THE POISON OF TONGUES by Ruth Merriam

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 3, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 34.

THE POISON OF TONGUES.

By Ruth Merriam

"Yes, I have found a treasure this time. Esther has been with us a month, and she is all I could ask."

Mrs. Surrey's friend laughed. "What is a month? Remember it is the new broom that sweeps clean."

Mrs. Surrey was sunning herself in the thought of her good fortune, as she started out for a call one afternoon.

The friend she had wished to see was not at home, and, having in mind some necessary sewing, she returned home. She sat down at her sewing table without delay, noting carelessly that the children were talking on the veranda. They were out of her sight, because the blind of the end window was closed.

She had sewed some minutes, keeping company with her own thoughts, before it occurred to her that the children's high-pitched chatter was replaced by Esther's low voice, softened somewhat beyond its custom. A word caught her attention; her sewing slipped to the floor; she slid without noise to the window, listening, with frightened face close against the blind.

Upon the eager attention of the four children the trusted Esther was pouring a stream of filthy information and anecdote. An occasional laugh or comment in answer betrayed that the occasion was not alone of its kind.

The mother's energy was paralyzed for a few seconds by the unexpectedness of the affair. Truly, Esther had found a use for her magnetic power over the children, in compelling them to keep silence in regard to these lessons in evil—these children whose hearts had once been open for the mother to read.

Mrs. Surrey went to the side door, forcing herself to speak naturally.

"Gertrude, had you not better practice your hour before it is any later? Mrs. Bruce was not at home, so I came back again. And, Charley, will you do an errand in town for me?"

She went back to her sewing, the younger children following her, while the older ones went away as bidden. The eyes of the mistress and maid had met, and Esther knew that a reckoning would follow as soon as the little ones should be absorbed in their play.

Esther being dismissed, Mrs. Surrey set about administering antidotes to the poison. An earnest little chat, a renewal of confidence between mother and child, a few warnings, removed danger in the case of the little ones.

But for ten-year-old Charley and thoughtful Gertrude there was but one sure antidote—TRUTH.

Mrs. Surrey had not been one to withhold timely information. Yet she was reminded by this accident that she had erred on the side of reticence.

Suppositions may not always be profitless. What if Mrs. Surrey had not so soon discovered the poison at work in her family? What if she had been less wise in the matter of antidotes? What if her children had not been prepared for scientific truths by familiarity with natural laws at work in fields, garden, sky, and water? What if poison has touched your children, while you thought them safe? —Ruth Merriam.