WHEN a child, I was one day talking very fast about some relative who did not stand very high in my esteem, and was about to speak further of her failings of temper. In a few moments my eyes caught a look of such calm and steady displeasure that I stopped short. There was no mistaking the meaning of that dark, speaking eye. It brought confusion and shame to my heart. I was silent for a few moments, when J. G.―asked, very gravely, “Dost thou not know any good thing to tell us of her?”
I did not answer, and the question was more seriously asked: “Think; is there nothing good thou cant tell us of her?”
“Oh, yes; I know some good things certainly; but—”
“Would it not have been better then to relate those good things than to have told us that which must lower her in our esteem Since there is good to relate, would it not be kinder to be silent on the evil? ‘Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity,’ thou knowest” (Prov. 25:2323The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue. (Proverbs 25:23); 1 Cor. 13:66Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; (1 Corinthians 13:6); Prov. 6:16-1916These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. (Proverbs 6:16‑19)).