15.Tale-Bearing

Tale-Bearing

"Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to he an unrighteous witness"—Exodus 23:1 "Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people."—Leviticus 19:16 "Keep thee far from a false matter."—Exodus 23:7 The "Boston Weekly Advertiser," May 9th, says:—"We have often heard the conundrum, 'Which is the mother of the chickens, the hen that lays the eggs or the hen that hatches them?' and now it is gratifying to have a legal decision of this vexed question of agricultural equity. A resident of "West Stratford, Conn., owned a lien of a fancy breed that strayed upon a neighbour's premises and laid a nest full of eggs. Another hen belonging to the owner of the land took possession of the nest and hatched the eggs. Then the two neighbours got into a wrangle about the chickens. They were sold by No. 2 to a third party, whereupon "No. 1 got out a writ of replevin, and the case was tried a few days ago with able counsel and many witnesses. The court decided that the hen that hatched the eggs was the legal mother, and dismissed the replevin suit."

It may be regarded as equally settled by the court of common sense that a person who repeats a slanderous tale is as much the parent of it as the first inventor—the hatcher is as bad as the layer, if not worse.

He who first forges the lie is assuredly guilty; but little or no harm would come of his deed if there were not persons willing to hear and to believe the calumny; and even then the mischief would be slight unless there were ready tongues to convey the story from place to place and so spread the evil. If it is true that the receiver is as bad as the thief, he who believes a lie is guilty as well as the man who utters it; how much more then is he an accomplice in the crime who repeats the falsehood, and finds it currency. Yet this is done very thoughtlessly, and when the slander is refuted, men seldom repent of having repeated it, though it is a sin for which they will have to answer before the Judge of all.

If I did not make the dagger, yet if I stab a man with it I am guilty of murder; if I did not concoct the accusation, yet if I injure my neighbour's character by repeating it, I am a partaker in the crime. To save ourselves from falling into this evil the safest course will be to be extremely incredulous of all libellous reports, and never under any circumstances to become tale-bearers. There are dogs whose delight it is to fetch and carry, and there can be no need that we should degrade ourselves by undertaking such an errand.

Plautus would have tale-bearers and tale-hearers alike punished by hanging, the one by the tongue and the other by the ears: we should soon be short of timber for gibbets if this witty sentence were carried out, but there is no need that any one of us should earn the right to swing among the company. If telephones and microphones are carried much further we shall have enough of hearing and over-hearing, and it will be wise for us to cultivate deafness when others are chattering. There would be very little lost if we were all to turn our vowels into mutes, and conclude our table-talk with a full stop. The next time the black hen lays an egg let her sit upon it herself and bring out her own chicks. No sensible being would wish to stand step-father to a lie, or to be a cat's-paw to the devil when he chooses to roast good men in the fire of slander. The town-crier of the City of London has an honourable office, but to be common crier for the town of Falsehood is not desirable; the work ranks next to that of common informer.