Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-03-05
The Gentle Art of Lying.


Truth cru he'd to earth will rise again but
a lie will get up four times to her once
Along about February twenty
second the periodicals are full OF
George Washington articles, but there
is one phase of his character that
has been sadly neglected. He
stands in history as freak of naure
in the respect that he couldn't tell a
lie though he frequently strained
his imagination trying till he was
black in the face Now the question
is-hOw did he become great with
out being able to lie and how much
greater would he have become had
he been able to do so? At this distant
day the question is difficult to answer
It is patent to everyone, however,
thatGeorge was exceedingly lucky in
living at the time he did, for in
those days it didn't require SO much
prevaricatorial genius to make a man
great. Today a man deficient in
the great modern accomplishment
of ecOnOmizing the truth would be
defunct clam in politics could
not get to be sheriff of his county
much less president. Tt is recorded
of George that he couldn't even tell
common every day lie such as you
and tell off-hand in ordinary con-
versation. How then could he have
hoped to compete with polished po-
litical liars such as we have now?
He simply couldn't have done it.
Lying is today a fine art and the
ability to lie with neatness and dis
patch on all occasions is many a
mans passport into high society and
politics. For a bungling or awkward
liar is an Offense to the nOstrils and
a good liar is rather to be chosen
than a good hand at telling the
truth. Humanity is tired of the old
time stereotyped cut-and-dried lie, it
needs the fresh new-laid lie with
the smell of the woods and fields
about it. It is pleasing to believe
a we'll constructed artistically color
ed lie. The difference between this
sort of lie and the old style unvar-
nished lie is the difference between
the masterpiece of a great artist and
| the daub of an amateur To become
a really artistic liar one must have a
good knowledge of humanity and
above all a good memory. A liar
with poor memory will sooner or
later disgrace his profession. With
these two requisites a man of aver
age intelligence can soon become a
cool, serene and pleasing liar. Most
people use no Judgment in lying but
expect you to believe lies that a
drunk man would gag on. This is
wrong. If you want to tell lie
that will stick size up your subject
and see what style of lie would be
most apt to fit him. There's no fish
but will swallow some sort of bait
but as Macaulay says, ''you must
adapt the bait to fish's taste rather
than your own" If you can find
ont what man desires to believe
and tell him something along that
line you'll have snap otherwise
you must make your lie so smooth
that he just has to swallow it whet-
her he wants to or not.
1t is estimated that at least half
the human family are liars and the
other half are pretty much in the
same fix. The ST. Louis Globe
Democrat said in a recent edi-
torial that most people tell lies
because they have to-" If, humanity
told the truth the world would go to
pieces socially, politically, religiously.
lilies are the oil that lubricates the
wheels of society. The great Her
bert Spencer says society will be
perfect only when it is truthful,
which no one is now and Herb