The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-05-30
STICKING TO truth
SAGE THINKS 1T is SOMETHING
THAT CAN BE OVERCOME.
Makes the Assertion That 1t Should
Be Used Sparngly and With Tact
and Judgment on All
Occasions.

his life related the druggist. He
says he'd rather lose all he has than
take a fall out of the truth"
He hasn't much to lose," observed
the village patriarch. He's so poor
the assessor has quit calling at his
house, and his poverty is largely due
to his weakness for the truth at all
times and seasons.
The truth is an excellent thing, but
it should be used sparingly, and with
tact and judgment. Some people can't
be made to realize that the truth may
be superfiuous, even admitting its
value at ordinary times. | was read
ing of a case in point the other day.
The publisher OF an obscure magazine
in England was surprised and an
noyed when lot of officials visited his
premises, contiscated everything in
sight, and took him away to jail. He
had been printing lot of unpleasant
things about the Russian government.
1t is more than likely that what
he said about the government was
true, and if he had printed them two
or three years ago he would have been
generally applauded and a number OF
people would have subscribed for his
magazine; but just now England and
Russia are great friends, and you can't
hit one without offending the other.
Our friend, Tom Swike, the black
smith, is the strongest man in town.
He also has a passion for punching
peoples heads, and the smallest ex-
cuse will serve. Tom never pays his
bills when it can be avoided, and as
falsitier he would make Ananias look
like a cheap amateur. | know all this
to be the truth, yet l would be unwise
to blurt out the truth in Toms hear
ing.
You will gather my meaning from
these illustrations. The truth is an
admirable line of goods, yet, if a man
would get on in this world, he must
handle it with discretion and not sow
it broadcast.
"Our friend Twigley, who boasts
that he never told a cherry tree,
couldn't sell gold dollars. He would
be sure to tell some unpleasant truth
about them, saying they were short
weight, or he found them in the pest
house, or something. He's always
saying things nobody needs to say.
Last fall, just before Thanksgiv-
ing, he carried dressed turkey all
over town in basket, trying to sell
it. Any other man could have sold
it at the first house visited, for it was
one of the finest-looking birds l ever
saw. He came to our back door and
tried to do business. | asked him how
old the turkey was. If he had said
ten months I'd have believed him and
shelled out the money, for the bird
had youthful appearance. Twigley
said he didn't know for certain. He
had worked day for farmer and
the farmer gave him the turkey for
his wages. He inferred from what
the farmer said that the bird was
three years old, but his private opinion
was that it had celebrated it's fifth
birthday.
My friends, there's no hope for a
man so painfully truthful. He would
be as poor as Jobs owl if money grew
on his gooseberry bushes. Of course
he didn't sell the turkey. l don't
know what he did with it, but he may
have sent it to one of the automobile
makers to be converted into tires.
'Twigley is fond of fishing and tells
me all about his excursions. | have
been waiting for five years to hear
him describe the large and beautiful
fish that got away, and he never says
word about it. Such a man is i'm
possible, in any human society, and the
best we can do for him is to pity him"
Pittsburgh Gazette-Times.