Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-09-04

ire INSURANCE company compensate
him on that basis False, cstirstcs suf
fraudulent miSreprescntatioa. whether
made I'm the asSesser's Office or tn IRE
insurance adjuster or by tb> merchant
to the customer or The c,.stomer 90 the
merchant. all belong TO the same cate
CORY. They are lies. They arc the ut
terances OF false tongues. and God
has RECORDED his ghnorrecce and his
condemnation of all intentional verbal
Misrepresentation Whether behind
store counter or over church pulpit let
your answers he YEA. yea. and nay.
nay" A lie is just as black and fatal
tossed as shuttlecock between tire
two battledoors of buyer and seller as
though it were the deathknell Of an
Ananias and a Sapphira falling at the
feet of an apostolic denunciator.
Falsehoods IN the political world:
Oh, how many. Like the seventeen
year locusts. they never entirely depart
from region. They, however, swarm
most at certain seasons of the year.
They are especially numerous and
yirulent at municipal or state or
presidential election. The. ballot box
is their footstooi. A national conven-
ton to nominate n president is their
glorification. Political falsehood will
take the record Of the purest and best
public man that ever lived and abso-
lutely bedaub II over with scandals
and false accusations. They lied about
Washington and Jefferson and John
Quincy Adams and Lincoln and Hayes
and Garfield and Mckinley But.
though the concocters and utterers of
political faisehoods may never tire OF
Safeguarding and Incorporating our
public men. the acme OF meanness IL
only reached when. without just cause,
they drag into the political mtre the
wives and the children OF the men
whom they would indirectly attack. In
this generation the family OF any pub
lie man is never able. like Cesar's
wife, to 1--we above suspicion All, then,
I wonder not that some OF our .publie
men become bitter and lose their faith
In mankind. / wonder not that many
public man is tempted TO carry his
political hatreds down TO the grave.
When Andrew Jackson was a very old
mnn he wished 10 join the church and
be baptized at her affairs. When he APP
peared before the church officers the
minister asked him this question. Gen
eral, before you come into our fellow
ship will YOU forgive all your political
enemies as you would have Christ for
give your" Yes" answered Jackson
What, ALP The old ex-president
thought moment. Then the aged
conqueror who once defended New Or
leans raised his head, and. with fash
Ing eye and seornful lip, replied, Yes,
all except the merciless scoundrels who
have lied about my dead wife" God
pity the honest man who in public lite
is having his heart gashed open by the
attacks made upon the characters of
his loved ones. Truly. then. as ut the
cross, an ungrateful people are Offering
him a crown of thorns instead OF
crown Of treasured gold.
Untruth II Cowardiy
A lie is u lie, against whomsoever
told. A lie is especially cowardly when
II is told against public men, especially
cowardiy because for the most part the
victims must writhe and twist under
the insinuating and poisonous attack
and suffer I'm silence. The nature OF a
lie is not changed by Harvesting 1t 20
qualifying adjective, nor is political
lie less heinous than other lies. a lie
told TO besmirch political candidate
or to benefit political party Is an Of
Tense In the sight OF God which will
have 10 be accounted for I'm the day OF
Judgment. All liars''-there are no
exceptions 70 this rule-.'gll liars shall
have their part in the lake which burn
eth with fire and birthstone, which is
the second death"
Falsehoods In the social world:
Why2 Because. as David I'm his haste
grossly declared. IAN men are IiarsY'
Oh, no. Because most people would in
tentionally and deliberately rob an In
nocent man of his character NJ a sneak
thief might snatch womans pocket
DOCK and rum oh, no; but because
most people would rather hear III of
their neighbors theu good. Therefore
when falsehood Is once started about
neighbor IL travels on with seven
league boots, and instead OF having
one emissary 1t gradually enlists ten.
twenty. nifty. thousand persons TO
peddle its evil and transmit its destroy
Ing venom.
Falschoods In the social world.
Whyi Because few people can ac-
curately repeat any statement they
hear. Without intending to misquote,
they make verbal changes which slight
ly or seriously affect the meaning. II
| You would prove this statement \
would have you play u simple game
which we children used to play in my
younger days We would have twenty
or thirty people sit about the parlor I'm
circle. Then we would have one per.
son, who was the leader whisper a
simple statement or tell short story
10 the person upon bis right That per
son would In turn whisper the same
story. And ON and on the story would
go until II had made the full circle.
Then the last person I'm the circle
would tell the story as he heard Il.
Then the first person would tell the
story Az 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 pet lamb. ~
Destroyers OF Character.
SO well known Is this fact OF uncon-
Sc'oue aiteration, ana so painful has
been his experience OF its effects, that
one OF our best known United S,.>
senators has made II a rule TO refuse
all applications for verbal interview
lie has been 80 often misrepresented
unintentiona!ly that when an Inter
viewer comes TO him he always says:
write your questions clearly and dis
tinctly upon paper Then will write
my answers and you must print them
as give them to you. do this so that
there may be no misunderstanding be-
tween u.s." There are many social
ralseboocs 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
mans character by oft repetition often
Internationally become malformed and