The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-08-07

and an arr. People who speak the truth
among such tribes would be pronounced
monumental liars. Hence there is nothing
improbable in the story that when Stanley
explained to group of Africans that he
had not even one wife the simultaneous eX-
clamation was, "What splendid liarW
Spencer has good theme for comment on
the degree to which lying goes on in dl-
plomacy, politics. business, stocks and rail-
road management. Perhaps il tue truth
were told on all occasions the world would
be unbearable.
A Scotch idiot had theory about lying
containing a kernel of sense. He declared
that ''some lees were waur than ithers,"
and he supported this view by holding that
a lie which was intended to put down row
and paeify the angry was much better in
moral light than lie intended to stir up
"deeylement o. a din" This idiot had
adopted the Baconau method of measuring
the gravity of lie by its results. Macha-
Velli had the notion that deception Is Justi-
fable in tie affairs of government. As a
parent may hoodwink child, so may a
ruler sway his subjects 1t does not do to
say so, but the amount of deception and
trickery among rulers in all the centuries
has been about the same. The maxims of
MachiaVelli have always been understood
and practiced, both before and since his
time. Human antagonism among indi-
viduals and races cannot be Invested Of this
characteristic, immoral as we pronounce il.
a very curious light Is shed upon habits
Of deception or lyiBgin the life of the lower
animals aud plants. Within recent years
the mimicry and subterfuges Of nature in
many directions have been studied, and the
conclusion is irresistible that in the struggle
of lfe-the quest for food, the preservation
of specieS-apparently natural conditions
are lamentably lacking in that quality of
candor and upenness which should distin-
guish the relations Of honorable men. Re-
garded from this point of view, all fish are
confirmed deceptioniSts or liars. They prev
upon one another and lure one another to
destruction by many devices. The angler.
Tor instance, waves lure overhead and
gobbies up the gudgeons who fin around on
inquiries bent. Perhaps the angler laughs
as he pockets the betrayed in his capacious
stomach. Is the angler in logic much worse
morally than the man who thrashes q
stream with artificial flies for salmon or
trout, or who uses q decOy call for wild
game? Insects positively reYel in subtlety
Of devices. They initiate leaves aud leaf
stalks at the right angle most eleyerly, and
thaS deceive birds and other insects with
downright art Birds and fish protect them
selves by limitations of color which make it
din nit 10 see them In their habitat Even
the lion and tiger are not above these pro-
tectiVe aims. 1t Is well known that the
moral sense in dogs is highly developed,
and to some extent il is developed in eats.
\ clear case OF deception Is told of a dog
which belonged TO Miss Marianne y 0rth. art
list and naturalist, who devised magnificent
collection of botanical drawings TO Kew
Gardens. This dog was left alone with a
plgeOn-ple and could not resist temptation.
He ate pigeon and substituted therefor a
dirty sponge Which was used to wipe pens.
The ratiOclnatI0n of the dog is clear. He
was evidently Of opinion that If be ate the
pigeon lie would be set down as a thief, and
perhaps punished. He was also of opinion
that & bulky sponge was as good for Miss
North as dead pigeon, and hoped AZ least
that she would not discover the difference.
No doubt the dog awaited events with
anxiety and said nothing lie could help
about the pigeon But he was liar, never
theless.
Man is said to be the only animal that
laughs, but if one could credit all the stories
told about the lower animals 1t could not he
said OF them that they are destitute Of the
appreciation Of humor. The dog that buried
bones and found out that thew were nyari-
ably stolen by a predacious cur must have
been tickled with something like laughter
when he buried an old OF Ster-can and looked
on through fence while his torment0r I'M
earthed it. There must have been some
quake Of enjoyment, too, IN parrot which
had often been S0uSed with water for pro
lane swearing. which he had become ad-
d1cted TO on board ship. The parrot spied a
fowl one day with soaked plumage and a
despoDdent air. and in kind manner put
the question, - little chicken, have you
been swearing too?"
The extinguished anarchist, RavachoI.
was not particularly anxious to die. He
was aroused from sleep at the usual minute
before daybTeak, aud showed great bravade
in cursing the Government under which he
had thriyed in crime. and in showing shock
ing depraYlty IN religious feeling. On the
way to the scaffold he sang the Carnagnole
and danced an accompaniment For him the
line, And the good God in the gutter"
seemed TO have n peculiar fascination. He
harped over this horrible utterance again
and again. and yet when he reached the
scatt0ld and the eXeculi0nerS were pHning
him down to the plank off which MS head
was to roll, he was very eager to have an
other minute Of life. He shrieked for DELAY
but the eXecutiOnsrs gave him not a second
on that account II is matter of doubt
what he shouted as the knife fell. On one
hand the exclamation was "Vive la Repub-
llQueE Another statement is that he got
as far as ''Vive IA" and then tie sharp
blade extinguished the wretch's Shrek.
"Vive Ia" might of course have been in
tended for Long life TO anarchy" The
execution Of this miscreant is certain TO do
some good among the gentry who shout a
great deal
Is 1t not almost time that Legislatures put
stop to the insane professionalism called
parachute descents? Every now and then
a man or woman comes down from a mile
or more according to the well-known ac-
CELEBRATED speed of gravtatIonal fall, and a
great crowd looking on is Mortified The
other day man fell ten feet deep into a
grave Of Mississippi mud. His parachute
aid not work. and Ia the ordinary course of
things nature dispensed with the parachute
and took advantage OF the balloonist.
These experiments are not of any value to
mankind, and in the long run they are Of
doubtful value to the Daracbntis,s. Bal
looming without parachutes is quite dam
gerous enough and ought TO provide suffi-
Gent entertainment for the curious.
RRTSH