Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-03-26

ity. They cannot all be trusted. In
times when the demand for labor is great
it is impossible 70 meet the demands Of the
public, or do work with that promptness
and perfection that would at other times
be possible.
But there are mechanics whose word
cannot be trusted at any time. No man
has right to promise more work than he
can do There are mechanics who say that
they will come or Monday, but they do
not come until Wednesday. You put work
in their hands that they tell you shall be
completed in ten days, but it is thirty.
There have been houses built of which it
might be said that every nail driven, every
foot of plastering put on, every yard of
pipe laid, every shingle hammered, every
brick mortared, could tell Of falsehood con-
nected Herewith. There are men attempt
ing Co do ten or fifteen pieces of work who
have not the time or strength to do more
than five or six pieces, but by promises
never fulfilled keep all the undertakings
within their own grasp. This is what they
call nursing the job.
How much wrong TO his soul and insult
to God mechanic would save if he prom
ised only so much as he expected TO be able
to do. Society has no right TO ask of you
impossibilities. You cannot always cal
culate correctly, and you may fail because
you cannot get the help that you antici-
pate. But now am speaking of the will
full making of promises that you know you
cannot keep. Did you say that that shoe
should be mended, that coat repaired, those
! bricks laid, that harness sewed, that door
| grained, that spout fixed or that window
glazed by Saturday, knowing that you
would neither be able to do it yourself nor
get any one else to do it? Then, before
God and man you are a liar. You may say
| that it makes no particular difference, and
that if you had told the truth you would
/ have lost the job, and that people expect
TO be disappointed, but that excuse will
not answer. There is a voice of thunder
rolling among the drills and planes and
| shoe lasts and shears which says, "All liars
shall have their part in the lake that burn
eth with fire and birthstone"
ECCLESIASTICAL LIES
next notice ecclesiastical les-that is,
falsehoods told for the purpose of advanc-
| ing churches and sects, or for the purpose
of depicting them. There is no use in
asking many Calvinist what an Arminian
believes, for he will be apt to tell you that
the Arminian believes that a man can con-
vert himself; or to ask the Arminian what
the Calvinist believes, for he will tell you
that the Calvinist believes that God made
some men just to damn them. There is no
need in asking ap@do- Baptist what Bap-
tist believes, for he will be apt 30 say that
the Baptist believes immersion to be posi-
lively necessary to salvation. 1t is almost
| impossible for one denomination of Chris
tians, without prejudice or misrepresenta-
! ton, to state the sentiment of an opposing
sect. If a man hates Presbyterians, and
you ask him what Presbyterians believe,
evil tell you that they believe that there
are infants in hell span longl
1t is strange, also, how individual
churches will sometimes make misstate-
ments about other individual churches, 1t
is especially so in regard to falsehoods told
with reference to prosperous enterprises.
AS long as church is feeble, and the sing
ing is discordant, and the minister, through
the poverty of the church, must go with a
threadbare coat, and here and there wor-
shipper sits in the end of pew, having all
the seat to himself, religious sympathizers
| of other churches will say, "What pityr'
| 4oub lOU d BICbu 0dy Vi PLOopCkk0y COLl6t tuu
/ even ministers of the Gospel, who ought to
be rejoiced at the largeness and extent Of
the work, denounce and misrepresent and
falsify, starting the suspicion in regard to
themselves that the reason they do not
like thecorn is because it is not ground in
their own mill. How long before we shall
| learn to be fair in our religious criticisms
The keenest jealousies on earth are church
! jealousies. The efield of Christian work is
so large that there is no need that our hoe
| handles hit.
! SOCIAL LIES. ~
Next I speak of social lies. This evil
makes much of society insincere You
| know not what to believe. When people
| ask you to come you do not know whether
or not they want you to come. When they
send their regards you do not know
4 whether it is an expression of their heart
or an. external civility. We have learned
to take almost everything at discount
| Word Is sent "Not at home" when They
are only too lazy to dress themselves
| They say, "The furnace has just gone out, >
when in truth they have had no fire in il
| all winter. They apologize for the un
usual barrenness of their table when they
never live any better. They decry theil
most luxurious entertainments to win 6
shower Of approval. They apologize fol
their appearance, as though it were un
usual, when always at home they looB
just so. They would make you believe that
some nice sketch on the wall was the work
of a master painter. "It was an heirloom
= and once hung on the walls of a castle
and duke gave it to their grandfather >
When the fact is that painting was made
by a man "down east," and baked SO as
to make it look old. and sold with Others
for ten dollars dozen. People who will
lie about nothing else will lie about pict
ure. On small income we must make
\ the world believe that we are aff1uent, anC
our life becomes cheat, a counterfeit anC
sham
Few persons are really natural When
say this do not mean to slur cultured
manners. 1t is right that we should have
more admiration for the sculptured marble
than for the unknown block of the quarry
From many circles in life insincerity ha.
driven out vivacity and enthusiasm. A
frozen dignity instead floats about ths
room, and iceberg grinds against iceberg
You must not laugh outright; it is vulgar
You must smile. You must not dash rapid
ly across the room; you must glide. Thert
is round of bows and grins and fatteries
and ohsl and ahsl and simpering ant
nambypambyism-a world of which is no
worth one good, round, honest peal O.
laughter. From such hollow round thu
tortured guest retires at the close of thu
evening and assures his host that he has
enjoyed himselfl