THE BATTALION
30
business life is sure to depend in a very great degree upon
their good reputation. They should guard it, not only by
exemplary conduct in the fulfillment of engagements, the dis
charge of duties, etc., but by truth-telling exactness in then-
reports and speeches. Those who are careless in this respect,
though they may never consciously tell an untruth, soon be
come known as inexact and unreliable, and what they may
say loses much of the weight it would carry if they had
maintained a good reputation. One who is given to exagger
ation has all of his sayings discounted, so that he finds it im
possible to convey to those who know him an adequate idea
of some really great event. ITe has, through a habit of exag
geration, lost to some extent the power of speech. Moreover,
men who exaggerate usually defeat their own purposes, even
with those who are strangers to them and do not know their
faults. It used to be the rule of a writer somewhat famous
for the strength of his expressions to write from the fullness
of his heart, and then, when in a calmer mood, to strengthen
his article by removing therefrom nqarly all of the adjectives
he had originally employed. It is a fact that extravagance of
statement weakens a declaration, and thei*e is no part of
speech of which more sparing and thoughtful use should be
made than adjectives, and especially superlatives. The boy
who cried wolf too often has another companion in the com
mon scold. People who are always complaining of others, so
injure their reputation that they find themselves unable to
get a real grievance redressed. It seems to be the old tale re
vived, and those who are forced to listen to it really pay no
heed. The scold is most mischievous in the family circles?
especially if he or she has to deal with children. The
parent who is continually scolding, soon loses control of the
child and finds fresh grievances in the latter’s indifference to
rebuke. One who, after living in a quiet neighboihood, set
tles near a railroad line, finds the unaccustomed noises almost
intolerable, but after a time scarcely notices them. So also
the child whose attention may be arrested by an occasional
rebuke, loses consciousness of scoldings when he has heard