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Show iDorothy Dix Talks I l GOSSIP. I j By DOROTHY DIX. Tl,. .orlus Highest Paid Woman "Writer i .V It is the custom to rank gossiping among the seven daily sins. When wo y wish to utterly condemn a woman, we I call her a gossip, and when we desire (0 pay a woman a superlative compll-l compll-l f pient that ranks her along with the 1 saints and the angels, we say that she 1 never talks about her neighbors. For there is gossip and gossip : There is scandal mongerlng, back bit-ti bit-ti , jn and (ale bearing, and there is also Si ; thc'plcasant little Interesting chit-chat a? that is kindly, humorous and human, IS i and thai gives the spice to daily life. The ability to gossip in the right a . iray is the most elegant, delightful 5 ' and graceful of all feminino accom-5 accom-5 i plishuaents, and one that It is far more .? - important a woman should cultivate j$ ,' than playing the piano, singing or re- ' f citing", for we can purchase canned i music and read our own selections of : poetry and dialect, but no substitute i f has yet been .Invented for lively and u r; ' breezy conversation. j i ' And conversation to be interesting i i must have the human touch. It must be about people, and chiefly about a the people we know. Nobody can im-i im-i : 4 agine a happy evening spent in listen-! listen-! injr to a description of, scenery, or the e ? discussion of ethical questions, or ab-i ab-i stract philosophies. These things only ' become vital to us as they affect peo-j peo-j ' pic. Our chief Interest in the Alps ; Is because a man we know once clim-hnd clim-hnd the Malterhorn. The Battle of the Marne will always be the most tragic in the great war fr-' fr-' n boy we loved was killed there. The real reason we are for proh-'b't'mi I because a friend's son drinks too much ? It is the human note that is the key note of really interesting conversa-r conversa-r tlon, and unless a woman knows how ; to strike this, she is the deadliest and dullest of all bores. Some women I have the gift of this. They' cannot go down the street without coming back with a little budget of entertaiu-Jng entertaiu-Jng gossip. They have seen a newsboy do some act that is half pathetic and half humorous. hu-morous. They have oaught a whiff of the perfume of a romance between some girl and boy. They have encountered en-countered a lean and sallow spinster buying the Bloom of Youtli by the quart at a cosmetic counter in a store. They have been to see a bride, and come home with a funny story about her adventures with a cook. Tlmy know the latest details of the Brown's baby's first tooth, and cousin John's now wife, nnd what make the Jones' new automobile is. There Is not a word 6f malice or un-klndness un-klndness in the whole bundle of small talk. It is just a moving picture of the daily life one is familiar with and Interested in, and the woman who reels it off keeps her family'-enter-talned and amused, and satisfied to stay at homo". On the other hand, the woman who hasf no gift of gossip makes of her house a place of yawns and heavy silences, si-lences, and boredom unutterable. There is no pleasant chatter around her hearthstone, no good talkey-talk around her dining table. People "gobble "gob-ble arid git," to use the honiely country coun-try phrase, becauso the hostess never knows how to start something in tho conversational line. Such a woman may pride herself upon never talking about people, but when she does she forgets that there are just as many nice things to be said about people as there are evil things, and it is quite as meritorious to mention people's virtues as it is reprehensible to call attention to their faults. I Of course, every one will amit that i the Pollyannish gossip that Is sugary, sug-ary, oily and mushy and that dwells only on the virtues and beauties of others is so harmless as mother's milk, and a social sweetener and lubricant, lu-bricant, but It is equally true that the other kind of gossip that takes cognizance cogni-zance of people's side stepping and shortcomings also has its, virtues, and is not to bo condemned in tot o. Whether wo like to admit it or not, the fear of our neighbors and what they will say of us is tho beginning of righteousness with a lot of us, and it does more to keep the great majority of human beings walking the straight and narrow path than any other one thing on o.rtb. "They viM say"' i. a poliormnn per petually on guard at evorv bnusr'jold. and it Is what" mVces Tom Smith conit-home conit-home at a decent hour, and keep fHghty Utile Mrs. Thompson ?rom ii dulging in promiscuous flirtations It makes Tom Smitbers go by the saloon door while he can still walk steady, aiifl Afnnil .TrnU-iii! cs!int hrvr rvra irt the temptation that comes to her In the guise of the finnry l;or very soul yearns for, but whose possession would make the neighbors ask how she got it. If- wo were all perfectly certain that our neighbors would never mention our little slips, we would keep a lot less firm, grip on the high moral principles prin-ciples than Ave now have. It is certainly cer-tainly that they will vivisect our conduct con-duct that keeps us from furnishing thorn with topics for that favorite indoor in-door sport known as discussing your friends and acquaintances. Nor have we a right to blame them for this, or to excoriate the gossiper as we do. If we are not ashamed to do a thing, we should not be ashamed to have it mentioned. Surely it Is asking too much of the general public to be more careful of our good names than we arc ourselves. - Therefore, let us lift the ban under which the gossiper has languished so long. She has her place in the economy econ-omy of things. She adds to the gaiety of nations for one thing. And for another, an-other, she is a potent moral influence for the good of the human race. |
