Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1904-07-13
TELLING THE TRUTH

lie would answer lust as well. | myself
have. | own. a lamentable tendency in
that direction.
"Often in the exercise of my profes-
sion, when Justice, morality, expediency
and common sense suggest the plain,
straight path of falsehood | am tempted
to tell the truth.
Il generally have the strength to resist
it. but in social life, where the obligations
to smooth over like difficulties seem less
urgent, | often fall.
''When i have gone somewhere, and
have been bored to death, [ find myself
unable to assure my host or hostess that
l have had perfectly delightful time
.Of course, [ don't actually say that !
am glad to get away, but if you place q
strict construction upon the omission
am Just as much to blame as if | told an
unbhshing truth.
ITO give you an instance of this, We
my wife and I-were at breakfast at a
friends house not long ago. Some straw
berries were served. and the cream had
got pretty we'll ON the way TO cheese
Il noticed after l had taken the first
spoonful that my wife was eating hers
with difficulty. She's q heroic little soul
in the face of social duty. | passed
mine.
Then the coffee was poured Our
hostess said to my wife:
!" Ethel. you take sugar and cream,
don't your
just sugar, please says the lady.
why, | thought you took cream?'
Just once IN great WHILE
You surely did all the time when you
were with us last summer
Il think / did then Ethel said. very
sweetly and coolly. 1 just take fancy
sometimes for it. and then I'll use it
perhaps for a month at a time
L wasn't paying any particular at
tention. SO when it came to me / said:
I'll take milk; your creams sour
Il didn't think there was anything
particularly wrong about that until
saw that Ethel was as red as a beet and
cur hostess was looking at her with a
peculiar smile
Then l realized that my guilty candor
had involved my wife in its conse-
quences 1t would have been better for
although her conscience would have
troubled her-to have told the truth too
Something very nearly as bad as that
occurred 10 my wife, so she was telling
ne the other day said another man
She Is not. am happy to say, an in
temperate truth-teller, though she has
her ls1pses, like Everybody else. Her
mother. however, is shockingly veracious.
1t really seems impossible for her to lie
under any circumstances.
Her daughters have reasoned with her.
and her husband, who has suffered keen
~ from her unhappy propensity, has done
his best, but she IS simply incorrigible.
She was With us not long ago. and she
had with her my wife's unmarried sister
It appears that there is some fellow
who is very much gone eon the younger
lady and he is almost impenetrable-one
of those thick hided, persistent men
and, much as the girl has -snubbed him.
he never minds. Every time he comes to
town he calls upon her. and she finds it
hard to get rid of him.
We'll, the two girls-my wife and her
sister-were chatting comfortably to-
9ethcr and their mother was lying down
iii the next room resting, when there
came a ring at the bell and a mans voice
called up the tube to know if Miss Ger
tie was in
NO says the sister. in a hoarse
whisper to my wife. Tell him Tn out.
and not expected for month. Don't let
him come
NV wife didn't know the man. or the
circumstances, SO it happened. but she
was willing to oblige She called down
the tube to the desired effect. but she
couldn't call very loudly for fear s4er
mother would hear, and just as they We're
eongratuiatlng themselves that the man
had gone he knocked at the door. Nv
wife opened it.
II beg your PARDON he said, but did
you tell me Miss Payson was out I
couldn't hear distinctly
For a moment my wife was sc scared
that she was tempted to tell the truth
and say that Miss Payson was in. and
that he had misunderstood She stuck
to her colors, however
Perhaps Mrs. Payson is in?' said the
man.
My wife listened a moment to hear
if her mother was stirring. Then she
said:
Mrs. Payson is out too. I really
don't know when she will be back.
I'm sorry | missed them said the
caller. You must be Mrs. Cosoroye
im Mr.. Gisley You may have heard Of
me. I've often heard your sister speak
of you, and wanted to meet YOU
That was pretty nearly stlImper
| suppose the poor woman was in mortal
anguish. She could hardly help inviting
him to come in, and if he entered ali
was lost. But she never turned a. hair
Mrs Cosgrove is out too she said
I'm awfully sorry, and I'll tell them that
you called. Good afternoon
"As she went back her mother called
out to know who that was.
q thought | recognized the voice she
slit.
:" 1t was the directory man, dear, re-
piled my wife.
Now, what do you think of that for
an example of the tangled webs we are
obliged to weave in consequence of other
peoples truthfulness? Think of what
might have happened!"
Its the hardest thing in the world.
| find, for people to lie iudiciously.
said the lawyer. But we shouldn't al
low ourselves to be discouraged I'll
Illustrated Bits.