1895 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



71 



LIES AND THE LIARS. 



THE WORST OF ALL EVILS AND MOST 

 DIFFICULT TO CONTROL. 



Jpowth of the Habit Due Id Great Meas- 

 ure to Self Deception — The Causes an In- 

 teresting Study — Liiars Should Be Shut 

 Up In Asylums as the Insane Are. 



There is nothing in the power of the hu- 

 man being so bad as a lie. There is noth- 

 ing that smirches character so bad as a lie. 

 There is nothing that turns one so against 

 himself as a lie. Tliero is nothing that so 

 destroys the confidence of our friends as a 

 lie. There is no compensation possible for 

 the evil of a lie It eats back corrosively 

 Into yourself, and you cannot get back 

 four soundness It rarely ever even tem- 

 J)orarily makes a profit, and I think in the 

 end never. 



The puzzle of puzzles is why some peo- 

 ple lie so easily They rarely undertake to 

 be exact and yet do not recognize them- 

 Belves as liars It is their first impulse to 

 Bvoid straightforwardness.and they plunge 

 ahead in conversation, simply trying to 

 get around point after point. It is a mis 

 take and a misfortune to form such a hab 

 It. It grows on the victim, and it increases 

 its power In nine cases out of ten the 

 simple facts would be easily told, and the 

 telling more advantageous than either con 

 cealment or a falsehood, but the habit has 

 been encouraged to misrepresent or con- 

 ceal, and the whole mental nature ex 

 hausts its fertility in a purpose not to be 

 open and honest. When this appears in a 

 person of good ability, mild disposition 

 end industry, it is lamentable. 



The power of lying as a habit to grow is 

 amazing. The reason probably is that the 

 liar lies to himself as badly as he does to 

 others — that is, he tries to believe he is 

 truthful until he believes what he says is 

 true, or at least is uncertain about it. I 

 know one or two persons with whom you 

 may say lying is a chronic disease. They 

 talk on at entire random. Their whole 

 life becomes a romance. They may occa- 

 sionally touch bottom on a fact, but they 

 do it by accident They do not know it 

 It Is simply because facts are so many as 

 to get in their way. "What an uncon 

 Boionable liar that creature is," said a 

 friend. "She cannot tell the truth. " I 

 am not sure but we should have a new 

 name for this sort of people. The fact is 

 they have lost all sense of the true and the 

 false, as they have of right and wrong. 

 Louis Stevenson's novels are no more a 

 niece of intellectual manufacture t\\siia^re\ 



their everj'day conversations. This is true 

 not only of some of the lower class, but of 

 an occasional person in the highest ranks 

 of society 1 know an eminent litterateur 

 who is so snarled up among the creatures 

 of his imagination that ho cannot tell the 

 real from the fictional. It is dangerous to 

 be his friend, for he is liable to get you 

 woven into a great web of his fancies, and 

 then with all his might he believes you 

 are guilty of absurdities or worse that 

 were enacted only in his brain. He will 

 swear to these "facts" with all sincerity. 

 His life can never be restored to a basis of 

 realities 



There should be hospitals for liars, or 

 retreats, such as we provide for the in- 

 sane when their cases become chronic and 

 dangerous They become dangerous to the 

 community, quite as dangerous as forgers 

 and shoplifters, and far worse for our own 

 peace and happiness. If by accident you 

 get one of these people into your house- 

 hold, you never will get the confusion rec- 

 tified. East becomes west. Love is per- 

 verted into evil intent Even facts fail to 

 tell the truth Everything is wrong end 

 foremost. Half the suicides come from 

 liars' tongues The worst cases should be 

 treated as insanity and mild cases sent to 

 a hospital 



It would be an interesting study for an 

 analytic mind to study the causes of lying 

 and liars It is in some cases no doubt a 

 matter almost wholly of heredity Moth- 

 ers and fathers hand down moral traits 

 more easily than they do intellectual. A 

 mother should make it a law of her life to 

 be sincere and undeviating. If not, she is 

 sure to reap a sore punishment in and 

 from her children. Practice a habit of 

 living very open hearted. I do not mean 

 prattling facts all the while, but with no 

 chests locked against your beloved ones. 

 An open heart is better than an open 

 mouth 



1 pity a really honest person who has 

 tumbled herself hastily into a lie. The 

 temptation came on suddenly, and before 

 she was able to be quite self masterful she 

 prevarii-ati'd Now, to back out of a lie is 

 like backing out of a slough of mud. You 

 get out with mire on you. But is it any 

 better to stay In the slough and wallow 

 abouti' There is nothing gained, my 

 friend, by aticklng to a falsehood simply 

 because you are ashamed to back out. Be 

 as frank as your better nature suggests 

 and get as quickly as possible on the line 

 of absolute honor 



But there are other causes for the liar's 

 character t)esides heredity. Society is not 

 based on honor, but very largely on pre- 

 tenses The good half of social intercourse 

 is offset by another half of deceit and in 

 sincerity This, of course, is stamping it- 



