The Purse - How to Stop Spreading Gossip

This is a very good object lesson about how to handle gossip.

A fellow by the name of J. C. Bays told this story: “One day when I was about eight years old, I was playing by an open window and I heard Mrs. Brown confide in my mother a serious problem concerning her son. When Mrs. Brown was gone, my mother, realizing I had heard everything, said to me, ‘If Mrs. Brown had left her purse here today, would we give it to someone else?’ ‘Of course not,’ I replied. Then she continued: ‘Mrs. Brown left something far more precious to her than her purse today. That story is not ours to give to anyone else. It’s still hers, even though she left it. So we should not give it to anyone else. Do you understand?’ I did. And I still understand that when someone leaves a bit of confidence or careless gossip with me, it is his—not mine to give to anyone else.