like mo3t persons, to tell a bit of news that comes my way before be-fore any one else has been ablo to get hold of It Since I read your talk about gossip gos-sip I havo been pondering a good deal and wondering If I fcol more enjoyment In reporting something unpleasant than somothlng good, and I am ashamed to say that I have come to tho conclusion that this Is the case. " I don't mean to say that I love to repeat re-peat scandal and start trouble by scattering scat-tering unkind tale j But if thero Is- a big accident or a. catastrophe of any kind I love ;o be the flrat to go about with it, and I have a- real feeling of disappointment if somo one gets ahead of me. Of course, I am delighted to tell big pieces of good news llrsfc. For Instance, if come ona I know w ero to strike gold In the Klondike or diamonds in South Africa and bo able to M spend a lot of money I would love to hava M the telling of that, and I would bo tickled 'H to know of that good luck coming to some H " Tho trouble Is that so few good things H happen whlcbarocxcltlng that if I caro to 'Hl produce a oeiuatlon I havo to tell of H death;? and divorces and family quarrels, H and all tho rest of that sort' of thing. As H you say1, tfhero Is nothing interesting or H thrilling In people living tranquilly and ;H monotonously, and you don't have any- ;H thing exciting, as a general thing, unless H it Is something In the line of dreadful- H ncfa. No one cares, to spend the afternoon H talking of what a good mother Mrs: Jones H 1 and how well her children behave, oo iH thoc If you wish to give a littlo hitch to 'H tho conversation, you are obliged to hunt H out some wrongdoing' to start tiolnge H going. M " Don't you think most people feel tiio iH same way? L. G." 'H Ono more letter tho only other one I H havo spaco for today: 'H "You hit mo where I llvo when you .H talk about gossip. I live In a little coun- iH try town, and the petty chutter of the jH placo drives mo wild. I can hardly be- H llevo the active part I used to take in it ;H beforo I went out In tho world to study H and learned that there woro othor things ,H to think of nnd to discuss than the quea- ,H tlon as to whether Mr. Smith and his i wife really quarrel all tlho time, if It Is ,H true that Mattic Clark went to the mov- H lea thrco times running with TomBctson, H and how can Mary Moore afford to get a new hat every winter Instead .of making ' her old ono over when every one knows f'lV how hard It Is for her father to get along M with that big family? 'W " When I think of tho wonderful things ifiH thero aro to talk about, of tho good, 'JM cheap magazlnca ovcry ono can get now, lH of the big occurrences taking place in our own country and all over the world, 'jfl of the great discoveries In scienco of x ! ovcry kind, of tho wonderful work that H Is being done to help in philanthropy and ' education, and a hundred other lines, It 'H makes mc sick to hear theso peoplo waste i! their timo and what brains they hava j on petty gabble about ono another. H " There, that's what I think of gosslpl Thank you for writing as you did- f " A. M." 'fl Despite " Aunt Maud " the verdict fl seems rather against gossip than for itl i'D |