— Is gossiping a sin? — she asked the old man. — Was that the hand of God Almighty pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?
— Yes! — Father O’Rourke answered her. — Yes, you ignorant, badly broughtup female! You have borne false witness against your neighbor, you have played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed!
So the woman said she was sorry and asked for forgiveness.— Not so fast! — says O’Rourke. — I want you to go home, take a pillow up on your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me!
— Did you gut the pillow with the knife? — he says.
— Yes, Father.
— And what was the result?
— Feathers, — she said.
— Feathers? — he repeated.
— Feathers everywhere, Father!
— Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind!
— Well, — she said, — it can’t be done. I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over.
— And that, — said Father O’Rourke, — is gossip!