Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1889-10-03
EVERYDAY LYING.
Now York Preachers Opinion of Polite
Society, Trade aud Politics.

u Now York Preachers Opinion OF Polite
Society, Trade and Politics.
Rev. DR.. T.. c. Bolles, pastor of the
Third Unitarian Church on West
Eleventh street, preached recently on
The question lis Lie Ever Right?"
DR.. Bodies said he presumed tho 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 the emergency
came. Nobody would say that war is
not an unmitigated wrong, and yet
emergencies came in every nations
life when it was necessary to Stay
ones fellow men. There might be
emergencies in any mans life. He
would talk Of the lies Of everyday life.
IL dcnounce," said he, 1.-The social
lie, the lie OF a life veneercd and var
nishcd with the politencSs and fashion
Of the world; the lies men live and the
lies men tell to make life easy. society
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,
Sts the phrase goes; to assume posi-
ton one does not earn; to form rcla-
tioHships one is not entitled to; to
spread examples that are lies. and
eventually To- defraud creditors who
would never have become creditors en-
ccpt 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 sharpcrs than among
those whose pride it is tt 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 mnchlnery-for these
reasons social lies are told and acted,
and the result is that society's ideals
t.uth told in q drawing-roOm is like n
breath of pure mir in an atmosphere of
fcvers and asthmas. Is social life
ever right and healthfulp one inyolun-
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 iuStilica-
ton for it? The plea is made cve.y
day that in these days of competition
IL is impossible to get along without
complying with the general custom of
commercial lying. Men say they
cant get to the top and be honest with
their competitors. ! should be sorry
TO think the flower of our civilization
30 poisonous, so noxious rs that. But,
l. it. is true, one can better afford not
70 get ut the top than to lie. 1t is nok
necessary to be rich. 1t is necessary
to tell the truth.
"Now comes the most provoking OF
ali lies. 1t seems strange that in this
Christian church. city and couutry-a
country ruled by Il religion which stands
for eternal truth--wc should have to
speak Of political lies. Men labor
under strange decisions in these en-
lightencd times. They think they can
cover their personality under the flag
Of hall, party or committee. But they
can't. Back of every Islander, every
lie told to pander to the lower Gle
ments, every trick, every rascalitY,
every editorial and stump speech
nh; -. Al
stands man. He may think himself
hidden, but he isn't. Because every
body else lies Is no excuse. For every
deed there is responsibility, and tho
arrows Of God are surer than those Of
men. IN y Sun.
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