question that has given and does give me much uneasiness.




XXV.

POLITENESS VS. SINCERITY.

You imagine it is not polite to be plain spoken! My dear, there are
times when to be merely "polite" is to be a toady! There are times
when politeness is a pillow of hen feathers, wherewith to smother honor
and strangle truth. If all you care for is to be popular, to go
through life like a molasses-drop in a child's mouth, why, then, choose
your way and live up to it, but don't expect to rank higher than
molasses, and cheap molasses at that. For my part I would rather be
outspoken in the cause of right, even if plain speech did offend, than
be a coward and a woolly mouth. Somebody once lived upon earth, the
example of whose thirty odd years of mortal environment we are taught
to pattern our own lives close upon. How about his politeness when he
talked with the hypocrites and rebuked the pharisees? How about his
policy when he drove the money-changers before a stinging whip, and
championed the cause of the sinful woman? Oh! I tell you, the soul
that is always looking out for the chance to score one for the winning
cause, and throw up its hat with the crowd that makes the most noise,
is poor stock to invest in. In the time of need such a friend would
turn out worse than a real estate investment in a Calumet swamp.