The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-11-03

Plain Ples For Telling the Iruth-The
Masquerade Ball.
DR.. Talmage in this discourse gives {. Viva
classification of the vices OF speech anu
pleads for honesty in al that IS sald and
done. His text IS Acts V, lilo, "A certain
man named Apanias with Sapphira, his wife,
sold a possession" etc.
well matched pair, alike in ambition
and in ftlsehood, Anauias and Sapphlra
They wanted a reputation for great bench
ceoce. and they sold all their property, pre-
tending TO put the entire proceeds IN the
charity fund while they put much Of 1t IN
their own pocket. There was no necessity
that they give all their property away, but
they wanted the reputation Of 50 doing. An-
anias first lied about 1t and dropped down
dead. Then Sapphira lied about IL, and she
dropped down dead. The two fatalities
warningt to all ages oftbe dangers OF sacrltlc-
ing the truth.
There are thousands Of ways OF telling y
lie. a mans whole life may be a Ia!Seho0d,
and yet never with MS lips may he ialslfyy
once There is 8 way of uttering falSehood
BY look, by manner, as well as by lip. There
are persons who are guilty Of dishonesty OF
speech end then afterward say "mayoe'
calling it white lie when no lie IS that COL
OF. The whitest lie ever told was as oIacA
as perdition. There are those 50 gwen 10
dishonesty of speech that they do not kno"
when they are lying. With some II Is an
ACQUIRED sin, and with others 1t IS natural
infrmity. There are those whom you WIZ
recognize as born liars. Their whote me-
from cradle to grave, is filed up with vice
of speech. Misrepresentation and prev&ri
cation are as natural to them as the intauuie
diseases and are q sort Of moral Group or
spiritual scarlstina. =.
Then there are those who in after lite
have opportunities of developing this evil
and they go from deception to ceceptlon'
and from class 70 class, usul they are resu-
larly graduated liars. At times the ar IN
our cities is filed with falsehood, and lies
cluster around the mechanics hammer;
blossom on the merchants yardstich anu
sometimes sit in the doors OF chnrcoes.
They are called by some fabrication ana tneJ
are called by some fiction. You misnt c@tt
them subterfuge, or deceit, or romance: or
fable. or MISREPRESENTATION. or deluS;on, o0t
IS know nothing to be gained BY covering
up 8 God defying sin with 3 photographer ;
blanket, shall call them in plainest vernac-
ular, lies. They may be divided into agrl
cultural, commercial, mechanical, social ana
ecclesiastical.
First of all, speak of agricultural false
hoods. There is something in the presence
Of natural objects that has tendency 10
make one pure. The trees never issue faise
stock. The wheatfelds are always honest
Rye and oats never move out IN the night,
not paying for the place they occupy Corn
shocks never make false assignment. Noun
tain brooks are always current. Inc So4o
of the wheatields is never counterfeit: but
while the tendency of agricultural Ilte Is 10
make one honest, honesty IS rot the charac-
teristic of all who come to the city markets
from the country districts. Yes hear the
cresking Of the dishonest farm wagon IN
almost every street of our great cltles-a
farm wagon in which there is not one honest
poke, or one truthful rivet, from tongue 10
tailboard. Again and again has domestic
economy in our great cities foundered on the
farmers frkin. Wien New York and
Washington sit down and weep over tneir
sins, let Westchester county and the nelgh-
borhocds around this capital sit down ana
weep over theirs.
SeOQeCCY
suppose that sins and trangresslons cluster
in our great cities, but citizens and mer-
chants long ago learned that 1t IS not SAFE 10
calculate from the character Of the apples on
the TOP of the farmers barrel what IS the
character of the apples all the way down
toward the bottom. Many OF our citizens
and merchants have learned that 1t IS always
safe to see the farmer measure the barrel q
beets Milk cans are not always honest.
There are those who in country life seem 10
think they have right to overreach gram
dealers and merchants ofall styles. They
think it IS more honorable to raise corn than
to deal in corn. The producer sometimes prac-
tically says to the merchant, you get your
money easily anyhow Does he get 1t
easily? While the farmer sleeps-and ne
may 20 to sleep conscious of tie fact that MS
corn and rye are all the time progressing
and adding to his fortune or his livelihood
the merchant tries to sleep, while conscious
of the fact that at that moment the ship may
be driving on the rock or a wave sweeping
over the hurricane deck spelling his goods,
or the spectators may be plotting monetary
revolution, or the burglars may S5 at that
moment at his money safe, OF the fire nay
have sindled on the very block where his
store stands.
Easy, is it? Let these who get their liv-
ing in the Quiet farm and barn take the place
Of one of our oity merchants and see whe-
ther it is so easy. Ii is hard enough 10 have
the hands bistered with outdoor work, but
it is harder with mental anxieties to have
the brain consumed. God bel p the merchants.
And do not let those wIo live IN country
life come TO the CONCLUSION that al the dis
honesties belong to city life.
I pass on to cons. der commercial hes.
There are those who spologize for deViations
from the right and fer practical deception
By Saying it is commercial custom. In other
words, lie By multiplication becomes vlr-
ture There are large fortunes gathered II
which there is not one drop ofthe sweat OF
unrequited toll, and not one spark OF bad
temper flashes from the bronze bracket, and
there IS not one drop Of nee6lewoman's
hearts blood on the crimson plush, while
there are other fortunes about which 1t may
be said that on every doorknob and on every
figure ofthe carpet and on every wall there
is the mark Of dishonor What if the hand
wrung by toll and bEstered until the skin
comes eff should be placed on the exquisite
wall paper, leaving its mark of blood--four
fingers and thumb? Or if in the night the
man should be aroused from his slumber
again and again by his own conscience, get
ting himself up on elbo and CRYING out into
the darkness, ''Wao is there"
There are large fortunes upon which God
favor comes down, and it IS just as honest
and just as Christian to be afiuent as 1t IS to
be poor. In many house there isa bless
ing on every pictured wall and on every
scroll and on every traceried window, and
the JOY that flashes in the lights and that
showers in the music snd that dances in the
quick feet of the children pattering through
the hall has in it the favor Of God and the
approval of man. And there are thousands
and ten of thousands of merchants who, from
the first day they sold a yard Of cloth or