Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-22

everywhere he went; STILL think | suffered
a shade more than the legitimate hero does,
he being privileged to soften his misery with
the reflection that his glory was at any rate
golden and reproachless in it's origin, whereas
l had no such privilege, there being no possible
way to make mine respectable.
She Knew Her Boy
HOW easy it is to make people believe lie,
- and how hard it is to undo that work
againi Thirty-five years after those evil ex-
PLOTS of mine l visited my old mother, whom
| had not seen for ten years; and, being moved
by what seemed to me a rather noble and per-
haps heroic impulse | thought / would hum
BILE myself and confess my ancient fault. 1t
cost me great effort to make up my mind;
dreaded the sorrow that would rise in her
face, and the shame that would look out of
her eyes; but after long and troubled reflec-
ton the sacrifice seemed due and right, and
gathered my resolution together and made
the confession.
To my establishment there were no senti-
mentalities, no dramatics, no George Washing
ton effects; she was not moved in the least
degree; she simply did not believe me, and
said sol ! was not merely disappointed, l
was nettled, to have my costly truthfulness
flung out of the market in this placid and
confident way when l was expecting to get
profit out of it. ! asserted and reasserted,
single thing l had done on those long van
ished nights was lie and swindle; and when
she shook her head TRANQUILITY and said she
knew better, l put up my hand and swore to
it, adding triumphant. : Now what do You
say!" @ -
her the fraction of an inch from her position.
If this was hard for me to endure, it did not
begin with the blister she put upon the raw
when she began to put my sworn oath out of
court with arguments to prove that + was
under a delusion and did not know what |
was talking about. Arguments! Arguments
to show that person on mans outside can
know better what is on his inside than he does
himself! l had cherished some contempt for
arguments before; | have not enlarged my
respect for them since. She refused to be-
lieve that had invented my visions myself
she said it was folly, that was only child at
the time and could not have done it. She
cited the Richmond fire and the colonial man
sion, and said they were quite beyond my
capacities. Then I saw my chance! l said
them from DR.. Peake. Even this great shot
did no damage She said DR.. Peake's evil
dence was better than mine, and he had said
in plain words that it was impossible for me
to have heard about those things. Dear, dear!
what a grotesque and unthinkable situation
confessed swindler convicted of honesty
and condemned to acquittal by circumstantia
evidence furnished by the swindled
l realized, with shame and with impotent
vexation, that l was defeated all along the
formidable one l played it-and stood from
under. 1t seemed gnoble to demolish her
fortress, after she had defended it valiantly;
but the defeated know not mercy. | played
that master card 1t was the pin sticking.
said solemnly
Il give you my honor pin was never
stuck into me without causing me cruel pain.
She only said, 1T is thirty-fve years.
believe YOU do think that now; but | was
there and know better You never WINGED"
She was so calml and was so far from it,
so nearly frantic
oh my goodness l said, "let me show
you that l am speaking the truth. Here is
my arm; drive pin into it,-drive it to the
head shall not wheel
She only shook her gray head and said,
with simplicity and conviction, You are a
man now, and could dissemble the hurt; but
you only child then, and could not
have done it"
And so the lie which l played upon her in
my youth remained with her as an unchal-
lengeable truth to the day of her death. Car
lyle said. A lie cannot live" 1t shows that
he did not know how to tell them. If had
taken out life policy on this one, the premiums
would have bankrupted me ages ago.
To be continued on Jana0y5