Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1891-09-10

times-and when ] say sometimes. !
mean "a great many times-it is hard TO
tell the truth the first time But when
you have told it there is an end of it.
You have won the victory: the fight is
over Next time you tell that truth
You can tell in without thinking. Your
memory may be faulty, but you tell
your story without single lash from
the singing whip Of that stern, old,
task-masteF-con You don't
have 20 stop and remem be- how you
told IL yesterday. You don't get half
through with IT, and then stop with the
awful sense upon you that you are not
telling il as you did the other time, and
can not remember just how You did tell
IT then. You won't have 10 look around
to see who is there before you begin
telling it. And you won't have TO in
vent lot of new lies 20 reinforce the
old one. After Ananias told a lie, his
wife had to tell another just like it.
You see, if you tell ties you are apt TO
get your whole family into trouble.
Lies always travel along in gang with
their co-equals.
And then, it is so foolish for you TO
lie. You can not pass lie off for the
truth, any more than You can get coun-
terfeit money into circulation. The
leaden dollar is always detected before
it goes very far. A bogus quarter is
always found out in a little while.
When you tell a lie it is known. Yes,
you say God knows it. That's right;
but lie is not the only one. So far as
Gods knowledge of it is concerned the
liar doesn't care very much He
doesn't worry himself about what God
knows-if he did he wouldn't be
liar; but it does worry the man, or boy,
who tells lies To think that every body
else knows it. The other boys know
it; your teacher knows it; people who
hear you tell "whoppers, know it;
your mother knows it, but she won't
say so. And all the people who know
it, and Con sdT anything about 1t to
you, talk about il to each other, and
dear dear. the things they say about
10y who is given to telling big stories!
If he could only hear them it would
make him stick TO the truth like -four
10 a miller.
And, finally, if yon tell the truth al
ways, | don't see how you are going to
get very far out of the right way. 1t
isn't well to have too many rules of
conduct and laws Of living, because if
you have a long code Of many laws, it
is 50 much easier to forget one-half of
them than it is to remember the other
half. But any boy can remember one;
you can remember to tell the truth.
And how people do trust truthful boy.
We never worry about him when he is
out of our sight. We never say: Il
wonder where he is; | wish | knew
what he is doing; | wonder who he is
with; | wonder why he doesn't come
home" Nothing of the sort. We know
he is all right, and that when he comes
home we will know all about it and get
it straight. We don't have TO ask him
where he is going and how long he will
be gone every time ne goes ont of the
house. We don't have to call him back
and make him ''solemnly promise" the
same thing over and over two or three
times. When he says "Yes, | will, or
J
II may 60 where he will and we
won't fret about him. Wedon't have to
cross-examine him when he comes
home to find out where he has been.
lie tells US once, and that is enough.
We don't have to say "Sure?' Are you
sure, now" when he tells anything.
Sure2 We would as soon think of ask
ing the sun if he was sure he rose in
the east this morning.
All these things viii soon bc righted
The worst whipping THAT can be
laid ON boys back won't keep him
out of the water ia swimming time
longer than "a week: Lut a lie viii burn
in the memory fifty years Tell the
truth for tire sake OF the truth. and all
the best people in the world viii love
and respect You, ana all the liars re-
pect and hate you.-l;ohert j. Bur-
dettc, in Ladies' Home Journal