The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1908-08-08

The Reporter Got Some New
Llghts on an Old Art

NOW don't be OVerDOld, young
man, said Mrs. Sapphira shaking her
finger at the reporter Nobody has
ever dared ask me that question be-
fore"
What pretty hands" murmured the
reporter soto voce, as he took his cup
OF tea from one OF them.
"But, as | was saying, though no
body has dared ask the question /
don't mind telling you that I put
Ananias up to fibbing because want
ed the money for spring hat. Now,
don't 90 and put that in the paper,
win you? I'm not talking for publica-
tion, but simply to be obIiging."
What do you think about the ethics
Of tibbins asked the reporter. "Yoa
see automatically, I've been told
that you are the worlds greatest au.
thority on this subject, and I make
1t rule Of life to go straight to head.
4 quarters for information"
Mrs. Sapphira shook a manicured
finger at him. It was a trick with her.
"You iatterer," she bubbled. There's
no getting ahead Of you reporters
What do you mean by 'ethics? It's
such stern word. You mean, do
think it's wrong to tell a fib or dc
circumstances ever Justify it? Why,
Of course, think it's wrong to tell
perfectly useless fib, one that doesn't
do anything for anybody. Now, the
one was so severely reprimanded for
had a raison d'etre-you understand
French, Of course-if ever a fib had
but / should never have told 1t,
assure you, If l hadn't been awfuily
hard up for a spring hat. OF course,
you can't always stop to think wheth
er there is a raison d'etre for a fib
before 1t slips ont Of your mouth, but
II you have a moment to consider.
why, think you ought to consider"
A ring at the bell startled her.
Say I am not at home Jane" she
beckoned to the maid who went to
the door.
$50 sorry to miss her" was the re-
ply that was waited in as the obedient
servant delivered the message.
"A case In point" smiled Mrs Sap
phira. She has the whitest teeth.
4 hold that it is no fib for woman
to decline to be at home IL she doesn't
choose to be at home. Besides, 1t Is
so much kinder than to say she begs
to be excused. There always seems
to be something personal in begging
to be excused. To me it implies, ]
saw you from the window"
But this 'so-sorry -to-miss-you' busi-
ness. what do you think Of that?" de-
manded the reporter, determined to
get to the bottom of things.
"Oh, social regrets don't amount to
a brass farthing. They are expected
at seems to me, then. began the
reporter, thoughtfully, that in society
there's a code of lying that's perfectly
well understood"
Precisely, asserted the authority
on the subject. It's a sort Of appen
dix to the code of good manners
Everybody expects it and everybody
knows that fib under the circum
stances doesn't mean anything at all.
Lets eliminate the social fib, then,
the reporter began again, "and come
to lies"
"oh, but not so suddenly" mur
INJURED Mrs. Sapphira, warming up q
little to the subject There are
gradations. The social fib the tara
diddle Tan embroidered tale), the idle
story, the whopper (this belongs tc
childhood), the lie indirect, the lie di
rect, and the malicious lie. YOU
see, an authority must be tech
nieal else she is no authority, anC
even now I am only giving you tht
various heads. OF course, under eacf
there are many side branches Of fb
bing which need not go into. o.
them all the tarradiddle is the mos
interesting. To this class belong
latchkey wit--told as ones origina
story; other peoples stories adopted
by the teller as his own, tales that on'
improves on each time one tells them
etc. Only those Of some imaginative
powers can tell a successful tarradid
die. The idle story, on the other hand
Just slips out before you know it, Yol
didn't mean to tell It. Ycu wonde
why on earth you ever told it, an,
then you dismiss it from your mint
as being not worth worrying over
The whopper is the kind that a small
boy tells to escape punishment It Il
usually detected. OF he is told on b!
a truthful brother or sister who ar,
not averse to seeing him get his jus
dues.
Then there's the lie direct. Well
to be personal (this is not for pub
lication. you know that is the kin,
| told, and it didn't harm anybody bu
myself, so what was the use-but W
needn't go into that now The ma
llcious lie is the only one that's absc
lutely inexcusable. You tell il wit
intent to hurt, to injure, and you leav
It to work its own deadly poison
There, / believe that's all"
The reporter drew long breatf