The San Francisco call., 1905-01-22

CD 7II' iIr ID I|N|||
Ri1||l(lI1Il Nh I't|ll|;
Y 7 StTAI-LY it is age rather than
wisdom that establishes a man
Y 4 as the oracle OF a rural neigh
borhood. But sometimes it is
sort or Quaintness, readiness and
an aptness in the expression of opin-
ion, and often 1t requires more judg-
ment than Is likely to be found in most
communities to detect the difference
between the facility of speech and that
intellectual virtue which the ancients
regarded as sapience. One night at a
social gathering to celebrate the golden
wedding of a Justice of the Peace old
man Brizintine had for more than half
an hour held forth on the beauties of
uncompromising truth, when Linn
Jucklin remarked:
Yes; there are very few things more
beautiful than the truth-sometimes.
But don't know of anything that has
given the vicious a better opportunity
to vent their spleen than the truth at
all hazards. The man that don't know
when to tell the truth or to side-step
a trife from 1t hasn't enough Judgment
to be trusted with a dangerous ar
ticle."
do you mean to say" said Brizin-
tine, that truth is a dangerous ar
ticle?"
Yes, sir; sometimes as dangerous as
gunpowder in the hands of an idiot.
That is, when truth is restricted to it's
narrowest sense, and that is the way
that some men insist upon using it.
Mack-somebody, 1 came across him
omewhere-wanted to know if there
was such a thing as administerin' to
a mind diseased. There is, and 1t is
the withhbldin' from that mind the
true state Of its own condition. A good
deal OF the sickness of this world is
in the mind only. This don't make it
any the less real, for the mind is as
real as the body and good deal more
so. We see that a mans mind is des-
eased. He asks our opinion, and IL
we tell him the truth it confirms his
own belief and makes him worse. and
may be a few doses of our truth will
finish him. No matter how big liar
a feller may be we believe him when
he tells us we amt lookin' WE'LL"
"I don't exactly follow you replied
Brizintine. But wouldn't you rather
know the truth on all occasionS?"
well, not perhaps until afterward.
/ recollect that one time I went on
three notes for a man. When the first
one fell due the feller that held all
three came to me and said that the
man I had accommodated had signed
over property enough to meet the other
two, but that I would have to pay the
first one. 1t didn't amount to enough
to warrant me in sellin' my farm. so
1 went to work with extra force and
made the money and paid it. Well,
about six months afterward here came
the feller again and said mistake had
been made and that it was the third
note that was to be taken care of and
that I'd have to pay the second one.
This shocked me a good deal, but he
declared by all that was good and bad
that the third one would give me no
trouble, so ! strained again, doubled
the forces Of my energy and soon met
the other note without sellin' my farm.
Then 1 knew / was all right. but sir,
in due time here came the holder
of the notes and said that he was sorry
to have made such mistake, but that
the property set aside was worthless
and that I'd have to pay the third
note. This hit me between the eyes,
but / strained again and paid the
note"
But / don't see where the virtue of
all that lyin' come in," said Brizintine.
well. / do. If it had been made
known to me at first that had to pay
the three notes I would have let my
farm go at forced sale and would
/ have been worse than homeless, but as
it was, believin' that I could meet the
small amount, I went to work with q
vim and when I got through I found
that the surplus of my extra exertion
had put me beyond where I had ever
been before. The holder of the notes
was q wise man. He knew that the
feller had signed for had left the