The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-05

He is dull fellow who runs truth
in the ground. Which is equivalent
to saying that the man who has no
imagination is rarely of personal i'm
tcr@St save TO himself. And the prop
osition that imagination is insepara-
bic from both the ability and the
habit of lying would be difficult of
successful contradiction. To lie is
quite as human as to err: and the
same sinister quality of society which
is prone to make a strike ut the di-
Vinity of the old couplet only SO long
as the sin is of a sort to bring adj
VantageouS results, is even the more
ready to condone the lie which has
the saving grace of originality OF con-
ception. This possibly because the
number Of able liars, amid the mil
lions of tyros who essay the role, is
quite as proportionately small as is
that ~of those whose sins are of a
magnitude and glitterins audacity to
win for themselves immunity from
the common and droSS- dealing judg
ments of the world
Besides. it has been written that all
men are liars. And. equally with the
fact that ambition is common to the
species IN one or the other direc-
ton, it is true that we admire most
that Which in ourselves we the least
possess. Consequently, among the
company of his millions Of impotent
competitors. your liar Of parts treads
Il primrose path bedecked with the
desire of those who deny through
force of habit the truth Of their envy,
even 10 themselves.
Even The best OF virtue is depend
cnt upon the ability to deceive, in that
he best proof of sincerity lies in the
choice by the competent individual
of evil or good. Whereas recti-
tude gaspins within the narrow limits
Il
with a wise discretion, is open always
10 the ugly suspicion that it is born
less of the will and more of fear: SO
that many an unctious nincompoop
wringing from the chains OF society
binding his desires a fictitious glory,
walks i'm reality through life the uIl-
knowing mark of Il general contempt
The foolish proverb that the excep-
ton proves the rule-Which il most
Issuredly does not--slt least holds
good in this: that the man of force
who follows the way of his conscience
wins not alone the extravagant es-
TEEN, but, concurrently, the instinc-
tive pity of the mass!
We were speaking of noted
preacher, a man of rare ability as an
executive. force as "a leader and
rare Observation-Disclosures piety.
What a politician he would have
madei" said one.
What a pity he is preacher.' re-
piled another.
And, despite the inner knowledge
of its falsity, the retort is indicitiye
of the natural thought.
1t viii have been observed that the
enquiry is of the general habit of the
manufacture Of incident or opinion
for purposes other than those Of per-
sonal gain or the brute avoidance OF
consequences. There is no merit in
the coarse quality of a lie which foists
itself out upon its own responsibility
for belief DIS an erroneous statement
of a suosisting fact or of that baSer
sort which would lure trust into COM
promise or destruction. Lies of that
character are OF the nature of murder.
arson or theft. The lowest order OF
beings give them forth with the ut
most prodigality. No criminal court
is without its negro who will face
whole community in the matter OF a
pig with stolid adherence to an i'm
possible story. In reality that sort of
thing is not lie in its purity. 1t is
a mere shrinking from the lash. how
ever convinced the victim may be of
the certainty Of it's fall. 1T is purely
physical or purely vicious.
But what is the reason OF the other
lie, built with the care with which
an architect might map his plans,
conserved with the tenderness of
mother for her babe, protected
against assault with all the passion
and bravado of u dog resenting in
suit To his master? The matter here
lies closer and touches character
with u deeper tracery. In il is bound
up even pride aud sclf-reSpect, the
endangering of which in the telling
of the lie Itself seems to become al
most like a lust of the flesh. 1T is as
1hnittyI1 y a
child VINO trcmhlingiy and yet with
delight would look over a high place,
feet planted with instructive fear for
quick retreat its will set upon desire
regardless OF consequence. The best
of men viii lie with composure for
4 momentary prestige. and then
bloSter UP the Impulse by success
ion OF presentations which would
do justice to a Munchausen. There
is glory in the currency Of q lie
as truth which Is as sweet oiilment
TO self esteem: u pride in spurious
statement which is the deeper because
it must be exploited only in the breast
of the forger Of the deed. The lie in
it's purity has so long ceased to be
sin that il has become an institution.
And the growth OF that skepticiSm
which has become the visible trade
mark of modern wisdom is largely
the result Of the fact that the major
ity. rcalisng with self-flattcry the
Imagination OF their own Incndacious
victories. determine in their hearts
that they at least will hedge about
belief with their personal experience
in deception.
Twis: and turn il rs you may. the
lie is the sauce Of conversation and,
therefore, OF social Intercourse IT
would be Il sad world if we all told
the truth in its nakedness or, even. if
when We could not tell the truth. we
RETAINED from comment. Think of
the vast silences which such practice
would superinduce. | remember il
old days to have taken a certain chit
OF fcminnity to a most weerisomc
function at IL considerable cost in the
way of carriage and flowers. The
danseI being All earnest little thing.
had determined to abhor evil and tell
he truth. let the fragments fly where
they might. She had coniided this
ambition to me and ] had concurred.
Therefore the return from the desert