But still Mrs.Davidson smiled.

'What in the dickens are you grinning about now, old lady ?' he demanded.

'Oh, well, Abiram,' she said, 'everything is so dark and unpleasant I've just got to smile.' 'Well,' said the old man crossly, 'I think you might give your face a rest sometimes.'" "I shall not talk gossip," wrote Sara Ray with a satisfied air.
"Oh, don't you think that's a little TOO strict ?" asked Cecily anxiously.

"Of course, it's not right to talk MEAN gossip, but the harmless kind doesn't hurt.

If I say to you that Emmy MacPhail is going to get a new fur collar this winter, THAT is harmless gossip, but if I say I don't see how Emmy MacPhail can afford a new fur collar when her father can't pay my father for the oats he got from him, that would be MEAN gossip.