The Game of Scandal by Mary Kyle Dallas

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 2, 1879

The Game of Scandal.

By Mary Kyle Dallas

THERE is a game called “scandal,” which creates a great deal of amusement when it is played properly. The persons who are engaged in the game stand or sit in a circle. The more the better; thirty or forty will make more fun than ten or twelve. When all are ready, the person appointed takes his righthand neighbor aside and whispers in his ear a short story; it may be about some one present, or about a public personage; but whatever it is, he must write it down and keep it, as a proof of what his statement was. The neighbor, in his turn, repeats the story as exactly as possible to the person on his right-hand, and he, having listened, passes it on. At last the tale returns to its original narrator, who writes it down as he receives it. It is said, and I believe truly, that never once has it been known to come back as it started. The most astonishing alterations occur. Innocent jokes have turned to frightful accusations, and only the reading of the first story can convince any one that he did not repeat exactly what he heard. There is no better type than this amusing play of the time-worn game of scandal that the world is playing, and has been playing ever since it began.

That a number of innocent people, with no intention of distorting facts, cannot hand the simplest story from one to another in the same room for a few moments without ridiculous alterations, proves the impossibility of getting at the truth of any story which has passed through many lips. The disposition of the hearer colors the tale even as he listens, and more than this, many people are deaf without being conscious of it, and in a peculiar way. There is auricular illusion as well as optical illusion. I know persons who, while intently listening, hear words that are not uttered, and who, in repeating the impression that has been made upon them, do not intend to tell falsehoods, but who will, nevertheless, say to you, with a bland smile: “I have told every one that you told me that Mr. X.’s beautiful young wife had eloped, and they are so sorry for him.” And while you deny that you made any such statement, and stare in wonder at the speaker, you remember having told her that “Mr. X.’s new country house was situated on a beautiful slope of the hill, and that he had bought it to please his young wife.” I, myself, no longer believe anything I hear, and only half that I see.

When you hear an evil story of any one you know to be good, discredit it, and say so. Grapes are not gathered from thistles. Neither do thistles grow upon a grape-vine. The fruit tells you from what tree it came; but you know also what fruit a tree is likely to bear. One you know to be good and kind and sweet and noble, is not likely to have done bad or cruel or spiteful or petty things. Why should you believe a tale of him who is the subject of scandal?—Mary Kyle Dallas.