San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-11-10

writer for the press are excepted,
not because these are past redemp-
ton, but because it is their trade
to lie, and the people expect them
to be dilligent in their calling.
Self preservation is the first law Of
nature, and how could the poll
ticion preserve his Office unless he
lied to his constituents? Or, how
could the space writer make out his
daily column and earn his daily
bread and beer (where there is no
free lunch) unless he was author
lied to draw on his imagination
for his facts, as a condition preced-
emit to drawing his salary: But
these exceptions only prove the
rule.
There are those who think that
the preachers and the editors
should be included in this except
tions, and that it is impossible for
these to live and prosper i: they
tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. Granted,
even then it is not necessary to
lie, for lying is of more than one
kind, and q man may tell the truth
and nothing but the truth, while
not telling the whole truth. 1t is
this whole truth business that
gets US. How can a man tell the
whole truth, unless he knows, and
who knows the whole truth?
Sometimes the preachers and the
editors pretend to know it, but no
one believes them. Their saying so
is like the little mistakes that the
ladies make in telling their ages,
it deceives no one and does the
dear creatures no end Of good.
1t is not of the lie innocent, that
the preacher discourses today,
much less then is it of the lie vir-
tuous. AS the lie venomous is the
spawn Of sheol, so the lie virtuous
is the offspring Of the sublimest
moral heroism. To lie for gain,
particularly at the expense of an
other, is contemplate, showing the
man who thus lies thinks more Of
dollars and cents than he does Of
truth. To lie for fun, or to put one
on the top shelf, as the fishermen
and hunters do, is at most a weak
ness, but it shows that the love Of
truth has not bedded itself in the
constitution of the mind and that
sport is preferred to truth. Lies Of
both kinds only show the weakness
and greed of humanity.
AS it is the lie venomous that
kills, so it is the lie virtuous that
makes alive. AS the lie venomous
shows that venom, iDgratitude,
hate, hell's trinity, are preferred to
truth, so the lie virtuous shows
that virtue is preferred to truth it.
self. Not that truth is not one OF
the virtues; it is, but there are
other things to be preferred to it,
The virtuous lie is that uttered to
shield innocence from the shafts OF
malignant hate; to defend the poor
and the weak and the pure against
the impure and the strong and the
rich to put the sleuth-hounds Of
character off the scent and put
them on a wrong trail; to deceive
the inquisitors who make inquest
into reputation to torture their
victims, and compel belief in the
orthodoxy OF those whom they
would rack for their heresy, social
or religious. The vlrtuous lie is
that uttered to save when the
truth if known would dam.
There is no geater virtue on
earth than this. To defend the
victims of the worlds scorn and
persecution and contumely, and to
DO it by lying, when every instinct
of the whole nature Graves truth
and glories in it, this is the height
Of human virtue. A lie like this
should be winged with the speed Of
the wind and legged with the light
nings Of heaven. Such lies, II such
they really be, cannot have legs
enough to bear them on their
heavenly-human mission, and this
morning the truly devout in the
great congregation of the LIGHT