DETRACTION AND SCANDAL.
Universal prevalence of detraction and slander. Proofs Shakspeare.
Burns the poet. Self-knowledge, how much to be desired. Reference to
the work of Mrs. Opie--to our own hearts--to the Bible.
Let it not be supposed, for one moment, that I consider young women as
more generally in the habit of detraction than other people; for I
venture on no comparisons of the kind. All I presume to take for
granted is, that they are often exceedingly faulty in this respect, and
need counsel and caution. Were there any doubts on the latter point,
one would think they might very readily be removed by reading the
excellent work of Amelia Opie, entitled, "Detraction Displayed; or, a
Cure for Scandal."
This detraction or scandal is so common every where in life, that
multitudes are addicted to it without the shadow of a suspicion that
they are so. Thousands and thousands of young women whose hearts would
recoil at the bare recital of deeds of butchery and blood--nay, who
would faint at the sight of the severities, not to say cruelties,
which, under the guise of parental discipline, or on the plea of
authority, are often and hourly inflicted on the bodies of young and
old--who will yet rob and murder their unoffending neighbors. For there
is no little truth in what Shakspeare says so pungently--
"Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 't is his, it may be slave to thousands:
But he that filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed."
Nor is there less of truth in what the evangelist says, that "whoso
hateth his brother" (and does not a slanderer _hate_?) "is a murderer."
I know it may seem harsh to fasten on any class of the community, and
above all, on the young of either sex, the charge of robbery or murder.
But is it not proper that the truth should be told? And if there is
such a propensity in us to competition in its varied forms, that not
only thoughts but words of detraction are, as it were, forever on our
thoughtless tongues and lips, and we will not, though often warned, set
a guard over the latter, is it not right that we should be represented
as the robbers of reputation? And if there is such a disposition to try
to be first in the community, and to compel those around us to take the
second place--the lower seat--as generates envy and hatred--the _seeds_
of murder--is it not right to warn the young of their danger? And when
we find them callous to our representations of the truth--when we find
their hearts almost as unmoved as the firm rocks they tread on,
notwithstanding our most faithful exhibitions of human depravity, as is
evinced by the slander, the detraction and the calumny which every
where prevail, and which many must see, as in a glass, to prevail in
their own bosoms, while yet their very blood recoils at the tales of
imaginary wo from the pen of Bulwer, or some other novelist of kindred
fame--is it not proper to remind people of what the evangelist says of
hatred, that it is murder?
Burns, the poet, sought some power who would bestow on us the gift "to
see ourselves as others see us." Poor Burns! this was as high as he
could be expected to go. But how much more to be desired is it, that we
could see ourselves as _God_ sees us? Not indeed at once, lest the very
sight should sink us, forthwith, into everlasting night; but by
degrees, rather, as we may be able to endure it.
How much to be desired is it, I say, especially by the young, that we
might see how prone we are to enter into competition, particular or
general, with the community; and how apt we are, with almost every
breath, and in almost every conceivable form, to throw the good
character, and merits, and success, even, of others into the shade. How
can those whose young hearts beat high in anticipation of a good name,
even in this world, be willing to jeopardize their character by the
commission of so much meanness!
I need not enter into particulars, especially when the invaluable work
of Mrs. Opie is before the world. Let me refer those who entertain
doubts whether, after all, I am not among the very sort of detractors
whom I am censuring with so much severity--and whether, what I complain
of in the individual, as abusive on here and there a neighbor or
acquaintance, I am not pouring, by wholesale, and with a spirit not a
whit better, upon a whole community,--let me refer all such, I say, to
that invaluable work. Let me also refer them to themselves.
I am sure no one can carefully examine and analyze her own most secret
feelings without discovering in herself the spirit of detraction in
some form or other, if it be only in the form of genteel slander, envy
or discontent. If there be those who do not find it so with themselves,
and who say that however it may be with others, they are not thus
circumstanced or thus guilty, I pity them most sincerely, as grossly
ignorant of themselves. Such persons I have only and lastly to refer to
that volume of Divine Truth, which assures us that the heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; and which asks, with
the most pertinent significance, not to say eloquence-WHO CAN KNOW IT?