The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-12-08
Honesty the Best Policy.

than 800. Ledger.
Honesty the Best Policy.
Where money is the universal object,
the possessor of money will be practi-
cally honored. Tho honor will un.
doubtedly be affected in some degree
by tho method of obtaining the money.
If it is pirates method or highway
mans, If we know that throats have
been cut and bludgeons used to obtain
it, or If we see the thief actually rifilng
his neighbors's pockets, we shall hardly
invite him to dinner, and that money
will not become respectable until the
next generation. But if the process is
more artfully concealed; if the money
is not labeled Extensively, but is quietly
converted into satin damask and Cham
pagne; if we do not read on the buhl
and ormOlu tables and cabinets an in
scription stating that this beautiful
work Of art was take out of the throat
Of "a Spanish trader opened for that pur
pose, or upon the inlaid ebony lounge
that it Was extracted from the POCKET
of a ridiculous old widow who had
nothing else-if nothing of this gross
kind appears, our well-bred curiosity is
not impertinent, and we sit upon the
sofa and quaff the wine without further
thought.
1t is in this way that honesty has
N hot RI
which 1t is proverbially entitled. In
deed, to look at many a city congrega-
tion, recognizing many of the persons,
and knowing their careers, and hearing
the precepts ofintegrity and self. denial,
of personal holiness, and even of mar
tyrdom II need be, which are eloquent
ly urged upon them, inevitably sug-
gestS the allusion of Carlyle to the
hypocrisy which is so confounded when
it is suspected of being hypocritical,
Men measure conduct by the real es.
TEEN in which 1t is held. II foul
mouthcd: profane Thersites, who filings
his dinner-p plate upon the floor at "a pub
lie hotel to express his dissatisfaction
with the banquet, evidently forfeits nc
! social consideration, profanity and i'll
behavior will not seem to be thugs to
be strenuou5ly avoided. If q sharper
who CANDLES in stocks and cheats his
neighbors airily is laughed at pleasant
ly as an eccentrically q ueer fellow, an
immense impulse is given to the resolu'
tion to be eccentricaly queer in the same
way. Ifa politician with the conscience
of a fox and the honor of an adder bel
lows his devotion to the dear people
and vOciferously appeals to the moral
sentiments, while his career ins ult,
them all, is thought, first of all, a con
founded smart fellow who may not be
too nice upon some points, but who 8 l.
ways falls upon his feet, such politician:
will abound, and public affairs falling
into their hands will inevitable suffer
All these figures arc well known to u
in this country ; and when the eloquen
preacher exclaims, "Beyond peradven
ture, brethren, honesty is the bes
polic," we all turn and look at tn,
richest man in the ngregation, who's
Invitations we do not dare to refuse
who leads us chained to his triumpha
chariot as the Roman generals le(
Dacian kings, and whose money wa
all stolen, not earned. And near hin
sits another whom we should not care
to invite to our houses, but for whom
we vote, upon some theory that
political intriguer and briber will max
good laws. And in the next pew behol'
the unjust judge, whose health W
publicly drink in his own wine whel
, he sends it to us at table. We see them
we mediate their careers, we conside
their prosperity, and we gaze at tn
good preacher who repeats, "Once more
, dear brethren, lay it TO heart, honest,
, is the best policy" Might he not as pro
n liable murmur "Mesopotamia? ?"
q But when circumstances, as lately i
New York, suddenly scatter the CLAN
: our Of prosperity and reveil the make
: dishonesty, then the old truth whic
| is lodged in the very substance ofthin!
q appears, that honesty is the best polic.
and that, indeed, there is no othe
/. The time comes when, as we seat on
v selves in the dazzling drawing-roor
!. upon the luxurious sofa, we sudden
V see the inscription frightfully legibl
q "Stolen from poor widows" And as '
q. rise in trepidation and move toward t
a buhl cabinet, the legend flashes cut
.s over 1t, "Stolen from starving orphans
h And in terrible light, outdazzling I
Is dazzling drawing room, we see blaz
N every where around US, "This is
If thief's house, and these are his spoils
,e The moment that is seen the proveri
vindicated. The buhl remains, but &C
N tempt stays with it. Dishonesty |
n bought its prosperity at too high pri
,r 1t has bought money at the cost of eve
n. thing that makes money valuable. I
@. prosperous gentleman at whom we
al looked when we heard That honesty
er tho best policy is recognized and bral
w ed as thief. Was not the preac
40 right Is not the dishonesty bad poll
tv The great national benefit of the
n. velopments in New York is mo
ot Events there have destroyed the p
IT, tige Of "smartness," and have she
NO practically that mere money is
en- enough even for success, and
at prosperous swindling is not good p
all cy.-Harper's Magazine.
tx
of A NEGREss, speaking Of one of
me children who was lighter colored I