The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1915-09-02
By "Optinao.
Boundary-Lines.


half-mast. Contractors, sub-con-
tractors, union labor manipulators,
together with Big Business" in Its
varied forms, get the choice cuts
from the financial beast, while the
dlligent toller who produces for
the other fellow-must perforce be
content with scant fare.
The boundary line of honesty is
being ignored by multiplied thous-
ands; and whether it be an individ-
ual, a corporation, a commonwealth,
or nation, that transgresses the
law of honesty; the individual, CT
the body of individuals, as the case
may be, should be amenable to an
infexible law and should be judged
by an incorruptible judiciary.
But there is another boundary
line to which we would direct your
attention, VIZ, Truth. SO faint and
indistinct has the line of denmark
alton between truth and falsehOod
become that many persons unwit-
tingly cross forth and back. There
are so many shades of falsehood
that one has to be continually on
gaurd lest he-or she-fai to dis
tinguish Alright between the two.
There is falsehood by implication,
by inuendo and by action, as well
as by the spoken word. The germ
of falsehood is instilled into the sub
conscious mental strata of most chill
dren at a tender age. The mother
is very busy. the child, if normal. is
very mischievous; the mother, to
brighten the child into ready ODD
fence, threatens to infiict corporal
punishment the very NEXT time the
child fails to do as told. But when
the next time," even as some folks
tomorrow" fails to bring the full
tillment of the dire threat, the child
naturally begins to lose confidence
in the mothers word, and loses, also,
it's respect for maternal authority.
The parent plainly has falsified to
her offspring Again, the child is
threatened with certain visitation
of some horrible and fantastic Ogre
whose greatest pleasure is to cut off
the ears of refractory children. OF
course the child's reasoning faculties
are not as yet developed or he, { or
she) would complicate matters by
inquiring into the why an where
fore of the presence of the full quota
of ears upon all of his Cor herr ack-
quaintances. But the time comes
when the child does understand.
Also the time comes when these
germ seeds of falsehood spring forth
into plant which bears the nat
urally begotten fruit of deception.
A lie will not stand alone. Once
you enunciate falsehood you must
be ever ready with material of the
same kind, so that when the lever of
Truth is applied, you may be able to
brace here, and prop there, so as to
keep your structure of falsehood
from tumbling to the ground, to
your shame and lasting reproach.
% what tangled web we weave
when first we practice to deceive"
Some persons seem to be running
Marathon in their efforts to evade
truth, They will falsify when the
truth is cheaper and easier. A lie
Is ofentimes the offspring of ignor-
ance. The unlearned fost their ig-
norant mental hash upon you and
in spirit of egotism imagine you
will think them well informed; they
do but advertise their mental vac
uity. A lie is the putrescent evan
escence of mental and moral corrup-
ton. A lie is begotten by egotism
and given expression to in a desire
for vain glory. Avaunt, 0 vain
and foolish ensemble of animated
vacuity verify thou hast
thy portion with them of whom