Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-16
LIARS OF THE TIME.
Truth Fares Very Badly in Society,
Trade and Profession.
WHAT THE PUBLIC CONDONEs.
Men Honest in Almost Everything Else
False in Politics.
THE SIGNS POINT TO IMPROVEMENT
WRITTEN FOR THE p1sPArcH,l

parture from truth, or lying. A lie is the
abandonment, and. as it were, the annihi-
lation of the dignity of man."
"Liars are the cause of all the sins and
crimes in the world" was the judgment OF
one of the most famous teachers of philoso-
ply and morality among the ancient Stoics.
To speak the truth Is boundless duty i'm
posed upon all mankind by all the doctrines
andfcreeds OF Christendom, and pagandom
as well, whether represented by Confucius
Buddha or Mohammed. But "Lord, Lord,
how the world is given to lying" Social
lies, professional lies, political lies and
malicious lies. Evryone condemns lying,
and yet there come times in everybody's
life when it would take a most mighty
struggle to tell the truth.
WHITE LIES IN SOCIETY.
Especially in society are-what are called
white lies common. Women err greatly
in this respect without intending to be de-
ceitful. They are so given to gush that they
exaggerate far beyond the truth. They kiss
some OF their mere acquaintance with as
great show of affection as their best and
most intimate friends. They make one
whom they may cordially dislike as welcome
as If their souls had been longing for her
presence. Courtesy is a pleasant thing and
good manners should never be lost sight of,
but an exaggerated show of kissing and
sympathy where neither love nor respect
exists is assuredly a sort of deception.
Another way in which women lie in the
drawing room is in; treaking notoriously
bad men with the same courtesy and
cordiality they would extend to gentlemen
of highest character. This is one of the
sorriest revelations of fashionable life in
this country. 1t is not only an illustration
OF lying, but is show of snobbery that is
shameful, when the most disreputable
owners of foreign titles can find a warmer
welcome among the women of society than
their own countrymen of greater intelligence
and virtue. A duke SO dissolute and de-
graded that he finds the doors of respecta-
bility closed to him at home, comes here
and is wined and dined and feted and run
after by those who claim to represent the
best society of America. How a title
weakens judgment, whitewashes sin, and
wraps mantle of grace over vice has been
shown scores of times in this democratic
country.
LIES THAT ARE CONVENTIONAL.
For social convenience women-and men
as well--shirk truthfulness. They tell what
they call 'white lies'' because they say
society cannot get on without them. 1t would
not do, it is thought. to express In words
what they really feel. Compliments, some
body says are really lies; but when every
body knows they are, nobody is hurt. There
are many conventional expressions of
courtesy that people are taught to use and
are wholly understood that cannot properly
be called lies because there is evidently no
attempt at making false impression. In
Washington it has become the custom for
- T. d L
to-day?" The answer is plain yes, or no, as
Mrs. Blank has ordered "Not receiving" is
precisely the same thing as the old "Not at
home" about which 80 many people have
scruples.
But while there are found sticklers upon
forms of words there are many whose whole
social life is lie. These live as people of
wealth when they cannot pay their honest
debts. These are arrayed sumptiuously in
purple and fine linen while their creditors are
suffering for their money. These sit in the
high seats and do not pay their pew rent.
These are holy and devout on Sundays and
saints days, but they prove themselves liars
and hypocrites in society and business.
These make parade of their high birth and
blue blood, who really had no granfathers
to speak of, as gossip goes. Such small
vanity and lying only exposes them to ridi-
sule and contempt.
WOMEN LIE MORE THAN MEN,
Lying, it is said, is more a sin among
women than men. Children are more given
to it than grown people. Why? Women
held in subsection by coercion lie to keen
out of trouble, just as children lie through
fear of punishment. Truth is fostered by
love and liberty and confidence. ga lie is
born of weakness on one side and tyranny
on the other" If man acts the bully at
home, woman with her wits about her will
adopt the policy of General Grant, and en-
ploy strategy. The victories of both love
and war are won by lying.
But while with English speaking people
lying is held, at least in theory as disgrace
full and dishonorable, the French are not
nearly SO scrupulous. A French woman, it
is said, can lie with such cool, clear-eyed
effrontery as to seriously discount Annanias
and Sapphirs. This is due doubtless to ed
ucation. A writer on the schools and text
books of France says that in their manual
of morality conscience is distinguished as
right or erroneous, certain or doubtful. A
distinction is also made between true truth,
doubtful truth and false truth" Lies are
divided into three classes: The prejudicial
lie which is wrong in proportion to the in
Jury it causes; the oficious lie, which is
venial because it does not cause grave
trouble, and the pleasant lie which of course
is whittier still. Mental restrictions, equivo-
cations and expressions which can stand two
interpretations, are allowable. Under such
a system of morality it might be supposed
that many of the people in this country had
been trained, rather than that which con-
demns all lying as an abomination.
A BESSIE BRAMBLEIsM.
Without intending it, the children in the
Sunday schools are led to lying. They are
induced to say they would rather give their
money to the heather than spend it them
selves, when everybody knows the majority
of them are lying. They are led to say they
believe many things, when they have not
the remotest idea of what they mean. A
minister's son tells how they were
catechised when he went to church: "Boys.
would you be willing to go to hell if it was
Gods will?" and every little liar said, eyes,
SIR"
Then children learn lying and hypocrisy
from parents, and teachers, and friends.
When they grow up the habit has been ac-
auired. Our spiritual pastors, however
carefully they may have been instructed in
this matter in the seminaries, can OCCASION
ally be caught up in saying what they know
is not true. The doctors lie Professionally
with looseness and abandon that simply
staegers the common mind. Some of them
have no scruples whatever as to deceiying
their patients and their friends. They per-
sist in putting up their prescriptions in an
unknown tongue SO that people can be more
easily deceived, and more effectively feeced
by the druggists. They seem to have no
conscience as to fooling silly women and
credulous men into the taking of nostrums,
- t-n 0f RI h1r