Uncharitable Charitableness.
If there is one sin of the tongue which is more hateful than another, surely it is the sin of uncharitable charitableness. Every statement has its implications, as the lawyers say; and sometimes the most effectual way of slandering your neighbor is to express a charitable hope that he may not be as bad as some people have reason to think him. There is nothing which hurts reputation like suspicion, and there is nothing which more directly suggests suspicion than the apparent reluctance with which one person acknowledges his hope that another person may be an honest man in spite of what he himself might say if he would. “I know that that is not true of Mr. Asterisk,” said one sharply. “I hope not,” blandly responded Mr. Blank. “I will try not to believe it as long as I can help.” Some time later, Mr. Asterisk’s reputation was abundantly cleared, and that from the very same source where it had been first called in question. “Now you see it has turned out all right,” said the one who had expressed his belief in Mr. Asterisk’s innocence. “Not whitewashed, I hope!” said Mr. Blank—who was, of course, too charitable to speak uncharitably.—S. S. Times.