The most dangerous thing about it is that a word once uttered can
never be obliterated. Some one has said that lying is a worse crime
than counterfeiting. There is some hope of following up bad coins
until they are all recovered; but an evil word can never be overtaken.
The mind of the hearer or reader has been poisoned, and human devices
cannot reach in and cleanse it. Lies can never be called back.
A woman who was well known as a scandal-monger, went and confessed to
the priest. He gave her a ripe thistle-top, and told her to go out and
scatter the seeds one by one. She wondered at the penance, but obeyed;
then she came and told the priest. He next told her to go and gather
again the scattered seeds. Of course she saw that it was impossible.
The priest used it as an object-lesson to cure her of the sin of
scandalous talk.