A DAILY MESSAGE

Hokitika Guardian, 9 January 1929, Page 1

A DAILY MESSAGE

SLANDER Tin: murdered may kill but one—-and we bang lam. The slanderer may destroy many—and go scot tree. The man who kills another with a weapon usually does sc, under the- pressure of some great abnormal compui-

I’lie man who kills—or tries to kill with the weapon of slander needs no such compulsion ; lie proceeds deliberately to destroy

•Skilled by a (ouch to deepen scandal’s tints With all the kind mendacity of hints. While mingling tridh with falsehood, sneers with smiles. A thread of candour wiili a web of wiles. The slanderer, though nmongs the lowest of human creatures, generallv directs his poisoned darts at the highest members of the human family. Fvery great man in the world’s history every reformer, every lender—has been aimed at by (lie slanderer. As Lord Brougham, speaking on the “Fiile of the Reformer,” said: "It has been the lot of all men, in all ages, who Ini',e aspired to the honour of guiding, instructing, or mending mankind to have their paths beset by every persecution from enemies —-by every misconstruction from friends—by no quarter'from the one —no charitable (oustruction from the oilier. To be misconstrued and misrepresented has ever been i heir fate.” We have only to ponder over this for a moment, and there appears before us a great procession of immortal figures whose greatness did not save them from tho attacks mf tho

slanderers. Christ Socrates—Bruno Wilberforce Lincoln Gladstone Livingstone —all were aimed at in their turn. If you are doing useful work in any sphere, prepare to he aimed at. too. How can you expect to escape the sneers, the shrugs, the insinuations and innuendoes with which the human reptile has. from time immemorial, besmirched honour, character, chastity, and worth. •• Woo unto you,” said the sago, •• when all men shall speak well of vou.” —AI. PRESTON STANLEY.