Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-08-08

Shades of Ananias! a French thee
Logan has written a book in defense
OF lying. The dispatch says the
work was published by permission O
the vicar general, who is evident
something of a liar himself The
exact excuse for this book is not au
thenticated, unless previous authors
had exhausted every known text OF
sensation prior to the French gentle
mans taking his pen in hand.
Be this as it may, this remarkable
book goes so far as to maintain that
man may even prevaricate to his
wife, and vice versa. Married mer
who have been stretching the truth
now and then and feeling conscien
t1ously uncomfortable under the up
braidings of their inner consciousness
may go out in the woodshed and
shake hands with themselves. George
Washington and his cherry tree are
no longer au fat, the office boys
grandmother may die as often as the
lad chooses and the ''hub" who goes
out to get drink while the prima
donna changes her pink tights, may
still insist, and with much better
flavor, that he has "been to see a
man"
Plate once asked, Testing apart
what is truth?" The fact that the
query has never been answered can
make little difference now when man
may live, not by the Good Book which
says "Thou shalt not lie," but by the
theologian's book which says in spirit
"Lie a plenty when you feel like it!'
Just how st. Peter will look upon
Glars we have known" when they
seek admittance at his gate, is a
mooted question, and yet, while the
Frenchman's theories may seem a
spectacular departure from the stat
utes, history corrects the impression
Henry Garnet, Jesuit, tried as a con
spirator in the Gunpowder Plot, said 5:
''In moral affairs, and in the com,
mon intercourse of life, when the
truth is asked among friends, it is not
lawful to use equivOcatiOn, but in
cases where it becomes necessary to
an Individual for his defense, or for
avoiding any injustice or loss
or for obtaining any important advant-
age, without danger or mischief to any
other person, there equivOcatiOn is
lawful"
By these tenets a man might tell
tho oTtn Of hiC bod hoo nd nd
bosom that he had been bucking dy-
spepsia in bowling alley when in
reality he had been bucking the tiger
in joss house. By so doing he is
injuring no one, is calming his wife
and, incidentally, not injuring his dys.
pepsia.
Samuel Johnson, too admitted there
were times when truth need not pre-
vail, despite it's mightiness. Johnson
says one might falsify as to which
way man, chased by would-be muir
derer, was running. We agree, also,
with this version
A friend of ours, now a well-known
writer, was in Frisco and broke.
He received word that his sweetheart
was dying. He had not enough money
to pay his railway transportation
home. The postoffice steps being near
and friendly, he sat down to think!
In the moment his head was between
his knees, his mother died. That is,
she died to all purposes of emergency.
Then he went to railway passenger
agent and, with tears in his blood-shot
eyes, told how his mother had peace
fully passed away. He must catch
the first flyer to look for the last time
upon her DEAR dead face. The agent
melted and as soon as che conductor
punched the ticket, the bereaved son
ducked his head between his knees and
brought his mother back to life, love
and the pursuit of happiness again.
The sweetheart, cheered by his pres
ence, rallied and in after years he
married her and learned to lie with
neatness and dispatch. He was a
versatile cuss.
From these examples it will be seen
that prevarication has it's moods and
lenses and much depends upon the
conjugation. AS for us, we are
pleased at the Frenchman's theology.
1t opens up new by-ways that only a
writer and a married man can appre-
ciate. Being in this category, we
get a benefit going and coming. Ii
other words, Zach! there goes Louie
comm back!"
. y y
Being a Chicago girl has it's disad-
vantage Whenever fair maiden from
the metropolis on Lake Michigan