no evil end in view, if told that he has dealt a blow to a friend, or done a neighbor a wrong, would meet the charge, indignant and aghast. Yet the game goes on bravely from day to day! We all play it, quite innocent of malice; give a buffet to the flying tale to send it onward, half expiring with laughter at the quaint, fantastic shapes it assumes.
Without presuming to don the solemn robes of the social reformer, which might float with as little grace as the usurped lion's skin in the fable, may we not venture to suggest an antidote to the bane of this popular, death-dealing game? We fear it is one almost too simple to strike; yet simplest herbs have counteracted deadliest poisons. It lies in resolutely setting our faces against crediting any injurious rumor by the reflection that the story is, in all probability, an illustration of the marvellous metamorphoses wrought by that magical game of "scandal" which we, and all the world, are merrily playing.
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