Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1889-10-26
hannT -ExAeeERAIIoN.


If Ia Rut Little Less Than nct'ocr"'o Aio
yarication.
The love of truth is taught as
matter of course to all children, Dul
there is foo much tolerance generally
shown to the obscurer forms oil un'
truth. such as exaggeration. or Its OPP
nosite-uniust depreciation-or to the
martial suppression of truth. Men
and women who would not under any
consideration tell a positive untrutn
for the purpose of deceiving Will Oh
fend in other ways that may at tunes
be almost as bad. They will silently
permit a friend or acquaintance to be
traduced without uttering the word
Of truth that might save his reputa-
tion; they will give partial accounts
of things, conveying a wrong impress
sion. sometimes carelcssly, sometimes
maliciously. But the commonest Oh
Tense is that of eXaggeratton' or u
allowing the Imagination to adorn the
actual facts. Sometimes this does
little harm, especially among friends,
who know what allowance to make on
the statements made, and 1t is not In
frequent to find an c~xaggerator con-
sidered rather amusing than Vicious
Yet there are occasions when the hab-
il of exapceration may do much mis-
chief. The great storm that mas JUST
swent the Atlantic seaboard furnishes
many examples of this kind, For
twenty-four hours OF more there was
no direct communication with the
afflicted seaside resorts on tne
Atlantic coast. News was difficult
to obtain. 1t came to reporters
on the mainland in the shape OIL
rumors or in the tales told by boatmen
who brought hearsay information from
the coast. The widest and most OK
~travagant stories were circulated De-
IL they passed from mouth TO
mouth of persons who had acquired
the pernicious habit of eXaggeratlon
They meant no harm, but they guessed
that hotels and cottages would DC
swept away, and the next narrator
said they had been swept away, ana
others added particulars to ornament
the story. The mischief arose from
the fact that there were tens OF thou
sands of guests at these seaside places,
with tens of thousands Of relatives and
friends in the larger cities, all OF
whom were cruelty alarmed and Wor'
ried by stories, some OF which had nc
foundation in fact. When communl'
cation had been opened it was found
that hotels reported to have been
swept away had not been touched by
the waves; that others from which the
guests we're said to have fled, leaving
their effects behind them, had beer
closed for the season, and that th'
whole situation, bad as it was, haC
been grossly exaggerated. This wa
not, as Il rule, the fault of the re
porters, who were obliged TO TRANSMIT
the news as it reached them, but o
their informants, who had never beel
trained to that full and complete
respect for truth that forbids OK
aggeration as it forbids tn
grosser forms of lying, A simila
tendency to exaggerate evil is show.
whenever d great calamity occur
which a not for a time be reache
by trained reporters. 1t shows tina
the absence of proper training in
sincere respect for truth is widespread
1t is Il fault that should be correcte
by precept and example, for the vic
of exaggeration is only less mischieN
Gus than that of deliberate lying. 1e
so little is it reprobated that one tori
of alleged humor in current l~iteratur
consists simply OF outrageous eXal
goration. 1t has the plausible eXcu'
for its existence that being gross, |
one is likely to be deceived by 1t, y
e~xaggeration in any form is liable
become mischievous and may do
incalculable amount of harm;
where false reports are spread
calamities in which thousands OF pc
Pile are interested. The plain rule
conduct is to respect truth so high
that no form OF untruth shall be tole
ated, neither exaggeration nor depr
citation, neither the suppression of
part nor the silence which conveys
false impression. 1t is not an ea'
matter to be strictly truthful by tn
Z high standard, but no n with prop
: regard for his duty to himself and ft
lowmen can fail to see that he Dug
( to endeavor to reach this standard al
use his best efforts to get all with
, his influence to follow his example.
Baltimore Sun.