Effect of Taletelling by MRS. J. S. PADGETT

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 29, 1913

Effect of Taletelling

By MRS. J. S. PADGETT

MRS. J. S. PADGETT

“WHERE no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.” Prov. 26: 20.

The ancients have illustrated the effect of taletelling on busybodies themselves by a fable to the effect that the crow, once snowy white in color, wears his present garb of black as a punishment for the crime of talebearing. A poet says:—

“The raven once in snowy plumes was dressed, White as the whitest dove’s unsullied breast, Soft as the swan; a large and lovely fowl; His tongue, his prating tongue, has changed him quite To sooty blackness from the purest white.”

The person who allows himself to be a talebearer, who indulges in backbiting and slandering, tarnishes his own character and stains it with shades of guilt and sin. The effect upon the person slandered may not be lasting, for good always outlives the envious assaults of meddlers; but the spirit of calumny is interwoven into the very nature of persons who speak evil of their neighbors.

Can a leopard change his spots?—No. Can a taletelling mischief-making troubler refrain from playing havoc with the good name of men?—He can; but only by keeping his mouth as with a bridle. “A froward man soweth strife; and a whisperer separateth chief friends.” Prov. 16: 28.

White City, Fla.