Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-07-06
Splendid Expectation.

There is a glorious expectation of such
place in the hereafter. and those who
fully exemplify the Christian virtue of
honesty in this life will not fail to
! reach it.
In this era Of graft an honest man be-
comes very conspicuous. especially in the
political arena and in the great COM
mercial transactions: but those seeking
notoriety by parading their honesty are
often by that act stealing popularity.
The eighth commandment does not say
thou shalt not steal money. 1t stops at
the word STEAL" and means that we
shall not steal anything whatever that
belongs to ourselves or others.
A good name, popularity, happiness
may be stolen as readily as any article
of property. Shakespeare's familiar
words teach us that the theft of a good
name is a baser deed than the theft of
money:
WHO steals my purse steals trash; t is some
| Twas mine, t is his, and has been slave to
thousands
But he that fiches from my good name
hobs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed"
The virtue of honesty shines brightest
in those who are most Jealous In preserV-
ing and honoring their own and their
neighbors good name.
There are not only a great variety of
but there are a great many different ways
of stealing. To be a thief and a robber
one does not have to be a pickpocket
or highwayman. We may find in every
class and condition of life those who are
stealing from or robbing their fellowmen.
Take the case of two men who want to
get dollar. One watches an oppor-
tunity to take it by stealth from the till
of his employer; the other engages to
work for q certain number Of hours, for
ct IL, 10
work one Of those hours, yet is paid the
dollar as his employer trusts his word.
Both Of these men are dishonest, but one
thief is more sly than the other If we
disappoint another by failing to do what
we have promised We are dishonest, and
we are robbing not only from others, but
from ourselves.
Some of my young readers might ask,
how can we steal from ourselves?
Many are doing it every day. BY use
less fretting and grievtng, we may steal
from our own happiness, and by undue
anxiety and care about some things to
the neglect of other more important
things, we may steal from our usefulness.
If we are too deeply concerned about
how we can make ourselves richer and
about how we can keep the riches we
have from taking wings and flying away,
we are stealing from our own happiness.
There are many miserable lives caused by
a too eager desire for riches. Wealth in
ing our time and doing our duty is the
best means for securing happy life. and
it is the virtue of honesty that leads us
to the improvement of our time and the
performance of our duty.
Among the many recorded instances of
dishonesty a very striking one Is given
in the writings of Thomas Percy.
He tells OF certain John Eyre. who
had the distinction OF possessing large
fortune and yet Of having been SEN
fenced to transportation to penal servi-
tude for stealing eleven auires Of writing
paper His uncle, who was a man of
great wealth, made will in favor of a
clergyman, an intimate friend. and COM
mitted 1t, unknown to the rest of the
family to the custody of the divine
However not long before his death,
having altered his mind, he made another
will, in which he left the clergyman only
G500, bequeathing the great bulk of his
immense fortune to John Eyre, his
nephew and heir-at-law.
Soon after the uncle's death his nephew