The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-06-26
One of The Gush Family.

grasped my hand with both of his an'
. cried out, with characteristic effusiveness
Ny dear friend, am delighted to se'
you again. 1t seems an age since ha'
the pleasure Of looking upon your face
which is always radiant with intelligence
and goodness" After l had been liter
ally deluged with compliments, / aske,
Gamaliel how they we're getting along in
his church, for he is Baptist. He drew
close to me, and replied in low, conf
dental tones: 1 tell you Old-school
just between ourselves, that new preach
er of ours won't DO. Why, he gave III
yesterday two of the driest sermon evei
heard. Half the people were asleep be
fore he finished his drawl."
Ireplied that l was sorry, for had
hoped that Mr.. A. would prove to be the
right man in the right place. We talked
on few minutes, and just as l was try.
ing TO get away, a stranger with a white
necktiee came along. had not yet seer
Mr.. A., the new Baptist preacher, but
guessed at once that it was he and was
not mistaken. As soon as Brother Gush
saw him he disengaged one of his hands
from mine, and with it seized the new
conner, and cried: Now this is Provi-
dental have longed for the pleasure
of making you two noble men acquaint-
Ell with each other know that you will
appreciate each other, for you are con-
genial spirits"
After fulsome dose of similar COM
pliments he turned to Mr. A. and in a
stage whisper, which he pretended was
not to hear. but meant that should he
said My dear brother A., | want to
tell you how delighted we all were with
those excellent sermons yesterday. Your
expositions of Scripture were so able,
and your illustrations so graphic, that l
could have listened an hour longer with
out getting weary / believe that the
Lord has sent you here to a great work
| hope that he will spare you to our
! church for many years. But / am afraid
some of the other churches in the associ-
atoion will try to steal you from US"
was so disyusted that l tore myself
away from the clinging grasp of Mr..
Gush and left HIM soft-soaping his min
ister. The poor man seemed to enjoy
the operation, and to believe that he
really had warm friend and ardent ad-
mirer in the fulsome natterer.
\ few hours after, meeting Mr.. Gush
again, ! button-holed him and said, sec
here, Gamaliel, how could you talk so to
Mr.. A. about his sermons, when you had
just told me how dull and uninteresting
they were?" Why, my friend Obadiah" /"
he replied, without even the sembIanee
of a blush, "you know that had to say
something to Mr.. A. OF course / could
not tell him what | told you, so / told
him what l knew would please him. l
want to be on good terms with him as
long as he is our minister.
And in order to pleasellim You told
a mess of lies. Do you think that is
right? And how about what you said to
me p? Were you as sincere in that as in
what you said TO him? When you saw
me coming did you tell somebody else
confidentially, that / was miserable
old fogy-that it was great boreto meet
and talk with me, and then rush up and
declare that you were delighted to meet
me? Do you always say TO people just
what YOU think will please them, not
caring whether tt is true or false ?"
Gamaliel saw that he was caught. He
tried to escape in a profusion of profess
sions, as certain fish muddy the water in
order to hide from the fishermen.
But held on TO him until had given
him 4 faithful lecture upon the sin of ly-
ing. ! assured him that in the day of
Judgment he would not find any distinc-
ton of color in lies, some white, some
black, some gray but all would appear
equally hateful in the sight of God; and
that all liars, the polite ones included,
would have their part in the lake that
burneth with fire and birthstone. tSee
Rev. xxi S
report this incident, which is not an
imaginary one, because l fear that the
Gush family IS very extensive. Some of
them, like my neigh Dor Gamaliel, may
be professors of religion and readers of
this paper. If so, | want to ask them to
look in tie Gospel mirror and see them
selves as God sees them.
Mrs. y, you are always at prayermeet-
lug, and lead the ladies' meeting You
are regarded as one of the mothers in
Israel. But do you remember what you
said the other day when you heard the
door bell ring? You said ooh, dear me,
there is some stupid caller come to inter
rupt me, and am so busy" And when
the door girl brought the card, and you
read on il the name of Mrs. y, you said
again: son, dear me, what on earth has
brought her here to-day? She is awfully
tiresome." But you put on your sweet
est smiles and rushed into the parlor
exclaiming Ny dear Mrs y, am de-
lighted to see you. 1t is an age since
YOU have been here. You must try and
be more sociable." And when after she
had talked and talked for an hour, and
you listened AS if you were sitting on net
ties, she rose to go, you said oh don't
go yet, but if you must, be sure to come
again soon." You say that you were
merely polite You could not be so rude
as to tell Mrs, Y, you were not glad to
see her But does politeness justify ly-
ing? Does not God say: Wherefore
putting away all lying, speak every man
truth with his neighbor" Eph. ". -.
There is no exception here for what may
be called the lies Of society-the insincere
compliments and professions which are
considered necessary to keep the machin-
cry of social intercourse well oiled. Oil
is excellent in its place. But friction is
useful sometimes. Paul gives the rule in
Eph. ". Is, speaking the truth in
love- Sincerity fabricated with charity
is far better than polite and eifusiye in
sincerity.
The trouble with the Gnsh family is
that they cannot keep their own counsel.
They are ever and anon exposing them
selves as Gamaliel did in the case of Mr..
A. When you, Mrs. X, tell your next
caller whom perhaps you really like,
what tiresofne old dowdy Mrs Y is