Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-12-13

a New York Rfoaehes's Oplnioa e Polite
Society, Trade and Politloa

EVERYDAY. LYING.
A New York Prsaehsr's Opanioa e Pol,te
Society Trade and Pelitics.
Rev. DR.. E C. Bolles. pastor Of the
Third Unitarian Church on ives,
Eleventh street. preached recently on
the question us Lie Ever Rght?''
DIR. Bodies said he presumed the PEG
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 % every mans conscience and
common sense when the emergency
came. Nobody would say that war is
not an unmitigated wrong, and yet
emergencies came in every nation s
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 everyday life.
IL denounce. said he, 1.-The social
lie, the lie of life veneered and var
nished 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 a 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.
mo life in the universe is so hol-
low as the life of polite and fashion
able society. In no life is there more
falseness, 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 20, to lubri-
cate the social machinery-for these
reasons social lies are told and acted,
and the result is that society's ideals
are bad and its methods false. The
truth told in a drawing-room is like
breath of pure air in an atmosphere of
fevers and asthmas. Is social life
ever right and healthful? one involun-
tarily asks. If we could have honesty
there it might be.
Another everyday lie is the COM
mercial lie, the profitable. money-mak-
ing lie. Is there ever any justifica-
lion for it? The plea is made every
lay that in these days of competition
it is impossible to et'along without
with the general custom of
lying. Men say they
,an't get to the top and be honest with
heir competitors. should be sorry
70 think the flower of our civilization
70 poisonous, SO noxious as that. But,
+ it is true, one can better afford not
o get at the top than to lie. 1t is not
necessary to be rich. 1t is necessary
o tell the truth.
Now comes the most provoking of
Ill lies. 1t seems strange that in this
Christian church, city and country-a
country ruled by religion which stands
or eternal truth-we should have to
peak of political lies. Men labor |
IN Ter strange delusions in these en-
ightened times They think they can
over their personality under the flag
# hall, party or committee. But they
ant. Back of every SANDER. every
lie told to pander to the lower ele- |
nents, every trick. every rascality,
very editorial and stump speech
which does not deal in truth. there |
lands man. He may think himself |
hidden, but he isn't. Because every
'ody else lies is no excuse. For every
eed there is responsibility, and the
rrows of God are surer than those of |
MN Corn