THE GOSSIP SHOP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20988, 26 September 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE GOSSIP SHOP.

EY EAVESDROPPER.

A RURAL INSTITUTION.

The world over, women love to gossip. Usually it, is harmless chatter of clothes, illness, electric washing machines or babies: sometimes it is malicious, often just tinged with spite, but everywhere it is inevitable. Perhaps it is some innate streak of jealousy, sometimes carefully hidden but there just the same, that makes wtjjnen discuss ona another; perhaps it id an insatiable thirst for news; but. everywhere that women meet, gossip follows. In the cities, there are women's clubs, bridge parties, dances and the popular functions designated " afternoons," where the curious sex may meet; and exchange opinions—about somebody who is not there—but in the country districts, where social intercourse is limited to an occasional dance or a still less frequent meeting, the womenfolk have less opportunity to display their knowledge of other people's affairs. Not that gossip is bv any means a lost art in the country; on the contrary, it thrives there, where there are fewer residents and woman knows the most intimate affairs of every other in remarkable detail. Perhaps it is that in the country there are fewer interests, and any departure from the ordinary, no matter how slight, is treated with due importance, to be bandied from mouth to mouth, gaining in moment and losing veracity at every repetition. In every small country township there is a recognised centre of gossip, where a woman may, on coming to town, air her grievances and discuss her acquaintances. As often as nor. it is some shop, perhaps a small confectionery, draperv or news stand, that has the doubtful honour of being recognised as the hub of local gossip, and the proprietress is a veritable mine of doubtful information. Ready, even eager, to add to her own remarkable fund of questionable details, and surprisingly generous in the manner in which she distributes choice items to her miny acquaintances, she welcomes visitors to the shop. Often she cares little for the:r custom—she must know that many of her visitors do not come to buy. but to talk and listen—but that does not deter her in the very least. The Proprietress. Always the first to learn details of the past life, habits, social standing, wealth and future intentions of the latest arrival in the district, the proprietress of the local gossip shop is a person of no small importance. Her word carries weight, arid, moreover, since she knows so manv details of the life of every woman for miles round, and could tell exactly what ifrs. Johnson is in the habit of serving her husband at breakfast—" a disgrace, considering how hard he works, and him such a nice man! —she is not a person to be crossed. Even some of the men quad before her eye, for who could argue with a woman who has sold his wife the material for a man's underclothes, or else knows to a penny how much his clip brought at the last wool sale ? All day long women find their wav to the gossip shop, to sit by the hour and hold forth when ziven the chance by the verbose proprietress. It is not otten that the chance occurs, but when | does, and the eager speaker has someI thing really new to impart, what a thrill she gets! How the others hang on her words and. long after she has finished | the tale, press for more, so that she is I forced to draw even further on her own productive imagination! Sometimes the I eager woman who has waited balf-an- | hour to break her exclusive news fails | to produce the effect she has so keenlv anticipated, and then realises, when it is too Lite, that she has been guiltv of the heinous offence of passing stale news. Immediately she sinks in the estimation of her partners in gossip, and the only way to make amends is to produce something really startling, a clandestine engagement, for preference, at the next gathering of the enthusiastic sisters. Embellishing Facts.

The temale mind is remarkable in manv ways, bat for amazing credulity it cannot be equalled anywhere" The little tit-bits or gossip hi at are so keenly collected and passed on probably have some foundation in fact, vec the manner in which women absorb them without question, and pass them on as authenticated truth, is truly astonishing. frew. if any. of the choice pieces of news discussed are pure fabrications, yet each item is improved upon with every telling, until it quite dwarfs the half-truth from which it rose. JLven the most unlikely suggestions—that the local constable was found helplesslv drunk or that the vicar is reallv a, longlost son of old Mrs. Mather, who chars at the school—are gladly accepted, threshed out, duly embellished and passed on. In spite of the amazing tangle of fabrications she delights to keep in her capacious memory, and pass on with a still more hopeless twist, the local queen of gossip is very rarely caught oat in so convincing a manner as to rob her of further speech with which to make some ingenious excuse. Constant retailing of rumour, with the necessity of remembering all she had said previously in case she should He called upon to repeat the tale before one of her previous listeners, has given this woman a certain alertness of mind and a readiness of speech which might well be better employed. Indeed, she is usually a woman of superior education to those with whom she foregathers so regularly, and rules her disciples sternly. Few dare to question any of her sweeping statements, and it is r:ire that, there is any bold enough to contradict her. Any such daring spirit can usually be silenced by being told that the news originated elsewhere, and asked severely whether she thinks that the leading spirit in this modern school for scandal would be guilty of wilfully passing false news. A hasty denial of any such base thought follows in nine cases out of ten. The proprietress knows full well the value of an assumed se«se of injured innocence. Faux Pas. Only once is it on record, in a small township not far from Auckland, where gossip-mongering is the principal local industry, that the leading light has been effectually quashed, and even then the effect was not lasting. Leaning over the counter in a confidential manner, the queen of gossip was holding forth in characteristic style. The news she had to tell was worth waiting for, and. like a true orator, she was working on the minds of her susceptible audience to arouse them to a suitable pitch of enthusiasm before revealing the point cf her story. At. last the important fact was unfolded—a new doctor was coming to the district. Drawing freely on. her imagination, the proprietress painted a vivid picture of the new medico, his family, his early life, his wild orgies while a student overseas. She criticised his skill as a surgeon, expressed disapproval of his remaining unmarried. and hinted darkly that there had been something sinister about the manner in which he left his previous practice. She called those present to witness that she had warned them, and that if any was fool enough to consult the new man, and things went wrong—well, she could not be blamed. Engrossed in her denunciation, the worthy soul paid little 1 or no attention to the quiet woman in the corner, who was looking a trifle uncomfortable. " I hope you will excuse me," she murmured, " but I am the new doc t0.."