will never hide such defects; and an habitual use of them lowers the
tone of the mind, and leads to other deviations from the simplicity of
truth and nature.

Another way of falsifying a narrative, is by taking for granted what you
do not know, and speaking of it as if you did. This jumping at
conclusions is a fruitful source of false reports, and does great
mischief in the world. Let no one imagine that she is walking
conscientiously, who is not in the habit of discriminating nicely
between what she knows to be fact and what she only supposes to be such.

The frequent use of some favorite word, or phrase, is a common defect in
conversation, and can only be guarded against by asking your friends to
point it out to you, whenever they observe such a habit; for your own
ear, having become accustomed to it, may not detect it. Some persons
apply the epithets _glorious_ or _splendid_ to all sorts of objects
indiscriminately, from a gorgeous sunset to a good dinner.

A young lady once tried to describe a pic-nic party to me in the
following terms: "There were ten of us--four on horseback and the rest
in carriages. We set off at a _glorious_ rate, and had a _splendid_ time
in getting there; I rode the most _elegant_, perfect creature you ever
beheld, and capered along _gloriously_. When we all got there, we walked
about in the woods, and gathered the most _splendid_ flowers, and dined
under the shade of a _glorious_ old elm-tree. We had our cold provisions
spread out on the grass, and every thing was _elegant_. We had
_glorious_ appetites, too, and the ham and ale were _splendid_, and put
us all in fine spirits. Some of the gentlemen sang funny songs; but one
sang such a dreadfully sentimental one, and to such a horrid doleful
tune, it made us all miserable. So then we broke up, and had a