Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-12-06
EVERYDAY LYING.
A New York Preachers opinion of Polite
Society, Trade and Politics.


Rev. DR.. E. C. Bolles,, pastor of the
Third Unitarian Church on West
Eleventh street, preached recently on
the question SIS Lie Ever Rightp"
DIR. Bolles said he presumed the peo-
pie had come to hear him decide the
right and wrong OF lying to screen
criminals, cheer the sick, suppress
unnecessary scandal, shield honesty
from fraud and innocence from vice.
But he wasn't going to touch any such
hair-splitting points. They. had best
be left to every mans conscience and
common sense when theoemcrgency
came. Nobody would say that war is
not an unmitigated wrong, and yet
emergencies came in every nations
life when it was necessary to slay
ones fellow men. There might be
emergencies in any mans life. He
would talk Of the lies Of every day life.
81 denounce," said he, 'the social
lie, the lie Of a life veneered and var
Aished with the politeness and fashion
OF the world; the lies men live and the
lies men tell to make life easy, society
pleasant and the wheels of existence
smooth running. The lies men live
are worse than those they tell. The
great lie OF life is to live beyond
ones means. to keep up appearances,
as the phrase goes; to assume posi-
ton one does not earn to form rela-
tionships one Is not entitled to; to
spread examples that are lies, and
eventually to defraud creditors who
would never have become creditors ex.
cept for the lie that the man has lived.
"No life in the universe il 3D. hol.
low as the life. Of polite and fashion
able society In 10 life is there more
falsesess, less honor, more polite
palliations, more moral rottenness.
There is more honor among thieves
than in the parlors of New York,
more truth among gamblers and more
! honesty among sharpers than among
those whose pride it is to be the most
polite and the most fashionable. To
prevent unpleasant truths from COM
ing up to make things go, to lubri-
cate the social machinery-for these
reasons social lies are told and acted,
and inc result is that soeiety's ideals
are bad and It's methods false. The
truth told in drawing-room Is like a
breath of pure air in an atmosphere Of
fevers and bsthmas. Is social life
ever Night and healthfulp one involun-
tarily asks. If we could have honesty
there it might be.
"Another everyday lie is the COM
ihercial lie, the profitable, money-mak-
ing lie. Is there ever any justifica-
ton for itP The plea is made every
day that in these days of competition
it is impossible to get along without
complying with the general custom of
commercial lying. Men say they
can't getto the top and be honest with
their competitors. l should be sorry
to think the flower of our civilization
so poisonous, so noxious as that. But,
If it is true, one can better afford not
to get at the top than to lie 1t Is not
necessary to be rich. 1t is necessary
10 tell the truth.
"Now comes the most provoking Of
all lies. 1t seems strange that in this
Christian church, city and country-a
country ruled by religion which stands
for eternal truth-we should have to
speak of political lies. Men labor
under strange delusions in these en-.
lightened times. They think they car
cover their personality under the flag
of hall, party or committee. But they
can't. Back Of every SANDER, every
lie told to pander to the lower ele
ments, every trick, every rascality
every editorial and stump speech
which does not deal in truth, there
stands man. He may think himself
hidden, but he isn't. Because every
body else lies is no excuse Fer erorj
deed there is responsibility, and tn,
arrows of God are surer than those O
men. IN. Y Sun.