The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-03-26
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= ONE WOMAN'S VIEWS. ::
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1t is wicked to lie. The Bible says
so, the preachers preach SO and al
most anybody you may ask, even if he
should happen to be somewhat of liar
himself, will virtuously assert that ly-
ing is a low down or'nery vice that no
self-respecting person will acquire, and
that if there's, anybody on the face of
the earth whom he despises it is the
person who doesn't tell the truth Then
you recall the impression made upon
you by the real liars you have known
not the nice people, your friends
whom you meet every day-but the
ones who told lies when the truth
would have served a deal better and
you remember the contempt you've al
ways felt for them. You never gave
them credit for telling the truth un-
der any circumstances and you recall
with embarrassment one or two occa-
sions when they fooled you and which
you resent to this day.
They were generally interesting, these
liars. They had more entertaining
qualities at their command than most
people, were more amusing and en-
joyed themselves more, but they al
ways were found out Probably you
were little slow in making the discoV-
cry and were surprised and somewhat
annoyed to learn that other people had
known it all along. That fact made
you hold another grudge against the
offenders. But did you ever stop to
think that perhaps you might have
been a trife unjust? You know Curl
osity and even inquisitiveness is only
a pronounced form of sympathy; so
the liar is one who is frequently pos
sessed of an exaggerated imagination.
The little child who announced the
presence of "moren a thousand cats in
our back yard" and who was finally
cornered to the admission Of "our cat
and another cat anyway" had a pow
erful imagination and was capable of
developing into u picturesque liar who
would more, than half believe his own
romances. Children are often blamed
for telling lies when they actually see
in their vivid mortality the pictures
they describe. A little girl in this COM
munty shocked and embarrassed her
family beyond words and afforded en-
tertainment to a number Of ultra curl
Gus listeners by relating a marvellous
tale of her own parentage which, ac-
cording to her version, was very diff
lefent from Indt commonly accepted
by the public and allowed to be under
stood by her alleged relatives. 1t was
not until an endless amount of an
noyance had been caused by the COM
ments of of!icious friends who casu-
ally remarked 1--WE always thought that
Jean was your own child until lately"
that the parents were able to trace the
ineXplicable rumor When finally the
small maid was charged with the enor-
nifty of stating that she was an adopt
ed child the offender said tearfully:
But papa, everybody says I don't look
like the rest of our family and / got
To thinking that l was somebody else,
and | thought out such a pretty story
and It must be true for l thought it
and IL seems true to me-"
The wise mother had long talks with
the daughter: and plainly pictured to
her the despicable nature of the man
or woman whom no one believes, and
day by day, led her out of her dreams
into the realities of life. 1t was only
a few weeks ago that the girl now
almost a woman said half sorrowfully:
II do see the difference, mother. be-
tween what is, and what II seems TO
be, In my mind. but do you know moth
er dear, | don't begin to have as good
time as i did in NV ke-believs