Connecticut western news., 1897-10-28
ALL LIES ARE BLACK
REV. DR. TALMAGE SAYS THERE ARE
 NO WHITE ONES.

REV. DIR. TALMAGE SAYS THERE ARE
 NO WHITE ONES.
 He Refers Specially to Variety of Liars and In Closing Draws . Remarkably Graphic Picture of Masquerade Ball. Copyright. 1897. by American Press Asso-
 ciation.]
 WASHINGTON, Oct. 24.-Dr. Talmage in this discourse gives vivid classified tion of the vices of speech and pleads for honesty in all that is said and done. His text is Acts v, 1-10, "A certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold possession, !" etc.
 A we'll matched pair, alike in ambi- ton and in falsehood, Ananias and Happhiral They wanted reputation for great benefcence, and they sold all their property, pretending to put the entire proceeds in the charity fund, while they put much of it in their own pocket. There was no necessity that they give all their property away, but they wanted the reputation of so doing. Ananias first lied about it and dropped down dead Then Sapphira lied about 1t. and she dropped down dead-the two fatalities warning to all ages of tho danger of sacrificing the truth.
 There are thousands of ways of tell ing lie. A mans whole life may be a falsehood and yet never with his lips may he falsify once. There is way of uttering falsehood by look. by manner, a well as by lip. There are persons who are guilty of dishonesty of speech and then afterward say "may be, :" call ing 1t . white he 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 that they do not know when they are lying. With some 1t is an acquired sin, and with others 1t is a natural inflrmity. There Are those whom you will recognize as born Tiara Their whole life, from era hle to grave, is filled up with vice of ration are as natural to them as the in- fantile diseases and are 8 sort of moral croup or spiritual scarlatina.
 Then there are those who in after life have opportunities of developing this evil, and they go from decep- ton to deception and from class to class until they are regularly graduated NarA At times the air in our cities is filled with falsehood and lies cluster around the mechanics hammer, blos- som on the merchants yardstick and sometimes ait in the doors of churches They are called by some fabrication, and they are called by some fiction. You might call them subterfuge or de- ceit or romance or fable or misrepre- sentation or delusion, but as know nothing to be gained by covering up God defying sin with Photographer blanket I shall call them in plainest vernacular lies. They may Dc divided into agricultural, commercial. mechan- ical, social and ecclesiastical.
 The Lying Farmer.
 First of all, speak of agricultural fAlsehooda There is something in the presence of natural objects that has a tendency to make one pure. The trees never issue false stock. The wheatfelds arc 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 arc always current. The gold of the wheatields is never counterfeit, but while the tendency of agricultural life is to make one honest, honesty is not the characteristic of all who come to the city markets from the country dis tricta 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 tailboard Again and again has domes- tic economy in our great cities founder ed 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 charac- ter of the apples on the top of the farm er's barrel what is the character of the apples all the way down toward the bottom Many of our citizens and mer- chants have learned that it is always safe to see the farmer measure the barrel of beets. Milk cans are not al- ways 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 honorable to raise corn than to deal in corn. The producer sometimes practically says to the merchant, You get your money easily anyhow" Does he get it easily? While the farmer sleeps-and he may go to sleep con- scious of the fact that his corn and rye are all the time progressing and add ing 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 spoil ing his goods, or the speculators may be plotting monetary revolution, or the burglars may be at that moment at his money safe, or the fire may have kin dled on the very block where his store gtanda
 Easy, is it2 Let those who get their
 
 living in the quiet farm and barn take the place of one of our city merchants and see whether it is so easy. It is hard enough to have the hands blistered with outdoor work, but it is harder with mental anxieties to have the brain consumed God help the merchants, and do not let those who live in coun- try life come to the conclusion that all the dishonesties belong to city life.
 The Lying Merchant.
 pass on to consider commercial lies. There are those who apologize for de- viations from the right and for practi- cal deception by saying it is commer- cial custom. In other words. lie by multiplication becomes virtue. There are large fortunes gathered in which there is not one drop of the sweat of unrequited toll, and not one spark of