Full Title: The Farmer’s Weekly Musuem: Newhampshire and Vermont Journal. Vol. V. No. 251. [Walpole, NH] 23 January, 1798.
MORALS
Vicious men are distrusted and despised, even by the vicious themselves. A man without character soon becomes an outcast of society. Let it, therefore, be your first care to establish a firm character for scrupulous integrity. A lie admits of no apology. The truth is so generally understood, that even among the most profligate, what is called giving the lie must be atoned for, at the hazard of life. But do not therefore hastily conclude that you are to tend a challenge to every ill mannered, or drunken puppy, who dares to dispute your veracity. I mean only to prove the vice of lying to be so universally detested, that to tell a gentleman he is guilty of it, is the most unpardonable offence; and very justly, to because it is, by implication, calling him a coward. A man of true courage will disdain the protection of a falsehood, were it ever to save his life. When he has once passed the Rubicon, he will march boldly on to the Capital. He has put his life upon a cast and will nobly stand the hazard of the die.
There is indeed in this trait of a great character no medium; and it becomes infinitely desirable, when you reflect on the influence it will have on all your actions. If you be positively determined to preserve your veracity, you will seldom perpetrate what you would be ashamed to confess. Be Truth, therefore, your Palladium. I cannot bequeath you a better inheritance.
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