DOES GOSSIP STOP SCANDALS?

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4251, 13 April 1921, Page 4

DOES GOSSIP STOP SCANDALS?

By A VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER

Village gossip prevents more scandals than it causes.

Were it not for the kindly and unkindly interest that country folk take in each other's concerns, there would be many a tragedy and many a broken life.

A middle-aged friend of mine whose wife is a confirmed invalid began to be seen frequently in the company of his sister-in-law. There was no harm in the affair; the twain were only "good village pals." But certain remarks were made in the village and my friends decided to meet less frequently.' Note the sequel:

Last week he was speaking of his wife. "She is much more cheerful," he said, "and she is really good company. Do you know, if it hadn't been for old Mrs. 's tongue I should have been quite neglecting her by this time, and perhaps breaking her heart." Now, in a town where people are too busy to gossip and where they are all, more or less, strangers to one another.,this little domestic episode might have drifted into tragedy and three lives would have been ruined.

Rural life has no secrets. I know all-about the vicarage; the parson knows all about the school-house. And the village is aware of everything we do. There must be no shirking of work or any irregularity of any kind; the village would ring with it to-morrow. Far more effectual than bishop or school inspector are' the censorious tongues of the village street.

And if the fear of "what people say" has this effect upon (may I say?) the intelligentsia of our little community, what of the gossipers themselves? (Frankly, we all gossip, and through what my charwoman told me one day the vicar and I prevented a local girl from- going away with a man who was already married. ) Homes are kept data and tidy net for the love of good housewifery but because "people do talk so." Our womenfolk dieuss their friends' carpets, crockery, and cobwebs with appalling frankness, and their frequent "tea-ing out" —for they are really very hospitable—give them ample material for comparisons.

The children benefit, too. Woe betide the mother whose children are not passed as "clean" by the school nurse. The news is echoed in every house.

No.doubt it is strange that good effects should come from such a questionable method, but this is indeed the case. I hold no brief for gossiping tongues or for the spite which sometimes, but not often, wags them, but it must be remembered that in our villages we are rather remote from civilisation, moral and material, and the first hints of gossip serve as a warning light and people scorn them only- at their peril.