TWO FACED BEINGS.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2073, 26 August 1875, Page 4

TWO FACED BEINGS.

One of the commonest forms of tlietwo faces is that of personal flattery and evil speaking behind backs. - Mpst of us have known this kind of thing only too well, and winced under it._ Our (apparently) devoted friend and unconditional admirer comes,about us with the sweetest phrases, offering us the delicious honey of praise, exaggerated even to flattery, of love that broadens out to adoration. If we • are very straightforward for our own parts, 1 or inexperienced and therefore gullible and linsophisticated, we accept what wo hear as the real expression of the speakers' feelings. We gently put the • flattery aside as more than we deserve, but we do not think it is other than what is thought. We do not see the outline of that second unlovely face within the pretty hood, nor catch the double tip of the glozing tongue. Wo think our friend overenthusiastic, perhaps absurdly partial, but .we - think her honest; and, thinking this, smile back our frank disclaimers, assuring her that we are not the paragon she asserts us to be, and that we really have our faults like meaner creatures, and fall so many inches short of personal perfection. We might have saved ourselves the trouble, could we have heard her ten minutes after, discussing us with a common friend; If to ourselves personally we were not allowed a fault, to our common friend, behind backs, we are not credited with a virtue. To us there was but one side, and that was as smooth as velvet; of us there is but one also, but that is rough as sailcloth. What were unspeakable graces flourished before our faceSj are ugly, hateful blemishes; cast contemptuously to the dogs behind our backs. Are we good-tempered with' the one tongue ? We are weak, silly, phlegmatic, insincere with the other. Do we charm with bur talk, strengthen with our counsel, enlighten by our wisdom, improve by our knowledge with the foremost face ? That in shadow ridicules our pretensions or derides bur understandings says that we are pedantic'and prosy, shallow and self-sufficient, and of all tiresome companions and insufferable bores, we are the most tiresome and the most insufferable. Do we turn out good work—work unsurpassed for excellence in art, for eloquence in literature,, for creative genius in poetry—by the one tongue ? The other says that last picture of ours was a daub, that last ' aovel a failure, that last poem doggerel and unreadable. The face in shadow seems almost as if to wish to revenge itself on the excesses to which its companion in the foreground has gone; and we may be sure that just as far as flattery has reached in one direction, so will censure extend ; and in proportion to the sweetness of the honey will be the bitterness of .the gall. This is one form of the two faces under the hood-whijh certain people permit themselves to wear, . ; and by no' means an uncommon form. ... Indeed, we may take it for granted as a general rule, having exceptions certainly, but rare ones, that when friends take to flattery they mean treachery, and that a tongue smeared with honey includes almost as a matter of necessity its complement steeped in gall. ..-■■• One face, under the: soft sympathetic liood of professed affection, invites confidence ; rtbe other face, looking over.the shoulder, betrays it. This again is by no means a rare impersonation of the two faces which so many carry about with them. It ft. so delightful to have the secrets of a life poured out into your lap, like rare coins dug from the depths, and shown only to the experts; and it is just as delightful to lift up the corner of your apron and show the passing multitudes what treasures have been given you, and what confidence reposed in you. It raises you in your own esteem to think that • your friends and playmates have not got what you possess, and that you can give them what else they would never have. As for tie pocr hourgeois virtue of keeping, faith, and not showing your rare coins when you; were told to keep them secret, that is nowhere. One face promised the most sacred guardianship ; the other face laughed; at the easy vow, and broke it almost as soon as made. Both faces are under the same hood, and maybe the betrayed friend lives and dies not suspecting the existence of that, second an the shadow. Perhaps he finds it only when too late, and after the secrets he gave to be guarded, as men 'guard their gold, have been squandered among the crowd, desecrated by- a thousand rude, hands, defiled by a. .thousand-coarse; mouths. £, One face 'goes into folks' houses, accepts , their hospitality, assumes to find it plea- . sant,.l thanks the giver for the ..pleasure bestowed ; the other face outside the door makes grimaces, -and the double tongue . rattles off a.< catalogue of shoft-c'omihgs-while its fellow tip is. still quivering with praises. This is a common dffence,-and a "hateful one, not, having an excuse anywhere'; seeing that no one ■ is obliged to go into folks' houses at all, unless he dr{< she wishes to do so; and surely, if he orshe does go, the most elemental law bf gratitude and good breeding should restrain unfriendly criticism. One face goes to church and makes its prayers discreetly; the other face,'to intimates, laughs at the whole thing as humbugjand calls faith the faculty of fools. Twin-born,with this is the face that dreses itself in the fashion of-the strictest morality, the utmost respectability, then goes into the city armed for sharp practice that just keeps clear of the law, and that defies the private censure of .those who know. We "see this sometimes in places of influence where it should not be. A censor of public morals sets up his throne of justice, with a scourge and a pair of scales. Heweighs this man, that woman, and such : and such companies in his scales. If ho. can make them weigh short, he uses his scourge without mercy; if very indignant, he even unsheathes his sword and makes • an end of the concern altogether. But the other face ? The 'other face grins to ■ its familiars f ; the other tongue says, "I made, so much and so much of that.;" the other hand is held out for a bribe, and the most notorious offender of the batch, if the richest, gets off scot-free by means of the bridge of gold judiciously built. This, too, is an experience not quite unknown among the sons of men and the guardians as well as censors of the public morals .'—Queen.