p. 444 | The Home Circle

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 23, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 28.

The Home Circle.

SLANDER.

Oh, could there in this world be found Some little spot of happy ground, Where village pleasures might go round, Without the village tattling! How doubly blest that place would be, Where all might dwell in liberty, Free from the bitter misery Of gossips' endless prattling.

And then they've such a cunning way Of telling ill-meant tales. They say: “Don't mention what I've said, I pray; I would not tell another.” Straight to your neighbor's house they go, Narrating everything they know; And break the peace of high and low, Wife, husband, friend, and brother.

Oh, that the mischief-making crew Were all reduced to one or two, And they were painted red or blue, That every one might know them; Then would our villages forget To rage and quarrel, fume and fret, Or fall into an angry pet, With things so much below them. —Sel.