The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-07-17
DANGEROUS AND DESTRUCTIVE

Sad Consequences of the Prevalent Habit
of Exaggeration.
Exaggeration is universal. 1t fol-
lows most people from early youth to
old age. 1t is found in the frivolous
utterances of common life, and the
grayest discourses of learned men.
Pulpit and press are alike guilty pf it,
and alike injured by it. A woman re-
turning from some daily duty. ex-
claims us she casts her wraps from her
81 am almost dead" Referring to the
crowded stores where she has been
shopping, she says: II thought l never
should get out alive!' A lad who has
been out walking. or running errands'
deliberately declares: II believe have
walked fifty miles to-day" when per-
haps he has walked three miles
John, you are the worst boy that ever
lived!' says an angry mother to her
son, who has offended her, when she
knows him to be better than the aver
age OF boys. THE mud in the streets
is knee-deep!' says en- inaccurate gen.
tleman as he comes home from his store
with his boots almost as dry and clean
as when he went out in the morning.
"My church was crowded yesterday, ~
says pastor as he meets a friend on
Monday morning. The house will seat
five hundred persons; two hundred and
fifty were present. There, that is the
best sermon I ever heard in my lifer',
is the testimony of kind-hearted dea'
con, who has said the same thing
hundred times II have heard the
dominic preach that sermon fifty
times!', is the careless remark, as {
man leaves the church door. The pas
tor never preached that sermon before
and only on one other occasion did III
use the text, and then for differen
purpose.
The habit of exaggeration Creep
into things most serious and solemn
The number of converts in revival
the number of inquirers after life. thu
number OF seekers for salvation, arr
greatly magnified. Evangelists speel
of the hundreds converted whdh thu
were laboring in certain places, whelS
only scores were found. The spiritua
restitution of the city is exaggerated
Not long ago good man stated tina
twenty thousand women go to ruin il
New York City every year, and tina
one-half are from Brooklyn. At lat
Methodist Conference in another State
a gifted pastor drew picture of tn
poverty of aged and superannuatet
preachers. From the Pulpit to tn
Poorhouse," was his theme. 1t wa
magnitied, intensified until the audi
ence was Mortified. But he had n,
sooner taken his seat than dozen mel
sprang to their feet ready to reply
each one declaring the essay a car
feature. a perversion. SANDER. AM
so it was, and yet it had a basis O
truth. Aged preachers had suffere
neglect and privation, been half-fe
and half-clothed. 1t was truth, an
yet it was monstrous falsehood. ]
was untrue in its generalization, an
slanderous In its application, and We
the essayist had in his mind the YER
man who went from the pulpit to tn
poorhOuse. 1t was fact, but its appl
cation made it fiction. 1t was truth
but the method Of generalization mad
it falsehood.
Sometimes q man takes it into hi
head that the world is going wrong
and society is on the eve of destruction
He has suddenly awakened to the col
ruptions of life, been started from prt
found sleep. and his sensations are yer
much like those OF man who, Will
crossing the ocean in q steamer,
thrown out of his berth by collision wit
an iceberg. Something dreadful ha
happened. Society seems to be in di
order and confusion. The more h
| SSto llliliStll W IpTroCt ~, lll0 ulOTc ]
fails He becomes pessimist, and tn
whole world looks blue to him. II
exaggerates all the evils, and magn
fies all the dangers, and spoils his il
fluences by fighting men of straw.
crank is simply an exaggeration. II
has looked at something until it has Ell
larged itself in his view, become gre,
in his estimation, and filled the who
horizon of his vision.
Pastors exaggerate little difficulti'
in their congregations, become unhapr
over them, and resign to get out
their way. But when they have got .
far away as to be able to take a sen
ible, reasonable view of things, the,
difficulties seem childish, and n
worthy of a thought or care. Mar
a happy pastorate has been broken I
by the unhappy disposition to exagpe