The DeLand weekly news. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1887-190?, 1903-03-27
; DiStruSt
and Suspicion

lhhSo-Ch
"Judge not, that ye be MOI, Judged"
This command Is the prohibitions OF
vice that IL serious, rather for fte
wide prevalence than for the injury
it inflicts in the average case. Often,
however, the injury Is very great. A
career may be blighted by unjust crit.
icism. So far as the estimate of the
public is concerned man may suffer
as much, though innocent, from false
accusation, as if he were guilty and
the charge were true. The murderer
kills one man and perhaps never at
tacks another. The chronic fault
finder attacks all. The murderer may
have never been at heart an enemy
of society, or foe of his fellowmen.
Perhaps his one act was the result Of
intense provocation, inspiring pas
sion that made him deaf to reason.
The man who habitually sits in judg.
ment on the motions of others is in
constant war with society, and yet So
ciety tolerates him is In an attitude
of perpetual attack to all mankind
and yet men listen to him and often
assist him in bounding down the OBJ
ject of his attack, each forgetful of
the fact that he himself may be the
next victim.
This vicious quality is widespread.
Few men are entirely free from it.
Men generally regard it an exhibition
of shrewdness to be doubtful of good
motives. Undoubtedly, much that
on the surface seems fair beneath the
the surface is foul, and the experience
of lifetime puts man on his guard.
But how many forget the fact that
much that appears good is good; that
much is as pure beneath the depths
as it appears on the surface! Human
experience may cause doubt, blu,
wheoe else will you find a rule that
constructs doubt into certainty of even
proba bility of wrong? A man may
come before court charged with
crime. The jury trying him is in.
structed to give the accused the bene-
fit of the doubt-to declare him limo.
cent unless proved to be guilty; to
presume his innocence up to the mo-
ment when his guilt is proved. Even
hnman.made law requires this. Di.
vine law certainly requires it, and
!. Get human nature disobeys it.
The law says that man charged
with crime must be presumed to be
innocent until the reverse Is pf0Ves1
and"yet ninety nine men in hundred
presume he Is guilty as soon as they
hear the charge. They do not wait
for the slightest evidence. They pre-
sumo guilt from the charge. And
%hus man is. often acquitted by a
jury of his peers who have heard the
evidence; and yet looked on with sus.
picion as long as he lives by those who
heard not one word Of 1t, but simply
TcuCmUCl uitu % Ahou WIZ was
charged with crime. -y o
But this habit of ~ Nag harshly
doeR not con6ne itse2 cases where
a cri}ns-has. been1peTpetuated, and
the only question is to determine who
perpetrated it. 1t presumes wrong
where there is no evidence of wrong
presumes it even where there is no
indie alton of it. 1t looks for selfish
motives to account for benevolent
act. 1t seeks to weaken the power OF
a heroic deed by attributing sinister
purposes to the man who performed
it. 1t acknowledges no honesty; 1t
conceives of no generosity; it.admits
no benevolence. 1t goes back OF all
good appearances In a search tor the
= Dad. and the worst of all is that 1t
does not wait 10 find the bad. 1t takes
it for granted, and If it does not pro-
claim it aloud it whispers it around,
and a whisper can travel faster and
further than a proclamation.
It seems impossible for the average
man to admit that another ever does
a thing simply because 1t is right. A
r "a may stand up against popular
opinion to his own hurt. Those
arouE him lose sight of the heroism
= of SUI, an act In looking for an igno'
BILE motive. "Why does he do itP He
loses friends by 1t. He suffers bust
ness or professional loss." "Ah, but
he sees where he will gain. He has
his plans laid. 1t will all come out,
and you will pee the baseness OF his
purpose" And thus men burrow In
the ground like moles, searching for
that which did not exist, when, If
they would only use their eyes, they
would see something that In rs Oc-
currence, alas, too infrequently, shows
manhood in its grandest aspect, the
defiance of public opinion for the sake
of right, Often the motive sought
uuavxihngly beneath the surface ID
on The surface in plaingview, Of those
who have not scale of sus'
picicns1ever their ssyss- It,, just
what It pretends to be. tt ~
performed because Il Il RIG the
cousessessss ass sndlsAd s..