Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1897-11-25

ceeds in the charity
1und, while they put much of it in their
own pocket. There was no necessity
tnat they give all their property away,
put they wanted the reputation of so
aolng. Ananias first lied about it and
dropped down dead. Then Sapphire
licd about it. and she dropped down
dead. The two fatalities are warn
ing to all ages of the danger of sacri-
ficing the truth.
lnere are thousands of ways of tell
ing lie. A mans whole life may he
1aisehood and yet never with his lips
may he falsify once. There is way
VI utterlng falsehood by look, by man
nef' as we'll as by lip. There are persons
VINO are guilty of dishonesty of speech
ana then afterward say may be-" call
ing 1t white lie, when no lie is that
Color. The whitest lie ever told was
as black as perdition. There are those
SO given to dishonesty of speech
mat they do not know when they are
lying. With some it is an acquired
SIN, and with others it is natural in
hrm1ty. There are those whom YOU
Will recognize as born liars. Their
"nole life, from cradle to grave, is filed
up With vice of speech. Misrepresen-
tatlon and prevarication are as natural
10 them as the infantile diseases. and
are sort of moral Group and spiritual
scarlat1na. Then there are those who
III after life have opportunities of de-
Veloplng this evil, and they go from de-
ceptlon to deception, and from class to
class, until they are regularly gradu-
ated liars. At times the air in our CT
ties is filled with falsehood. and lies
cluster around the mechanics hammer,
blossom on the merchants yardstick,
and sometimes sit on the door of
churches. They are called by some
fabrication, and they are called by some
notion. You might call them subter-
fuge or deceit, or romance, or fable, or
Misrepresentation, or delusion; but as
l know nothing to be gained by cover
ing up God-defying sin with a lexi-
cographer's blanket. shall call them
in plainest vernacular, lies. They may
be divided into agricultural, CONNER
cial, mechanical, social and ecclesiasti-
al.
First of all, I speak of agricultural
falsehoods. There is something in the
presence of natural objects that has a
tendency to make one pure. The trees
never issue false stock. The wheat
fields 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.
Mountain brooks are always current.
The gold of the wheat fields is never
counterfeit. But while the tendency
of agricultural life is to make one hon
est, honesty is not the characteristic
of all who come to the city markets
from the country districts. You hear
the creaking of the dishonest farm
wagon in almost every street of our
great cities-a farm wagon in
which there is not one honest
spoke. or one truthful rivet,
from tongue to tail-board. Again
and again has domestic economy
in our great cities foundered on the
farmers firkin. When New York and
Washington sit down and weep over
their sins, let Westchester county and
the neighborhoods around this capital
sit down and weep over theirs.
The tendency in all rural districts is
to suppose that sins and transgressions
cluster in our great cities; but citizens
and merchants long ago learned that
it is not safe to calculate from the
character of the apples on the top of
the farmers barrel what is the char
acter of the apples all the way down
toward the bottom. Many of our citi-
zens and merchants have learned that
it is always safe to see the farmer
measure the barrel of beets. Milk cans
are not always honest. There are
those, who in country life, seem to
think they have right to overreach
grain dealers and merchants of all
STYLES. They think it is more honor
able to raise corn than to deal in corn.
The nroducer sometimes practically
saws to the merchant, "You get your
money easily, anyhow" Does he get
il easily? While the farmer sleeps, and
he may go to sleep, conscious of the
fact that his corn and rye are all the
time progressing and adding to his for
tune 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 wave
sweeping over the hurricane deck spoil
ing his goods, or the spectators may
be plotting a monetary revolution, or
the burglars may be at that moment at
his money safe, or the fire may have
kindled on the very block where his
store stands.
Easy, is it? Let those who get their
living on the quiet farm and barn take
the place of one of our city merchants
and see whether it is so easy. 1t is hard
enough to have the hands 5listered
with outdoor work, but 1t Is harder
with mental anxieties to have the brain
consumed. God help the merchants.
And do not let those who live in
country life come to the conclusion
Ahoa oil tbo dirhone.iipS belong to city