The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-04-04
LIES AND THE LIARS.
THE WORST OF ALL EVILS AND MOST
DIFFICULT TO CONTROL.
Growth OF the Habit Due In Great Meas
ure to Self Deception-The Causes an In
teresting Study-Liars Should BE Shut
Up In Asylums as the Insane Are.

teresting Study-Liars Should BE Shut
Up In AsyIums as the Insane Are.
There is nothing in the power Of the hC-
man being so bad as lie. There is moth
ing that smirches character so bad as a lie.
There is nothing that turns one so against
himself as a lie. There is nothing that so
destroys the confidence of our friends as
lie There is no compensation possible for
the evil of lie. 1t eats back corrosively
into yourself and you cannot get back
your soundness 1t rarely ever even tenn
porarily makes a profit, and think in the
end never
The puzzle of puzzles is why some peo
pie lie SO easily. They rarely undertake to
be exact and yet do not recognize them
selves as liars. 1t is their first impulse to
avoid aightforwardness and they plunge
ahead in conversation, simply trying to
get around point after point. 1t is mis-
take and a misfortune to form such hab-
IL 1t grows on the victim, and 1t increases
it's power In nine cases out Of ten the
simple facts would be easily told, and the
telling more advantageous than either con-
cealment or a falsehood, but the habit has
been encouraged to misrepresent or con-
ceal and the whole mental nature ex-
itS III puIpOSo ioo w 10
open and honest. When this appears in
person of good ability, mild disposition
and industry, it is lamentable.
The power of lying as habit to grow is
amazing The reason probably is that the
liar lies to himself as badly as he does to
others-that is, he tries to believe he is
truthful until he believes what he says is
true, or at least is uncertain about it. /
L ona or txyn with whom
may say lying is a chronic disease They
talk on at entire random. Their whole
life becomes a romance They may occa-
sionally touch bottom on fact, but they
do it by accident They do not know it.
1t is simply because facts are SO many as
to get in their way. "What an uncon-
scionable liar that creature is" said n
friend 'She cannot tell the truth" /
am not sure but we should have a new
name for this sort of people The fact is
they have lost all sense of the true and the
false, as they have of right and wrong.
Louis Stevenson's novels are no more q
piece of intellectual manufacture than are
their everyday conversations This Is true
not only of some of the lower class, but Of
an occasional person in the highest ranks
of society / know an eminent litterateur
who Is so snarled up among the creatures
of his Imagination that he cannot tell the
real from the fictional 1t Is dangerous to
be his friend for he Is liable to get you
woven into great web of his fancies, and
then with all his might he believes you
are guilty of absurdites or worse that
were enacted only in his brain. He will
swear to these "facts" with all sincerity.
His life can never DO restored to basis of
realities
There should be hospitals for liars, or
retreats, such as we provide for the In
sane when their cases become chronic and
dangerous. They become dangerous to the
community, quite as dangerous as forgers
and shoplifters, and far worse for our own
peace and happiness. II by accident you
get one of these people into your house
hold, you never will get the confusion rec
titled Fast becomes west. Love Is per-
verified into evil intent Even facts fail to
tell the truth Everything is wrong end
foremost. Half the suicides come from
liars tongues The worst cases should be
treated as insanity and mild cases sent to
| q hospital
| 1t would be an interesting study for an
analytic mind to study the causes OF lying
and liars 1t is In some cases no doubt a
matter almost wholly of heredity. Moth
| ers and fathers hand down moral traits
| more easily than they do intellectual A
mother should make II law Of her life to
be sincere and undertaking. II not, she Is
sure to reap sore punishment In and
| from her children. Practice habit of
living very open hearted. do not mean
prattling facts all the while, but with no
chests locked against your beloved ones.
An open heart is better than an open
mouth
l pity a really honest person who has
tumbled herself hastily into lie The
temptation came on suddenly, and before
she was able to be quite self masterful she
prevaricated Now, to back out OF lie Is
like backing out Of a slough Of mud You
get out with mire on you But Is It any
better 10 stay In the slough and wallow
sbsSx There n nsthinG sainsd- nv