LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 10 - Strider

[Evisse the Blue]

Merry saying that he felt as if he drowned in deep water is one of the very few instances in the book which brings chills of terror down my spine. Deep water (especially deep muddy water) means death or the foreshadowing of death, take for instance --don't laugh now-- Anna Karenina's similar vision before she takes her own life.

But I did not bring this thread up just to say this, (that would have been really flippant of me ) but to ask about this fragment:

Merry and Frodo are talking about Frodo's little 'accident':

"But I wish I had been thee to see. The worthies of Bree will be discussing it a hundred years hence."
"I hope so" said Strider.

Maybe a silly question, but why exactly does Aragorn say that? Why would he 'hope' that, when it would have been in their best interest that this incident be forgotten as soon as possible?