Konx Om Pax

ALI SLOPER; OR, THE FORTY LIARS 35 Confusion of the Modality of Assertion. When the Auditor is in an inferior position as to knowledge, this ranks as a malicious lie. Mrs. G. says to Father H. in the confessional, “I have not flirted with Mr. 1.,” and lies, because (on the theory) Father H. has a right to know. [BONES z'ntery'erts, “ Flirted! Autres temps, Autres motsl You’re improving, Frater ! ” Reader replies “ Pig l ”] But she says the same words with truth to Mrs. 1., who is merely asking out of curiosity. For if she changes the subject, or is rude, it is tantamount to a con fession, and Mrs. J. has no right to trick or force one from her. This is called Keeping the Vow of Secrecy which one has sworn to one’s own Soul. [BONES protests violently, and is reminded that dis cussion follows, net/er interrupts, the Paper.] But why insist? The so-called casuists of the Christian Church have exhaustively investi gated this subject; and all they say is none the less true because it is subtle or immoral, as the stupid and the puritan pretend. Cardinal Newman may have had his faults, but he is at least a pleasant con trast to Gladstone and Kensit. If my truth is not the truth of the Divorce Court, it is because my world (thank God i) is not the Divorce Court. I prefer Christ to Sir Gorell Barnes as an authority on the Seventh Commandment; and the Spiritual Interpretation of facts is the formula “ Solve ” of the Theurgic Alchemist. What is a poet? What are his powers? He can watch from dawn to gloom The lake-reflected sun illume The yellow bees in the ivy-bloom ; Nor heed, nor see, what things they be . . . Let Mr. Straightforward and Mr. Veracity and Mr. Scom-tmtell-a lie and Mr. George Washington Redivivus reflect that there are people in the world with sensoria sighted to a different range from themselves! There is such a thing as a point of view. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto the Man in the Moon, who stood on the shores of Lake Copernicus and said: “What a beautiful