“She told me,” Sadie complained to a friend, “that you told her the secret I told you not to tell her.”

“Well,” replied her friend in a hurt tone, “I told her not to tell you I told her.”

“Oh , dear,” sighed Sadie. “Well don’t tell her I told you that she told me.”

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GOSSIP is the most deadly microbe.

It has neither legs nor wings. It is composed entirely of tales and most of them have stings.

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Strange what a gossiping tongue can do • • • the things it can tell that never were true ••• The happy homes it pulls right down. • • The banner of lies that it flings in the town ••• The crimson hearts that it loves to break • • • And the joyful way that it tries to take ••• A starbright dream from a secret place • • • And trims its edges with shabby lace ••• The doubt that it plants where the roses grew • • .The skies that it robs of dream-swept blue • • • It ruins the chalice that held one’s youth ••• It twists the threads in the skein of truth • • • It laughs a little at wistful tears ••• What does it care that grief lasts for years? • • • Strange what a gossiping tongue can do • •• The things it can tell that never were true.

–A. B. Chapman