The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1892-01-14
SPEAKING THE
Truth FOR A DAY.
CHAPTER /.
MAMMA VERITAS.

There, you see l do not always speak
the truth when it would be rude, for
instance"
"Bewitt! / do believe you mean to
question my veracity! And. | won't
stand that from any manF'
COR dangerous" pursued Blewitt,
without needing the interruption.
"What the mischief do you mean? ]
feel as if there was something wrongin
your talk at which | ought to take of
fence"
"Then don't my dear Morriss! i
mean to say, if you always speak the
truth you are q miracle of morality; |
had almost said q monster of iniqui-
typ
II never told false hood in my life;
have spoken the truth from my child
hood upl" said Morriss, growing red
in the face.
Good gracious! he has not the re-
motest idea of how fast. he is lying
now!" thought Blewitt to himself.
"FalsehoodI" continued Morriss,
warming with the theme-"why, talse-
hood is the lowest, the meanest, the
most degrading, the-the-the-"
ooh yes, we know all that; but it is
a necessary evil"
"And truth-Divine TRUTHS the
most lovely, the most beautiful, the
most elevating-"
Exactly! Yet if this lovely, this
beautiful, this elevating truth were to
prevail for one day in london, there
would be-such q 60 as never was!"
"Blewitt, you shock me-"
eyes, but truth would shock the
earth! Why, the destruction of Jeru-
salem, the sack of Rome, the Reign OF
Terror, would be child's play to the
horrible hubbub there would be in
this world If the truth were spoken for
one day! 1t would be confusion, dis
traction, perdition, and chaos come
again!"
"Blewltt, Inever will believe the
world so bad as that-never!" ex-
claimed Morriss, earnestly.
is-so wicked, so deceitful, and so self
deceiving, that it could not bear the
light of truth for single instant; for
when that full light shall be poured
upon the worid-the Day of Judgment
will have come, for this earth will be
no longer habitable."
"Blewitt, cannot agree with you; |
do not believe in your theory"
"Well, test it, my dear fellow-test
it in your own little orbit OF duty.
Speak the truth, and nothing but the
truth, for one week, or even for one
day, and see what will come of it'll l'''e
"What CAM"
"I'll tell you, without pretending to
be prophet. If you, Joseph Morriss,
nephew and ir-presumptive of John
Morriss, retired cheesemonger-be-
trothed husband of Lizzy Bell, the
prettlest girl in Little Britain; head
shopman in the great haberdashery
establishment of Black, Brown, White,
and Green-were to dare to tell the
truth for one single day, you would be
kicked out of your masters shop, dis
carded by your sweetheart, and disin-
herited by your uncle; and that if you
farther persisted in speaking the truth
for a week, you would be clapped in a
lunatic asylum as a madman too dan
gerous to be permitted to go at large. -
"Good gracious, Blewitt! and do
you really believe that haveretained
all mypresent advantages-my uncle s
affections, Lizzy's favor, my employ
ers' trust, and my very liberty to
boot, only at the price of being habit
ually false-and that I should forfeit
them all in week by being true?"
eyes; that's-iust-exactly-wh
mean"
II ought to hit you for It'll"
"Don't; it would get you into an
ugly scrape. Besides, it would be
much wiser to test the facts; and,
moreover, l would like myself to see
the experiment tried. Come now, to
make it more interesting, l will lay
you wager"
Betting is the FOOLS argument;
never bet"
"Not even at the Derby?"
Morriss was silent; but to do him
justice, the all-licensing carnival Of the
Derby was the only exception to his
rule.
"Then, as you never bet-except at
the Derby-I will not tempt you to do
so; but l wish to see the thing tried,
and therefore I will tell you what
I'll do-If you will give me
your word of honor to speak the
truth and nothing but the truth, for
one whole week, and if you keep
your word by doing so for one day,
without forfeiting all the advantages
! have named, and if you persevere in
doing SO for one week without getting
put into q lupatic asylum, why, at
the end of the given time, I will pay
you down five hundred pounds dam:
ages for having wronged you although
! am not rich"
"But I don't want you to give me
five hundred pounds"
"Or Til take thrashing from you
for the same cause, although I'm the
biggest"
thrashing."
"Oh, well; if you'll neither give nol
take, / will b1ibe you in another way
I will promise never to lei
my eyes wander towards pret
ty Lizzie Bells pew, although
that is my principal pleasure in goin:
to church."
~ take you up at thatp'
III Is a. bargain, Chen!
eyes; but mind, by speaking the
truth for day or week-as, indeed
I always dol do not mean to say
that am going about voluntarily tt
insult everybody by telling them o
their little faults, or peccadilloes, ol
misfortunes."
Certainly not. You are to answer
truly only such questions as are put
to you, and such observations as art
addressed to you inyour daily routine
of business or social intercourse with
the little world around you"
That is simple enough. But stop
you are not to go round among oul
acquaintances, putting them up tt
ask me awkward questions which i
would be painful to answer?"t
"On my honor, no! All shall b.
fair, for wish the experiment fairly
tested. I shall not speak Of the sub
iect directly or Indirectly to q single
soul during the prescribed week, mol
must you, should you be hard up be