of wisdom perceived and followed. They obje to guarded speech and action, because the themselves find self-control a nuisance. S often, it is; but if the moral experience of ma kind has taught us anything, it has taught that, without self-control, you get no dece society at all. When the mistress of Lowoo School told Mr. Brocklehurst that the girls' ha curled naturally, he retorted: "Yes, but we a not to conform to nature; I wish these girls become children of grace." We do not symp thize with Mr. Brocklehurst's choice of wh was to be objected to in nature; we do not, i deed, sympathize with him in any way, for h was a hypocrite. But none the less, it is bett to be, in the right sense, a child of grace than child of nature. Attila did not think so; an Attila sacked Rome. We may be sacked-th planet is used to these débâcles—but let us no either as a matter of mistaken humility or b way of low strategy, pretend that the Hu were Crusaders! "It is never permissible to r since the Christian era came opinion, if not the common which one of us has never ay against his conscience, but e of his conscience? Convens been assumed to be our sole _ctual conduct is usually based and more explicit, code of not religion, though with real ways been at peace; civilized religion, though, again, they at peace with it. In the mathonor and civilized manners to say; and the fact that we nsciously is responsible for a - perplexities. g, in Candide's "best of posshould not pass human lips. people who stick to the literal the precept: ladies, for exe to the back porch before maids to tell the unwelcome re "out." There, presumably, [164] silence is the mo: matter is not so si cies may become a an enchanted gard Very few peop deliberation, that be sure, I once he test that Shakespe by allowing her, a Othello. I have jected vehementl because he said s so. But there are for granted, ever for his life is supp if it will incrimina to the witness-sta against her husb mately expect an I do not see mu permitting a man is guilty, and leg there any solitary willingly give the silence is the most damnable lie of all. The matter is not so simple as it seems: its intrica cies may become a morass for the unwary, and an enchanted garden for the casuist. Very few people, I fancy, would say, after deliberation, that no lie was ever justified. To be sure, I once heard a serious young man protest that Shakespeare had damned Desdemona by allowing her, at her last gasp, to exculpate Othello. I have also known people who ob jected vehemently to the late Mark Twain because he said so many things that were not so. But there are occasions when lies are taken for granted, even by the law. A man on trial for his life is supposed to tell the truth, but not if it will incriminate him. A wife is not dragged to the witness-stand against her will to testify against her husband-no one would legiti mately expect anything but perjury from her. I do not see much difference between legally permitting a man to say "Not guilty" when he is guilty, and legally permitting him to lie. Is there any solitary maiden lady who would not willingly give the midnight marauder to under rogeneous group of examples, hat there are lies and lies; and - permissible to lie, it is someermissible to do anything else. the decenter sort are social. of a lie doth ever give pleasmoralist Bacon. There is cer- defence for the lie that does e. It is to save other people's own, that we tell lies. Let me bluntly. How, without lying, is is small niece properly for the e has selected for his ChristNo one wants merely to be 's trouble; every one wants to taste has been perfect. Now illips Brooks's handsome evas become historic, who ever ise a baby explicitly? I confess inst the grain with me to say oyed something which I have have frequently accepted invi-y over the telephone) because d not twist itself round the engagement" when the other [166] falsehoods, and sh as I know, to keep truth-telling, fran worst. Nothing co evil sense, than te Christmas present pitalities are all tion; especially if one's self to say cannot keep that the only excuse fo that one always s one's friends ar thinks, habitually friends can be an And it is of the es are morals not to it. "Faithful are and must someti over non-essential when it is a plea truth-tellers cong praise is immen There, I fancy, first place, praise falsehoods, and she has never been able, so far as I know, to keep a friend. The habit of literal truth-telling, frankly, is self-indulgence of the worst. Nothing could be more delightful, in an evil sense, than telling certain people that their Christmas presents, their babies, and their hos pitalities are all horrors which defy descrip tion; especially if one could count it a virtue to one's self to say those things starkly. But one cannot keep that weapon only for one's foes the only excuse for saying inexcusable things is that one always says them. Roughly speaking, one's friends are the people of whom one thinks, habitually, pleasant things. But even 'friends can be annoying, or unbeautiful, or dull. And it is of the essence of those manners which are morals not to tell them so if one can help it. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend". and must sometimes be dealt. But no stabbing over non-essentials! And above all, no stabbing when it is a pleasure to stab. Sometimes these truth-tellers congratulate themselves that their praise is immensely enhanced by its rarity. There, I fancy, they are mistaken: for in the first place, praise that is too long on the way |