The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-10-28

with Sapphira. his wife, sold -,
session." etc.
A well matched pair. alike in ambi
tion and In falsshood. Ananias and
Sapphira. They wanted q reputation
for great beneficence. and they sold all
their property. pretending to put the
entire proceeds In the charity fund
while they put much Of II In their own
pocket. There was no necessity tha.
they give all their property away. but
they wanted the reputation OF so do
ing. 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 the danger Of sacrificing
the truth.
There are q thousand OF ways OF
telling a lie. A mans whole life may
be a falsehood. and yet never with his
lips may he falsify once. There Is a
way OF uttering a falsshood by look.
by manner, as we'll as by lip. There
are persons who are guilty OF dishon-
esty OF speech and then afterward say
maybe" calling II a white lie when
no lie Ia that color. The whitest lie
ever told was as black a. perdition.
There are those so given to dishonesty
OF speech that they do not know when
they are lying. With some 1t is an ac-
quired sin, and with others II Is a nat
ural inlrmity. There are those whom
you will recognize as born liars. Their
whole life. from cradle to grave, is
filled up with vice OF speech. Misrep-
resentation and prevarication are as
natural TO them as the infantile dis
eases and are sort of moral Group or
spiritual scarlatina.
Then there are those who in after
life have opportunities of developing
this evil, and they 60 from deception
TO deception and from class to class,
until they are regularly graduated IL
arg. At times the air in our cities is
nlled with falsehood, and lies cluster
around the mechanics hammer. bios
som on the merchants yardstick and
sometimes sit In the doors OF church
%. They are called by some fabrica-
tion and they are called BY some nc-
tion. You might call them subterfuge.
or deceit. or romance, or fable, or mis-
representation. or delusion. but as I
know nothing to be gained by covering
up . God defying sin with a lexicogra-
piers blanket, shall call them in
plainsst vernacular. lies. They may
bs divided into agricultural, CONNER
cial. mechanical, social and ecclesias-
IDEAL.
First of all, I speak Of agricultural
falsehoods. There Is something in the
presence Of natural objects that has q
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 wheatheld is never
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 rivst, from tongue to tall
hno I'd AGAIN and baa Inr
sconomy in our great cities toundered
On the farmers drkin. When New
York and Washington sit down and
weep over their sins. let Westchester
county and the neigh borhoods around
this capital sit down and weep over
theirs.
The tendency in all rural districts
Is to suppose that sins and transgres-
sions cluster in our great cities, but
citizens and merchants long ago learn
ID that 1t Is not safe to calculate from
the character Of the apples on the top
Of the farmers barrel what is the
character OF the apples all the way
iown toward the bottom. Many Of
SoA SlelAonS o0u uctSuo0IS uoNS le6Eu-
ID that 1t 10 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
!hink they have a right to overreach
grain dealers and merchants Of all
styles. They think II 10 more honora-
bio to raise corn than to deal in corn.
rhe producer sometimes practically
'ays to the merchant. you get your
money easy, anyhow" Does he get IL
sssily! While the farmer sleeps-and
he may go to sleep conscious Of the
'act that his corn and rye are all the
lime progressing and adding to his for
.une or his livelihood-the merchant
.ries to sleep. while conscious Of the
'act chat at that moment the ship may
DO driving on the rock or wave
sweeping over the hurricane deck !
'poiling his goods. or the speculators
nay be plotting monetary revolution.
" the burglars may be at that moment
It his money safe. or the fire may
have kindled on the very block where
Ais store stands.
Easy. Is It? Let those who get their |