The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1910-01-21
THE ART OF LYING.
ANGER SOMETIMES PRECEDEs THE LAUGHTER
GREAT CHICANERIEs or HISTORY.


In one Of those essays III paradox
where the startled truth ID run
through By unexpected, oblique spears
Of wit Oscar Wilde accused the Brit
ish public Of allowing the art Of lying
70 decay. Everything that was told
had to be a fact. The inyenting Or
stories, the telling OF beautiful, UNI
true things" seemed to have passed
Nowadays people die OF sort Of
creeping common sense, he said; and
yet Britons, In spite OF their common
sense, which is kind OF national
pose, are secretly as fond Of the in
ventions Of the poised imagination rs
we frankly are in this county. Did
they not gravely circulate the news
Q shert time ago In London that Ann
erican families were split to the point
Of civil war over disagreements about
the Peary-Cook discoveries?
Imaginative lying and belief in the
people who do 1t are things popular
with all nations History, at least,
shows us names of Italians, Of Ger
mans, French. English and Americans,
TO mention only few of the ma
tionalities that have told the world
interesting stories which they did not
at all label ais fiction till long after
ward.
Here In America, where it Is our
way to take nothing too gravely, we
dearly love good story. and we do
not consider ourselves put upon so
desperately when we find ourselves
fooled.
Paucity Of Great Decelts.
For the last forty or fifty years few
really artistic instances Of lying have
appeared among us. OF course we
have had some, but OF minor quality.
r. r, Barnum, the much quoted, was
the best perhaps Of the latter day
takers. There was something taking
about his ingenuity. His dancing
hens were very popular even after il
was discovered that the bottom Of
their cage was overheated, and savans
discussed the famous pink rats that
the populace crowded to see. The only
one Of his humbugs that people ever
seemed to resent was his exhibition Of
The Exit He had barker placed
at darkened doorway inside his cir
Gus building, who sang the beauties
OF this side show:
This way to the wonderful exit,
the only thing OF its kind in the whole
world he cried
People streamed down to see 1t and |
upon opening door at the bottom Of
the stairway found themselves in the
street This game was worked with
a view to clearing the showrooms in
crowded hours so that new patrons |
might be admitted and the box Office /
receipts correspondingly enlarged
The hoaxes Of recent years in other
countries have been of much the same
kind as ours. England had, among
any others, the Tichborne case, where,
In young Arthur Orton turned up as
the heir to the large Tichborne es-
tates Young Tichborne. years before,
had gone to sea and had never re-
turned. His relatives supposed him
drowned, but when this sturdy young
fellow returned from the arms of the
deep and announced that he was the
long lost one the family received him
convinced that there was something
about his face which was familiar.
Years make such changesl His claims
were turned down by the courts, but
many still believe in the pretender.
A "Fake" Army Officer.
Germany had the ingenious captain
of Kopenick, who only a short time
ago appeared before a company Of
infantrymen in captains uniform
which he had bought at a pawnshop,
and. taking command, made the whole
detachment unsuspectingly assist in
q wonderfully successful raid on
.neighboring town.
But, daring as all these modern inn
postures have been, they seem to lack
somewhat the imaginative element OF
che old days. The lying has not been
so artistic.
Only think Of the Princess Carl.
boo, who landed at Bristol, England,
one frosty evening in the winter Of
1928. The mere description of her
arrival sets the fancy flying. Long
before sunset feet messenger ar
rived at the door of the leading no.
tel in Bristol and announced that a
princess from the Far East was to
arrive In few hours. The best suite
in the house must be reserved and
every EFFORT made TO entertain her
royalty,
The hotel force was all thrown into
the fury of preparation, and, sure
nnn,,rh inst at snndnwn q wonderful |