The Plausible Lie

I We resent calumny, bypocrisy and treacbery because tbey harní us, uot because they are untrue. Take tbe detraction aud tlie misebief from the untrutb, and we are little ofïended by it. Turn it into praise, and we may be pleased with it. And yet it is not calumiiy aud treachery tbat do the largest sum of mischief in the world. They are continually cruslied and are felt only iu being couquered. But it is tho glistening and softly epoken lie, the amiabJe fallacy, the patriotic lie of the historian, the provident lie of the politician, the zealous lie of the partisau, the ruerciful lie of tho frieiid aud the careless lie of each man to biiuself thnt cast tbat black mystery over huruauity throtigh which we thauk any man who pierces, as we woulcl thank one who dug a well iu a desert. Happy that the thirst for trutb remaius with us, even when we have