In slander the listener is almost, if not quite, as bad as the speaker. The only true thing is to shut your ears the moment you begin to hear from any one an evil report of another. The person has no right to tell it to you, and you have no right to hear it. If you refuse to listen, he will not be able to go on with his narration. Ears are made to hear with, but on occasion it is well to be deaf. We all aim at courtesy, and courtesy requires that we be patient listeners, even to dull and prosy talkers; but even courtesy may not require us to listen to evil reports about a neighbour. Ear-gate should be trained to shut instinctively when the breath of aspersion touches it, just as eye-gate shuts at slightest approach of harm.