While staying at a B&B this weekend in Atlin BC (the little Switzerland of
the North, as they say), I saw one of those transforming Victorian images
(remember the one of a woman looking in the vanity that also looks like a
skull?). This one was entitled: "Gossip. Satan was there too." It showed two
19th C. ladies holding hands, face to face, in front of a large mirror. On
second glance, they transmogrify in to a rather quaint devil's face. Why was
it that in those days they pretended that only women gossip?

                -----Original Message-----
                From:   Met History [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
                Sent:   Friday, April 21, 2000 2:32 PM
                To:     [log in to unmask]
                Subject:        Gossip.

                I don't like gossip.  It is a corrosive social force.  It
debases those who
                trade in it, and cheapens those who tolerate it without
objection.  I don't
                like gossip; name-calling, either.

                Christopher Gray