Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-07-22

White Lying.

Let Us take not at home for our hrst
example of how far it is possible To- tell
the exact truth; and remember, # we
may not have DISCUSSES in one thing,
neither may we have them in another,
aad if one phrase ia not allowed as
mystical kind of domino, neither must
be smother.
Suppose, then, instead of these three
words expressing all they do and Just
what you desire they should express-.
out of the house, engaged, indlsposed 70
receive visits generally, or indlsposed 10
receive that special visitor IN particular
at apy rate a six-foot bar put up be-
tween you and the street door which not
the most pushing can very well force
omen. Won were obliged to tell the exact
truth, and tell it too By Mary Maids lips.
sob, sir, misses is having her new wig
tried on, and please, she can't see you.
"Plesse, nam, miss is at home, but
she says as how you are SO unpleasant to
her she can't bear to see you, and. you
do so run on about yourself, and you
have such bonnet as give her the
jaundice to look at.
Yes, sir, master and missis is both
at home, masters In the dining-room
s.blowing up missis awful, and missis's
eyes they are as red as red, and she d
rather You did not see her look such
friehtP
"Yes, sir, they Ter all at home, but
there's young Mr.. Sparrowhawk in the
drawing-room along with Miss Emily he
10, and they are looking out for him TO,
cay something like gentleman today,
A. III IL akasw nd
left them aloneP' tasffgrr
These are only few of the possible
features Of perfectly unveiled and hon
est truth; and pretty possibilities they
are; lovely featuresl certainly, to have
handed around to all the gossips of your
setl Duns; il may be bailffs { have
known such things happen before now;)
poor relations whom you love and value
and Of wh oso sensitive pride you are ten
DERBY careful, but whose gowns and bon
nets are Enthusiastically shabby and your
visitors a purseprond couple who will
weigh them only according to the money
worth of their appearance; washing day
and every thing pervaded by the smell Of
soap and steam and soda; your teeth at
the dentists--no one suspecting they are
"dentists triumph's" at all; the off day
of the hair dying, when you are a mix
ture of purple and grey Christmas bills
and papa in state of fury aud efferYes-
cence a case of mild scarlet fever in the
nursery, and you anxious to conceal the
fact yet not subject any one to danger
we can imagine hundreds Of instances
in which no one would like to tell the
naked truth, and where the naked truth
would be quite unnecessary, and indeed
do more harm than good. Yet my
friends and eombatants used to gravely
assert that not at home was an IN
truth utterly inadmissible, and that "en-'
gagged was the nearest approach to
subterfuge possibly to be allowed.
Engaged | wonder how many people
would take that for an answer Some
Of course would; the we'll bred and the
formal, and the timid and the reluctant
they would all murmer the polite
phrase proper to the occasion, and drop
their card into the servants hand with
the stereotyped unmeaning smile, and
the ,atereotyped unmeaning regret; but
there are dozens of our robuster ac-
quainiances on the spot, saying, compIa-
Gently, "Oh, i am sure she will see mel"
Sarah, Just go and tell Mrs. Brown that
it's only me, Mr.. Smith, of Oamberwell,
and I'm sbure she Il see me, If only for
3 half a minute"
him will your that shall not keep. hi
long; my business is very pressing, and
indeed must see him"-(his business
being only boring hour Of personal
gossip, perfectly uninteresting and Of no
good TO heaven or humanity; and 80 on
with the remainder of the dozens. And
then where would you be2 answer me
. that, Impracticablesl where would you
and your engagements be, when assaulted
by your robust acquaintance, and forced
to stand and deliver, or show fight and
come. to blows2 Oh, poor deluded NOR
alist, who stand out for the plain truth
unmasked and intact, and will not have
so much as q rag Of lace-work, signifying
nothing but polite screen between you
and the outside world, ia It truth, think
you, this high handed refusal TO ac-
knowledge that which ia2--is 1t quite ac. /
cording TO your own rnles to range your
self on the side of the impossible, pre-
tending that this, and this alone, shall
be the law of your life2--is there no |
want of inward candor, which may be of |
more spiritual importance than mere |
verbal accuracy in this pretended as
sumption of virtue unattainable, and 4
untenable If attained7--this passionate /
declaring yourself to be votaries Of one
God when you are bringing garlands and
offerings to the shrine OF smother? |
That tipioe attitude Of strained moral \
assumption is greater loss of truth, to 4
my mind, than bidding your servant say
Not at Home when you are all the while
in the drawing-room, comfortably or un. |
comfortably engaged in your own bust.
ness, and indisposed to admit the outside |
world for twenty-four hours to come.
Bot then may be singular in my meas.
urements Of respective values; think / |
an right. 81 "a =
What would the world be like if we
all said out our thoughts2 We should
be . set of savages, cutting each others
threats, and brandishing eternal toma
hawks over each others skulls; there
would be no peace and no love and no
sspplness left among us; and for this
one questionable virtue of truth nnveil-
ed We should have parted with all the rest.
A thinks b q conceited stuck.up Insult. /
ferable puppy: B thinks A q pipish.
solemn, uncomfortable owl Shall a and I
B make clean breasts of it mutually. and
tell the truth without shaming him who |
shall be nameless2 As it is, being han
PLY men of the world who know ,tbe
worth of keeping their own council, they
meet at railway boards and in COMMITTEES
rooms, and at dinner tables, and at la
dies drawing rooms TRANQUILITY enough; L
and A keeps his puppy dog chained up
IN the innermost courts, and even yelps 4
out some insignificant white lis of con-
ventional kindness, and B buries his owl
deep in the ivy bush of formal civilities,
and he never once let's him loose to 20
mousing after unpleasant candor. And
me result is that B finds A something
s Ies.er than puppy, and B ENDS A some