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Show High time doesn't appear to care what other people think about what she does. I HAVE never asked about her code of silence. Maybe because be-cause it would involve admitting that my own standard of conduct is considerably more flexible. Not that I consider myself a gossip. I try to practice charity towards others and love my neighbor and all those commendable traits we all seek for and miss so badly. So I don't know whether Aunt Izzy made a resolve way back years ago not to gossip or whether she's just a lot smarter than the rest of us. A magazine article appeared recently re-cently which suggested that talking about other people is not only natural, natu-ral, but can be beneficial. I'd like to introduce that writer to Aunt Izzy. Not only does she not talk about other people, they don't talk about her. I've never heard a single item of gossip about Aunt Izzy. Another funny thing. Her kids don't gossip either. They are nice people, normal in every other respect re-spect with their ups and downs and their successes and failures. They are fun to be around sometimes and dull other times, just like normal people. But they don't talk about other people. IF THE magazine article is correct, cor-rect, then Aunty Izzy is not normal. nor-mal. She is much better than normal. nor-mal. She learned to keep her mouth shut. By FLORENCE BITTNER One quote from President Eisenhour has stayed with me all these years, maybe because I need it so badly. "Never miss a chance to keep your mouth shut." IF ANYONE asked most of us if we gossip, we would be indignant and insist that we don't. Maybe a few comments about how she would look much better if she lost ten pounds or he is just a muscle shirt moron, but we don't really gossip. Some people make little tidbits about other people the mainstay of their conversation, and they make most of the rest of us uncomfortable. uncomfort-able. We don't, as a rule, relish tearing other people to shreds, but we will say things about other people peo-ple sometimes. AUNT IZZY never would. She was a friend of Aunt Martha and not really my aunt, but she was Aunt Izzy to the entire town, and we have stayed friends. Everyone' has stayed friends with Aunt Izzy, and only partly because she is a very sweet and likeable person. She never says anything about anyone else. Once in a while she will refer in passing to someone in an indirect way, always complimentary, com-plimentary, but never once have I known her to make a negative statement about another person. SHE IS not a pompous moralist. She may be present when someone else makes a comment about another person, but she just keeps her mouth shut. Sometimes when the gossip gets juicy, Aunt Izzy just gets up and leaves the room. She doesn't lecture lec-ture on the evils of character assas-: assas-: sination. She just walks out. IF THE conversation is only gen- : eral discussion about someone : else, she keeps quiet until the conversation con-versation turns to something she : can enjoy like cooking or grand- : children or the state of the world. : In all the years I have known her, I I have not heard her say anything : on the subject of gossip. She : doesn't hold herself up as a pious : example for all other sinners to : emulate. She doesn't lecture her ' children about how destructive we : can be to each other. She just keeps : her mouth shut. BECAUSE people know she will never repeat anything told her in confidence, she is probably the repository re-pository of more personal secrets than anyone else we know, but telling tell-ing Aunt Izzy a secret is like dropping drop-ping into a well. It's just gone. She doesn't go on and on about what marvelous people some of the - dolts we discuss are. I suspect she is fairly shrewd as a character : judge. She is quite selective in the company she keeps, but she never discusses why she prefers one person per-son over another. She just quietly : does what she thinks is best and |