The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-02-07
TOUGH BUT TRUE.
the Captains Story Was Good as the
biggest Kind of Lie.

IL Is extremely QlIuCulU TO Tell lie.
Falsifying is as easy as to roll down a
creased plane. But sublime lie, in
which one hand touches the stars and
:he other dives down through the
earth and comes out the other side,
that requires genius. | remember in
my youthful days having an immense
respect for George because he could not
tell lie. AS l advanced l found that
to do so he would have required the
prilliancy of Hamilton, the astuteness
of Robert Morris and the cleverness of
Franklin-which he did not have--but
was simply the well-shaped marble
Washington we know to-day.
The difficulty consists in the fact
that truth no longer confines herself to
her proper realm of probability. She
takes to herself such unlimitable
bounds that the most brazen-cymbaled
lie possible to be conceived, dreamed
or manufactured has, metaphorically,
physically and spiritually, taken a
back seat.
am led to these reflections by some
remarks of my friend, Capt. Ebenezer
Luffhard. 1t seems truly sad that the
world has changed so much that man
can no longer tell lie without its be-
ing detected as the truth.
We were speaking of the launching
of ships.
do you know" said the captain,
that down in the Caribbee islands
people build ships up on top of an old
| vol
sea level. Yes, sir, Dutchmen. An
blowed if they don't launch 'em, too. u
A smile went around the circle which
made the glasses jump on the table. 1t
was an incredulous smile.
But by the tarnel cells! I've seen
EN-. A lot of Dutchmen. Live in a
crater. Tbousan' feet up An so steep
you have to go up steps cut in the rock
to get to it. An they built ships there
in the crater O volcano. An what's
more, not stick of timber grows on
the blasted place"
Now, cap" ventured one of his
hearers. Fur be it from me to say a
gent man an old skipper, like meself,
amt confnin' hisself to the truth. An
I've of'en herd tell of folk, long the
Bay O Fundy, buildin' ships way off in
the woods, noways nigh the water.
But thar the tide rises sixty feet an
launches them ships as slick as though
they was built in ship yard. But
dash my skin, if | ever herd of tide
risin' thousan' feet! How do they
launch them ere boats?"
i al
into deep water. I'm son of a sea
cook, if havn't seen them Dutchmer
lower 'em dowr-thousan' feetn'
chuckled over one of the captains
best. What was my disgust to subse
quently find in Down the Islands,
by William Agnew Patton, page 90
the name of this remarkable spot il
Saba, small Dutch island, rising ou
of the sea in sheer walls of rock. THAI
the inhabitants really live one Thousand
feet up in the air, in the crater of ar
extinct volcano Mr.. Patton says in hi.
very interesting book:
The people of Saba are celebrated
throughout the Caribbean islands fol
the fishing boats they build in crater
the oldest places imaginable for {
shipyard. When the boats are ready tt
be launched they are lowered dowI
the overhanging precipices into tn,
sea. There is no timber growing OF
the island, no beach from which t.
launch boat when it is built, no har
Dor to shelter one when launched, ant
yet these Dutch West Indians profit by
their trade of ship-building and cruise
all about the Caribbean archipelago il
the staunch, seaworthy craft they con
struct in the hollow of crater on tho
top of their mountain colony"
Alas! the captain had but told us the
truth. Let us charitably conclude tina
he thought the story so improbable
that it would answer as well as lie. =
Philadelphia Times.