The Washington herald., 1916-12-18
A Man Who Does Not Lie
BY oRIsON SWEET MARDEN,


Scott, chief of staff of the United
States army, in dealing with the In
dams, writer says: when answer
or comment is demanded he tells the
plain truth. The Indians have Sttle
use for euphemisms. If they wish to
know what is the penalty of murder,
they would rather have frank state
ment that it is death than all the re-
markable phrases which can be used
to soften the disagreeable fact or to
break the news less abruptly" Be-
cause of his sincere treatment of the
Indians, Gen. Scott is known to them
as "White-Man-Who-D -DoesNot-Lic
We measure people by the degree
of their sincerity and honesty, by the
degree of our confidence in them.
Some we absolutely trust, always and
everywhere, and we never question
their integrity. Others we can dc
business with--if we watch them.
Many of us have wrong idea oi
what honesty means. We are such
worshippers of the dollar that our
chief idea of honesty is associated
with money, or its equivalent, prop
erty.
Honesty is very broad term. II
means that you are honest in your
thought, that you are conscientious
in your work, honest with yourself
sincere in your life. Honesty means
integrity of soul, of intention. 1,
means thoroughness in ones work
it means fairness, justice to all.
There is nothing We can say of a
human being so praiseworthy as that
he is honest, clean and white to the
very core of his being. A man may
be great genius, giant in intellect
but great brilliancy of mind cannot
be compared with plain, simple,
downright honesty of character. Ev-
cry other virtue or quality is dis
counted in comparison.
There is something about honesty
of purpose, sincerity in our friend
ships, in our lives, in our vocation, in
our dealings with others, that COM
pensates for deficiencies or lacks in
other directions, and that gives men,
tai stability and public confidence,
even though we have only one talent
and FIJI very humble station in life.
In every community there are per-
sons who carry weight and influence
out of all proportion to their ability,
because of their high moral stand
ards, because they stand for the right
and are not for sale.
The man who is righteously right,
righteously true, righteously clean in
his life, righteously genuine, who
filings open the door of his mind and
heart and has nothing to conceal
nothing to fear, is the man who
moves the world. People feel in
stinctively his power and make way
for him.
A man who stands four square to
the world, immeasurably fixed in his
principles, is the most precious pos
session of any community. He
makes every foot of land in his vi,
cinity worth more and all his neigh.
bors a little prouder because he is
one of them. Everybody feels lit,
tie happier and safer because he is
their townsman.
1t Is as natural for US to have faith
in the man who is honest, who stands
for what he believes to be right, as
it is to breathe. Human nature is
constructed on lines of truth, of yer.
acity, and we iustinctively feel this
reality. We are always distrustful oi
people who pose, who are not genu,
inely open and transparent. We are
naturally suspicious of those who
keep the door of their heart closed
and only let US get peeps at their
characters, at what they wish US tc
see, people who are always on the
watch to hide their defects.
No man can really believe in him.
self when he is occupying a false po-
sition and wearing a mask, when "a
little monitor within him is con-
stantly saying, "You know you are a
fraud; you are not the man you pre-
tend to be-" The consciousness oi
not being genuine, not having what
others think him to be, robs man
of power, honeycombs his character
and destroys self-respect and self
confidence.
There is nothing like a clean rec
ord, the reputation of being square,
absolutely reliable, to help a young
man along. There is nothing com,
parable to truth as a man builder
Nothing else will do more toward
your real advancement in starting
out on your career than the resolve
to make your word stand for some
thing and always to tell the truth
whether il is to yo11r material adv, n