Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1873-11-17
A White Lie.

critic and slanderer, who can twist truth
into falsehood, and falsehood into seem
ing truth. And then there is the down.
right Liar, who falsifes on purpose to
deceive. There is another downright
Liar not quite so bad-he falsifes from
a love of the marvellous, and a burning
desire to appear what he is not. Some
people lie because it is their disposition
to deceive. Others lie because they lack
the disposition to tell the truth. And,
there are other lies-sometimes called
White Lies-which arc mere lies of con-
venience. In their utterance there is no
evil intent. They are told just as man
whisks an impediment from his path
with his walking stick. They are told
to save trouble of explanation; or, per-
haps, to avoid reprimand. At first lie
of this kind may not seem very sinful
thing; but, unfortunately for the mis-
guided mortal who entertains the petty
sin, it is one that does not improve upon
acquaintance. Like many another evil
which might be mentioned. it is likely
to grow to alarming proportions and con-
sequences There is one safe ground
and only one Truth-Absolute Truth
under every circumstance and on all
occasions
Sarah Powers believed herself to be a
truthful girl. She had not the disposi-
ton to Willingly deceive. Had it been
plainly intimated to her that she was
Liar she would have been shocked be-
yond measure; and yet her rule of life
in this respect was not pure and un-
swerving, as we shall see.
Sarah" said Mrs. Powers, coming
| into the room one winter morning, where
her daughter sat, ''did you see anything
Of twenty-dollar bill on the mantel-
shelf last EVENING"" Her voice and
manner showed that she was unpleasant
ly exercised.
ga twenty-dollar bill ?'' repeated
Sarah with open eyes. NO
"You didn't see anything that looked
like one ?'s
Like a twenty-dollar bill ? Certain
ly not
81 certainly left it in the sitting room,
on the shelf; and know that set the
large glass lamp down on it, so that 1t
should not blow away. forgot all about
it until this morning. Oh, l must not
lose it.
But, mother, twenty dollars is not
such a large sum-
"Ordinarily. no, my child; but just
now it is considerable. Your father
accounts do not balance so favorably
this season as he had anticipated. In
fact, Sarah, he cannot possibly spare me
any more if he is to meet his bank-pa-
per- Where can that bill have gone to ?
And [ promised Mrs. Judkins- ten dol
lars to-day. Do you think it could pos
sibly have got knocked off and blown
away
We may as we'll remark just here,
! that Sarah Powers had been lying.
Falsehood was not certainly in the heart
of the young and sunny-faced girl but
her tongue had spoken it. The facts
were simply these:
On the previous evening Robert Yea.
zie had called to visit Sarah. Robert
was clerk in the store of Powers &
Dunbar, and was Sarah's accepted lover
He had displayed qualities of head and
heart which had recommended him tt
the favorable consideration of her pa
rents, and though he was poor, yet he
had business tact and energy. 1t was
understood by the careful father tha
there should be no formal engagement
at presently Sarah remembered tha
she and Robert had sat together upo1
the sofa and looked over an illustrated
magazine. While thus occupied it ha(
occurred to her that they could see bet
ter if the large lamp, which stood in tn
middle of the shelf, were moved out t.
the end and she arose to do it. Upol
lifting the lamp she saw a piece of pa
per whirl out and circle down until i
, was drawn into the fire Of the CRATE di
rectly beneath.
"What was that % asked Robert
who had seen the whirling paper.
81 don't know, I'm sure. It's burn
ed up, whatever it Was,' answered Sa
rah. She saw the charred, tinder-lik
! fragments whisked up by the draft an
: then she added guess it was moth
ing of Importance. 1t wouldn't hav
been there if it had BEEN
And after this she resumed her sea
! Now Sarah remembered all this yer
: we'll and. in truth, the question of he
e mother had startled her; but she ha
not seen twenty dollar bill. She kne
! nothing about any such bill. We ca
y imagine the amount of mental reserv;
: tion employed in this decision. Ht
n first impulse was to avoid disagreeabl
a exposure. If the bank-note had bee
> destroyed, as she now saw it must ha,
'. been destroyed, it had been through I
,r fault of hers, and, moreover. the 10.
4 could not possibly be helped
W Upon reflection, when Sarah saw no