Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-08-31

book and run? Oh. no; but because
most people would rather hear Ill of
their neighbors than good. Therefore
when q falsehood is once started about
neighbor ii travels on with seven
league boots, and instead of having
one emissary 1t gradually enlists ten,
twenty, fifty, a thousand persons to
pSddle its evil and transmit its destroy
ing venom.
Falsehoods In the social world!
Chy? Because few people can &C
curately repeat any statement they
hear. Without intending to misquote,
they make verbal changes which slight
~ or seriously affect the meaning If
you would prove this statement /
would have you play a simple game
which we children used to play in my
younger days. We would have twenty
or thirty people sit about the parlor in
q circle Then we would have one per-
son, who was the leader, whisper a
simple statement or tell a short story
to the person upon his right. That per-
son would in turn whisper the same
story. And on and on the story would
90 until 1t had made the full circle
Then the last person In the circle
would tell the story as he heard it.
Then the first person would tell the
story as he told it. And the two stories
would be no more alike than the
striped fur of a panther is like the
white wool of a pet lamb.
Destroyers of Character.
So well known is this fact Of uncon-
scious alteration, and SO painful has
one of our best known United States
senators has made it a rule to refuse
all applications for a verbal interview.
He has been SO often misrepresented
unintentionally that when an inter
viewer comes to him he always says:
write your questions clearly and dis
tinctly upon paper. Then l will write
my answers and you must print them
as give them toEyou. do this so that
there may be no misunderstanding be-
tween u.s." There are many social
falsehoods floating about every COM
munity, not because neighbors have
deliberately lied against neighbors, but
because when gossip starts her work
the statements made in reference to a
mans character by oft repetition often
unintentionally become malformed and
satanic and character destroying mon
strosities.
Social falsehoods are prevalent ev-
vhnr 10 Qys(f
against them? First and foremost, by
not making ourselves a medium for
their propagation. An aspersion on a
mans character, once started, is passed
from lip to lip until the whole commu-
nifty hears it. But the calumny, often
undeserved, might be stopped by the
observation Of a simple rule. Never
believe any evil rumor," my father
said, you may hear against your
neighbor. Never believe it unless you
have positively heard the evil confes
sion from the mans own lips, and even
then you must hope there is some mis-
take about it" Never allow yourself
to listen to any maligner of an innocent
mans life and thereby make yourself
party in the crime. Never allow
your imperfect memory to transmit
what idle gossipers and scandal mon
| gers may revel in. A fatal lie, like 6
wolf in sleeps clothing, sometimes at
tempts to robe itself III the garments OF
sincerity. But by the execution of thu
two falsifiers Of my text we know tina
God will condemn us when we repea
an evil report against our neighbour
unless we positively and without an!
| peradventure know that what we sal
is true.
Parental Dishonesty.
Falsehoods in the parental world
We would have broadened this head
ing and called it "falsehoods in tn
domestic world" but for one reason
When husband deceives his wife an,
wife her husband they do it deliber
ately and premeditatedly. They do
with their eyes wide open, and the,
fully realize the enormity of their sin
and toward what destructive rock
they are. heading. But, though fathe
never tells a falsehood to his MARTA
companion without forethought, tina
parent may thoughtlessly fall into tn
habit Of deceiving his children. The
are SO young. He thinks they do NO
remember and do not understand. Tn
same law applies to the wife as we'll a
to the husband. The mother some day
wearied by the perpetual racket, say
to her child, Now. Harry, If you wi
go to. bed this afternoon and take
nice long nap l will take you out for
ride this evening" The child goes t
bed without murmur. When evenin
comes the mother wishes to do som,
thing else. The ride is postponed
What is the result? She deliberatel
breaks her promise. She falsifies b.
cause she does not think it necessary I
be honest with her child
The father comes to the side of th
invalid's crib and says. "Now. my sol
if you are patient and good and wi
take your medicines as you ough
when you get well 1 will give you
IL