The leader., 1895-10-29
PUZZLING CHARACTERS.
Sam Jones Enumerates Some Peo-
pie Be Is Unable to Understand.
Professional Deadbeats, Constitutions,
Liars, Hypocrites, Politicians, Society
Lepers and AmbitionIess Doys
Are Among These,
COPYRIGHT. 1895.

Whether we will or not we must lie us
sociated with men in business, in poll
tics, in social life, etc.
Some men tell us the more they deal
with humanity t..,e less confidence they
have in humanity. Some meh tell us
ths more they see Of meh the more con-
fidence they have in men. 1t would he
as unjust to say that every man is dis
honest as it is false to say that every
man is honest. There are many men
who do not keep their pledges either in
business, politics or in social life. They
believe in the old adage that promises
are made to be broken" They are un-
reliable. Some of them have gone so far
that their very nature is honeycombed
with dishonesty and falsehood. Some
men have been driven to false positions
by force of circumstances. A man who
places himself at the mercy of circum-
stances generally comes out worsted.
The man who deals with his fellow men
ought not to throw himself in the cur
rent where circumstances could swamp
and ruin him. Some men have been
| made unreliable by the treachery of
other men. Some men have paid some
other mems debts and were thereby
made unable to pay their own debts.
Sometimes the perfidy and rascality of
one man will reach and affect one hun
dred men. Double dealing is bad, false
dealing is worse, dishonest dealing is
penitentiary offense.
The characters which puzzle us most
are the men who can pay and won't
pay, the men who can and won't do, the
men who can be and won't be. These
can be found in almost every communi-
ty--men who seem to prefer to break
their word, to be dishonest, to be false.
They keep their word when they are
obliged to; they pay when they are
obliged to; they do when they are
obliged TO; and but for the penal code
and civil law there would be no means
by which you could reach such charac-
ters. They get in the habit of lying
and deceiving you. They get into the
habit of shirking. They will beat
preacher out of his salary. They will
rob the church of God. They will de-
fraud therneighbor; and never meet an
issue fairly, only when the sheriff's in
sight. This class of characters always
puzzles me.
There is another class of characters
who puzzle me much. This class is
much larger than the other-the fell
lows who can't make tongue and buckle
meet. Work as they may, scheme as
they may, they are always behind.
They seem to belong in the procession
of trade and traffic where the tar
bucket belongs to the wcgon-on the
hind axle. They can pay fifty cents on
the dollar, more or less. They can
meet an obligation from thirty days
to twelve months after it is due They
have never kno IN what the word
promptness meant. They have ig-
nored the word prompt, and they seem
to have studiously avoided promptness.
The name of this class is Legion. They
are not dishonest. Really, they mean
to pay; but it would take one of the
prophets of old to tell when they will.
There is another class of human be-
ings which puzzle me. That is the
class that will tell you lie when it
seems the truth would answer the pur-
pose better. They seem to love to lie
and to love to tell lie. They will
lie when there isn't cent in it or ii
dollar to be made by it. 1t seems
they had rather lie for nothing than to
tell the truth for pay. Constitutional
liars. Really, their constitution and
bylaws both seem involved. ! have
seen some real good fellows in other re-
spects who would tell lie and stick to
ii when they must have known every
body knew they were lying. They
seemed to have no sense of shame. and
really looked upon their lying as vir-
tue.
There is another class of men who
always puzzle me. They seem to be
pious men, men of position in the
church, who will pray in public and
talk religion to the boys, and yet when
they come to a business transaction
they would clean you up. They seem
to want everybody to get to Heaven
with them, and yet they rob fellow
of every dollar he has down here in this
world. Old slinfints, twenty per cent.
interest on mortgage, two for one,
get all you can and keep all you get,
saint in the church, devil in the
marts of trade. There are many of
these old fellows.
There is another class which puzzles
US, and that is the class that always
have money to give and money to
spend upon themselves, and yet no
money for creditors and no money for
Just debts. They drink high wines
and give big entertainments; and yet
the butchers and the grocer's bill goes
unpaid. They will honor guest and
rob their cook. They will pay thou
sands for diamonds, and rob the dress
maker of her hard-earned salary;
thousands for show, but pennies when
the procession is out of sight.
Another class which puzzles us Is
the politicians who think everything ~
fair in politics from the stufiing OF
ballot box down to open bribery in the
legislative halls. and yet they occupy
| the deacon's pew and the elders place
IN the church. They do things polite
ally which they would shrink from
personally. For the life Of me cannot