A false boy and girl double up when a burden is put on them. They are too weak to bear up. But a true one stands so nobly, and whatever you lay on them, you know they will carry safely.
And what is Truth?
It means being real, whole, not broken up, not a fraction, but a whole number. It means ringing true, like a bell without a crack.
In early times, they used sometimes to make images, and when they got cracked and old, they would patch them up with wax and putty and then paint them over till they looked lovely; and sold them for real things. By-and-by the weather and time wore off the paint and dug out the wax, and then they stood in their shameful cracky look, and people said, do not be waxy, but genuine right through.
The word "sincere" is from two Latin words, sine—without, and cera—wax.
The true girl and boy is unwaxed. There is no paint covering up nasty cracks. They ring true.
I went into a store once in Toronto and had an awful experience. I bought some article and sent in an American cart-wheel. That, you know, is a silver dollar. It shot up the wind tubes to the office, and in a jiffy it was shot back down again, with an acid stain on it.
It was a false piece! What do you think of that? I was so confused, for I feared they might think I was trying to pass bad money. And me a minister too!
When it struck the testing table, it did not ring right, and the acid soon told the story, and I got the old fraud back again.
Any life like that has not got on the girdle of truth. It is like a glittering object on the ground that looks like a diamond, but proves to be glass. It is like a piece of timber that looks all right and is put in the ship, but it had a worm inside, and became rotten, and the ship sank.