ay nice things merely to avoid giving offense; to keep silent
rather than speak the truth; to equivocate, to evade, to dodge, to say
what is expedient rather than what is truthful; to shirk the truth; to
face both ways; to exaggerate; to seem to concur with another's
opinions when you do not; to deceive by a glance of the eye, a nod of
the head, a smile, a gesture; to lack sincerity; to assume to know or
think or feel what you do not--all these are but various manifestations
of hollowness and falsehood resulting from want of accuracy.

We find no lying, no inaccuracy, no slipshod business in nature. Roses
blossom and crystals form with the same precision of tint and angle
to-day as in Eden on the morning of creation. The rose in the queen's
garden is not more beautiful, more fragrant, more exquisitely perfect,
than that which blooms and blushes unheeded amid the fern-decked brush
by the roadside, or in some far-off glen where no human eye ever sees
it. The crystal found deep in the earth is constructed with the same
fidelity as that formed above ground. Even the tiny snowflake whose
destiny is to become an apparently insignificant and a wholly unnoticed
part of an enormous bank, assumes its shape of ethereal beauty as
faithfully as though preparing for some grand exhibition. Planets rush
with dizzy sweep through almost limitless courses, yet return to
equinox or solstice at the appointed second, their very movement being
"the uniform manifestation of the will of God."

The marvelous resources and growth of America have developed an
unfortunate tendency to overstate, overdraw, and exaggerate. It seems
strange that there should be so strong a temptation to exaggerate in a
country where the truth is more wonderful than fiction. The positive
is stronger than the superlative, but we ignore this fact in our
speech. Indeed, it is really difficult to ascertain the exact truth in
America. How many American fortunes are built on misrepresentation
that is needless, for nothing else is half so strong as truth.

"Does the devil lie?" was asked of Sir Thomas Browne. "No, for then
even he could not exist." Truth is necessary to permanency.

In Siberia a traveler found men who could see the satellites of Jupiter
with the naked eye. These men have made little advance in
civilization, yet they are far superior to us in their accuracy of
vision. It is a curious fact that not a single astronomical discovery
of importance ha