The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-07-08
time is one which has not thus far been
seriously considered. Mankind loves SEN

sation
1t might almost be said that civilized
! people have only recently begun to appre
cite the Importance of telling the truth
| Truthfulness has, of course been recog
nized as virtue in private life. becaus,
there the evils of falselrood are brought dt
rectiy home to each person. Every mar
| recognizes at once the trouble it woulC
cause him could he not believe the wo-t
of his wife in any matter affecting their re-
lations; and he usually considers lack Of
| fidelity to the truth, in her, to be suffi
| cient cause for grave accusations. The
| same is true of man in his business rela-
tons. If he wants to have good reputa-
| ton he must be reliable; that is, he mus
| be truthful, and do what he promises to
| do Were it not for this general demand
for veracity modern business could not be
| carried on. But there are certain direc-
| tons in which truth is not so imperatively
demanded. and history is one of them, and
| science is another. The reformation OF
science is naturally coming first. 1t is
generally recognized that If a physician
| is TO be of any use he must know the ex-
act truth about the human system, and
about the symptoms Of his patient The
Catholic Church long ago recognized the
same necessity in the cure of souls. The
priest requires his patient to be truthful
and frank with him. There is a good,
sound. psychological reason for it. But, as
general thing, people do not see that,
unless they are true to themselves and
each other. they can never have perma-
tent and genuine foundations for their
human relationships.
This carelessness' Of the truth has been
aided and abetted by the untruthfulness
Of historians. The average historian. in
times past has been more anxious to pre-
sent certain kind Of picture than to be
veracious. The great majority of Prot
estants in this country have the idea that
the Catholic Church, in the Middle Ages,
was always the prosecutor and the Prot
sestant Church always the martyr. Those
who have read Lecky's History Of Euro
pean Morals''-Lecky is one of the few
impartial chroniclers-will see that moth
ing of The kind was the case. 1t was a
barbarous age and the Free Kirk of Scot
land has some cruelty to answer for.
Catholic historians have also been unfair
to the hereto. There can De no true his
tory unless this partisanship is eliminat-
ed. The only use of the study of history,
when one comes down to the central facts,
is that it throws light on the tendencies
and problems of the present day; and II
the light itself is fiickering and false ii
may be worse than utter darkness. When
ever a lie is found out, the inevitable re-
action of the mind from the deception
prevents the recognition of whatever truth
may be in it. 1t is therefore important
for every teacher of history. OF morals. of
religion, to inculcate- respect for The
truth. and for himself as the exponent OF
the truth as FAR as he can see it II he
teaches thing which is not true, and his
pupil, in after years. discovers this, the
effect is unfavorable in every way. We
should strive, in every way. to guard
against one-sided and partisan and pre-
JUDGED reports of things. A fairly good
example of the fashion in which history
has hitherto been made is the way in
which some prudish papers have been re-
porting Admiral Philips famous saying
at Santiago. What he really said was
Don't cheer. boys; the poor devils are
DYING But in their anxiety TO defend
the Admiral from the possible charge of
using profane language at n critical time,
these papers have modified the word dew
lis TO fellows" They seem to think that
it is necessary to assume, for some occult
purpose, that Admiral Philip never swcre
in his life People who are acquainted
with naval officers know how true that is
likely to be of any of them, and it is not
to their discredit. either. There are times
when it is not at all bad for mans
moral nature to express himself in terms
to ladies' tea party