The Tongue of Scandal

Two young persons. Tom Dexter and Bessie Bolton, are very much in love with each other; they are almost inseparable. The village gossips, for the want of something better to do, ventilate their opinions about the matter. Tom persuades Bessie to become his wife and they go to another county to get married, agreeing to keep their wedding a secret for one year until Tom becomes of age. At the end of six months, gossip develops into scandal. Bessie's position becomes serious and she writes Tom that he must acknowledge their marriage. Tom replies that his father is sending him to Europe for six months and begs her to guard their secret until his return. The poor girl bears up as best she can and finds a confidant and champion in her pastor, who will hear no evil against her and defends her in the face of the most heartless accusations and persecutions. Her own uncle, a deacon of the church, with whom she lives, denounces her with others in open meeting at the church. They demand her dismissal from membership and cast all sorts of imputations upon her. The old pastor will not see her cast out and destroyed; he will protect her. The congregation give him the choice of giving up his position of pastor or the espousal of the girl. He leaves the church and takes Bessie to his home. While they are awaiting, in want and self-denial, Tom's return from "abroad," Bessie becomes a mother. The minister who married Tom and Bessie has been called to fill the pulpit of the good old man who has so faithfully succored the helpless girl. The scandal mongers are congratulating themselves on their righteousness when Tom returns, claims his wife and child, takes them before the church and faces their vilifiers, tells about his secret marriage to Bessie, is sustained by the pastor who performed the ceremony, demands an apology to Bessie and himself and then another for the dear old pastor who so nobly shielded the helpless and fatherless in the hour of need. With the kindly acceptance of their regrets, the old pastor calls the attention of the congregation to the "motto on the wall: "Charity Thinketh No Evil," then leads them in a prayer of gratitude for the blessings of charity which come to all who practice it.