Evening star., 1931-06-16

The uses Of good excuses are many.
1t always pays to have an engage
ment, whether one has 1t or not, for
thus you are able to decide whether
you choose to accept another invitation.
This Is one OF the commonest and
most useful Of the white lies" Of civil
lized society. We believe It has not
been given tie praise 1t deserves.
In the first place, to always have an
"engagement" with somebody or other,
on tap, as 1t were, for any emergency,
does not the least bit OF harm to any
one.
All 1t does Is give you the opportunity
Of deciding whether you shah accept
new engagement TO something or
other. and the means whereby a re-
fusal, If that is what you decide upon,
may be given with grace and without
offense.
Accepting an invitation, under the
usual circumstances, is q great deal like
ordering .real from bill Of fare while
the waiter hovers over you.
One has to have a mind and heart
utterly Indifferent to servants TO be able
to order a dinner from q card without
blindly picking at random simply To
get 1t over with.
Now there are persons who can do It,
but perhaps ninety-nine out Of q hun.
dred persons cannot do It. At the best
| they only make Q bluff Of doing it.
Who Is there with soul so dead and
such q perfect and unstudied contempt
| for another human being and his evil
dent desires Ito wit, the waiter) that
he is able to really make q selection
from a hundred foods?
Whereas. before the waiter showed UP,
| one might have been able to concen-
trate on a ham sandwich and glass
OF milk, the moment the gentle nan In
the dress coat begins that hoverine
business. all ability TO decide vanisheG
| from the average diner.
In despair, lacking all powers Of de-
cision, one finally orders what one does
not in the least desire, and then spends
the remainder OF the meal wondering
| why he didn't have the nerve to order
| that ham sandwich.
\ ~
When q friend pops an invitation to
show, or to attend q banquet with
him. or to 60 down to his Summer place
on the river YOU are very much up in
| the air unless you are in full possession
Of mythical engagement with some
| one else. :
OF course, one may have q real en-
gager and in that case the thing Is
simplicity itself The trouble arrives
when one has not taken the trouble tn
have an engagement" ready whethe.
one has 1t or notl
A certain astuteness is necessary in
this. Some folks will call 1t Just plain
! lying, but they miss the mark. A lie,
after ali. is often not ene-hah or one
fourth or even one-eignth or one-six-
| tenth as bad as humanity, in the
abstract, has decided 1t is. in the abb
| stract.
Society would have done well by it,
| self If 1t had devised some system Of
] lie scale, as 1t has for notes in music,
or rests In the same. All notes are
not alike, nor all rests, and lies should
have the same benefit of proportion.
Circumstances vastly alter the men,
dAcity Of lies. There are lies which
are not lies at all, but rather greater
truths. There are lies, which, in all
honesty. touch the zenith Of pity.
Man has been far too ready TO "hurl
the lie," as 1t Is called, and especially
| to resent the lie.
Perhaps q better solution Of the mat
ter (which. after ALL offers no solu-
ton. since it is far. far too ODD would
be to change our definitions, and stop