Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-10-28
The WcE oE LYING.

THE VICE OF LYING.
Ipcanveulcnce Caused by ,As.ociat,ne WITH
Menwh Are Careless Of Truth.
Shakespeare enumerates three varie-
ldes of lics-the counter-check quarrel.
some, the lie circumstantial and the lie
diryct: and good Touci,stone adds that
all these you may avoid but the lie
direct, and you may avoid that too,
with an II. These. however. are merely
oae variety of lie. They are lies used
in alteration. They do notinelnde the
members Of the great family of lies
which constitute SO large part of our
daily conversation and give SO much
spice and variety.
| When the sage said that all men are
liars he intended to refer to society in
backward state of civilization-the
only society he knew. Lying has been
said to be the privilege of slaves, certain
it is that the civilization of community
may be gauged by the pre-. alence of
lying therein. and the breeding of an
individual may be measured by his in
diligence in truth or falsehood. In saw
age nations every body les. Among
our forefathers trial by battle was kept
up long after its absurdity was recog-
nized, simply because it was found i'm
possible to get witnesses to tell the
truth. At the present day lying is COM
moner in small villages than in great
| cities, and far cOmmoner among the un-
educated than among the cultured class.
A wholesale merchant rarely lies about
his goods. 1t would hurt his credit to
say that he got his Costa RIGA coffee
from Java, or his Connecticut silk from
Lyons. In some country towns shop
keeper will not only lie about his goods
in order to effect sale, but he will boast
of the lie afterward, and his standing in
the community will not be impaired.
The value of truth is only realized in
societies which have reached certain
stage of refinement, and in the class in
those societies in which experience and
training have caught the folly of mis-
statements.
If any man will take the trouble to
enumerate his acquaintance he will be
surprised to discover how easily he can
separate the liars from the truth-tellers.
A liar hardly ever deceives any one but
a stranger. His propensity is quickly
detected by those who know him, and
from that time forth he is only believed
when he is fully corroborated or when
his statement is intrinsically probable.
There are lots of people floating around
the world who labor under the incon-
venience of never being believed when
they tell the truth. simply because they
have established reputation for lying.
When they make statement the nearer
instantly does mental equation in
which X stands for the unknown truth
and the speakers assertion figures as a
quantity which if reckoned up with
other known quantities may enable him
to work out the value OF X. Thus these
habitual liars are doubly announcement
and dOubly deceptive.
1t is easy enough to detect the school
boy liar; give him the rein and he will
boast himself into tangle of contradic-
tons. 1t is the full-grown man who
lies from inveterate habit; who takes
you aside privately and tells you that
he saw, with his own eyes, Brown vote
the Democratic ticket in 1880, and who,
when subsequently taxed with the false
hood, will take his God to witness that
he never said any thing of the kind
that you are confounding him with
some one else. This is the fellow who
is dangerous, and for whose benefit one
would like to see that As;satic law estab-
lshed which punished theft with prison,
murder with mutilation, but lying with
death.
OF course, there must be some for
giveness for white lies. When Mr..
Brooks meets MIR. Shocks and accosts
him-"HOw are you, my dear fellow?
L do hope you are welF'-when he |
doesn't care one straw whether Shocks i
is well or i'll, alive or dead; and when
Mrs. Box receives Mrs. Cox in her |
drawing-room, and clasping her hand |
declares. my dear creature, l am SO
very glad to see you," when she knows
that she doesn't want to sec her at all, |
but wants to 90 up stairs where baby is |
crying: judicious moralist will con-.
slider the sin venial, sacrifice of NOR
atty to polite behavior. Alceste de-
clared that he could see no distinction
between the white lie which professed
delight in the society of one who was
really odious, and the black lie which
falsely accused an innocent person of
stealing spoons. But the code of the
misanthrope is not more popular now
than it was in the days of Moliere. A
certain amount of lying is necessary to
lubricate society. When Robinson asks
us in fierce, injured way, whether it is
true that We said he was little drunken
sot, it is best to assure him that he has
been misinformed and that you have
been m sunderSto ID. For if you confess
the truth it will not cure Robinson of
and it will certainly involve
you both in row.
Legislators have tried ever since the
days of Aaron and Moses to make peo-
pie tell the truth by law. But the, re-
suits have not been commensurate with
the exertions. Once in awhile man
goes to the penitentiary for perjury.
INT If every poriurar xyora IN no MN |