PRISON OF GOSSIPS.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVI, Issue 40, 2 November 1909, Page 2

PRISON OF GOSSIPS.

The Georgia Legislature has made it a penitentiary offence "to utter any false or defamatory remarks about a woman," and the optimistic correspondent of the Associated Press in Atlanta says " it is believed the Bill will put a bridle upon scandalous tongues." We are also told, states a Columbia State journal, that now "the penitentiary stares scandal-mongers in the face." But can .the Legislature decrease the scandal-mongering? We douht it. We are told by those who lived in other times, when the code duello was extant, that the man who spoke disparagingly of a woman did so at his peril, and that a woman who reflected upon the reputation of any member of her sex did so at the peril of the responsible male member of the family, the husband, brother, father t or other kinsman being held accountable for injurious tongue-clatter of their women. And perhaps the danger of slanderous talking curbed some tongues, but possibly there was a little delicious gossip even a couple of generations ago—and possibly, too, there was then something to gossip about. But will the cruel Georgia legislators tell the present generation what to do if not to gossip about tho neighbors? When there is work, talk is not essential, but there is not always work. Men meet sometimes at the club; women, too, have their clubs, whether social, card, tea, or sewing clubs, and "conversation" is the joy of each occasion. But modern conversation is quite different from that other conversation, the art of which wae lost when so many men and women ceased to think or to know anything worth thinking about. And so it comes to pass that about 19 out of every 21 of theso little gatherings in the Sob,'\l circles of the social cities are. in the parlance of the day, "up against it." There must be "conversation, '< and subjects of general interest are rare; indeed, to dive beneath the surface would be dangerous. But there is one common 'anguage. Gossip is the mother tongue of every one, and a strong flavor of scandal gives it, for each, the endearing charm of familiar accent. It is to'be feared they will "scandalise" in Georgia, tlespito Mr McCurry's law.