The Ely miner., 1943-09-02
Bv KATHLEEN NORRIS

'NHERE Is d ldIIllly Ill Jul
town that is known for its
l. honesty. 1t is not a partic-
ularly rich, handsome, socially
prominent or in any other way
unusual family. But it is notable
for this one thing; it is honest.
You can trust the Jonesmiths.
The fine old man who estab-
lished the family business tells
the truth. The matriarch who is
so happy in her big kitchen, with
a covey of grandchildren cir
cling about her, tells the truth.
The tall handsome sons, the
plain happy wholesome daugh-
ters, even the freckled young
sters who dash so busily about
our streets-all tell the truth. 1t
shines in all their faces.
And strangely enough, this makes
the family very exceptional one,
and causes the whole community to
depend upon the word of the Jone-
smiths. If property is to be bought,
the buyer likes a Jonesmith opinion
on it. If trade is being solicited,
the Jonesmith trade is considered
the most valuable of any. Much
richer patrons may run up much
bigger bills, but they remain bills.
Bills have no place in the Jonesmith
code. Nothing that isn't simple and
square and fair has.
Honest Person Exceptional.
Now, is it not amazing that in
this day of civilization honesty
should be so rare that those who
live by it are marked persons? Be-
cause of course we all mean to be
honest, we try to practice honesty
ourselves and inculate the princi-
pies of strict honesty among our
children. Yet truth remains the
great rarity in human dealings.
This week I had a letter from a
woman in Illinois who is determined
to be honest. It seems to me this
new light that has come to her is
worth passing along.
"These are the days." writes Lou
Mary Fuller, ''in which we may
well tremble for civilization. No
body can guess what is going to be
the outcome of this war; nobody
can say whether the men who rise
to power in the making of the peace
will be honest men or whether
any human being alive is competent
today to decide upon settlements,
boundries, reprisals, national obi
cations and national rights. Much
less the hundreds of ambitious,
blind, politically minded men who
will gather at the peace table, for
endless months, perhaps years, of
deadlocks and disputes.
''Not all of them will be honest
men. We can only pray that there
may be a Lincoln, a Washington
among them, and that good will in
the end prevail. We KNOWN spite
of all the eloquence we hear-we
know that we can't impose our way
of doing things upon mighty ma
tions like Russia and China, nations
which are in the throes of tremen-
dous social changes, anyway, and
anything but established in their re-
spective types of national life and
law. We know now that we must
not if we foster any fond illusions of
establishing exacting promises of
democratic action from countries in
herently and fundamentally incapa-
BILE of understanding our national
ideas. We know already that en-
pires will not be abolished, and that
imperial claims are not compatible
with the four freedoms.
Can Train Children Better.
$50 we have to begin at the bot
tom, instead of the top" the let
ter goes on. 1--WE have to concede
that we can't change mems hearts,
or count on honesty in all the men
of all the nations that will meet at
that peace table, even if our own
delegates are.
TM<0oSN -