Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-08-24
HONESTY AND POLICY.

The old adage, "honesty is the
best policy" while announcing a truth
lost sight of rogues, is yet liable to
be misconstrued by those who accept
it as a motive for action. 1t is not
strange that those who value person
al and immediate success above all
else should sometimes doubt the truth
of the assertion. A man, for exam
pie, desires most of all things to gain
money; it matters not for the pur-
pose whether it be to spend or to
amass. He sees an opportunity to
acquire considerable sum, at the
expense of strict fidelity to trust,
and is about to embrace it when the
thought occurs to him that perhaps
after all honesty may be the best pol
icy. eff this be true," he reflects,
ST shall only injure my own prospects
by the questionable act" and there
fore he refrains. Presently he sees
some one commit similar piece of
injustice, escape detection, and tri-
umphantly gain the money which he
resigned. "After all,' he reasons,
"here at least honesty has not been
the best policy and his faith in the
adage is shaken. Such things are
happening every day. Adulteration
in food and fabrics, short measures
and light weights, oppression of the
weak, severity TO the strong, mean
ness and injustice of every kind,
from the barefaced theft to the
shrewdest and most subtle legal qulb-
BILE, are often followed by gain and
advantage of various kinds in their
direct results, and those who have
avoided doing such things, merely
from the hope that their policy lay in
the opposite direction. look on with
envious and regretful eyes.
The fact is that the familiar prov
erb is in no such narrow way. Only
by taking broad view of life as
whole, with its happiness and pros
perity, can we realize how honesty is
really the best policy. A boy may
deceive his teachers IN the school and
his companions in play, and appear
to succeed again and again, but grad
ually he is forming reputation, and,
whatever small advantage he may
have gained, he will in time lose the
friendship and esteem of all honora-
BILE people. A young man may CON-
nit long series of petty thefts un-
detected, and looker-on, seeing how
gaily his life goes on and how much
money he has to spend, may point to
him as proof that honesty is not
always the best policy; but let him
watch that young mans career for a
few years, and he will find him sink
ing gradually into dishonor, disgrace
and ruin. On the other hand, hon.
esty often brings suffering in its train /;
the truth may cost many a pang to
utter, strict integrity may have to
give up many coveted gain, the
courage of principle may forfeit the
good will so highly priced or the po-
sition so eminently desirable; but
upon the scale of years they will lead
their adherents to a condition of hon.
or and happiness, compared with
which all that had been sacrificed,
seems too trivial to claim passing
thought.
| The greatest mistake of all, how
ever, is the supposition that real hon
esty can never be followed and main
tanned from motives of policy. AL
though the proverb, in its broad and
deep sense, is the very truth, those
who take it as their motive to an
honest life will miss both it's truth
and its gladness, because they have
mistaken the meaning of honesty it.
self. They think of it only as Sc
ries of actions, whereas it is in truth
spirit that reigns supreme in the
heart and shapes the life. He who
is not lmbued with this spirit, who
covets the gains of dishonesty, and
only resigns them in the hope that
honesty may confer a greater pain,
has yet to learn the meaning of hon.
esty. However successfully he may
have assumed its garb, he is ignorant
of it's essence. Rev. Lyman Abbott,
writing on the condition of success,
says: "Wisdom has riches in hel
right hand and honor and long life in
her left, but she must be wooed and
won for her own sake, not for her
dowry. She will not accept the fortune
hunter. If a man cares more for
honesty than for policy, he will find
honesty the best policy but the hon.
esty which is merely policy is no hon.
esty at all. The preacher who
is brave that he may succeed is not
brave, and will not succeed. The
merchant who is honest that he may
make money, is not honest, and may
fail. The lawyer who puts on integ-
rity to get clients, has no integrity
and may get no clients" He who is
truly, deeply, essentially honest,
loves honesty so much better than
any possible reward that he chooses
1t every time apart from any consid-
Grafton of it's results, and neither
hope nor fear, neither bribe nor
threat could tempt him away from
his loyal allegiance.-Erchange.
|
''What song shall sing for you
tonight" she asked him. "Sing
that old Scotch song, 4 Gamma leave