Within the last ten
years I have heard the same affirmation made respecting persons who have
drowned themselves.
Persons whose _yea_ is unvaryingly _yea_, and whose _nay_ is unvaryingly
_nay_, generally resort to no form of oath or imprecation to gain
credence to their statements, for their truthfulness is seldom called in
question--at least, where they are well known. But with those who are
lax in their statements--who tell the truth or tell lies just as for the
moment the one or the other appears to suit them best--the case is
different. When they speak something strange or important, they find
their veracity questioned, and require to place themselves in
circumstances where it may be thought they are under compulsion, for
their own welfare, to speak the truth. Commonly, they ask Providence to
injure them in some way if in the present instance they have said the
thing which is not true. Well, it was believed in the days of which I
write, and within my own day, that Providence did interfere in this way,
and many stories were current in confirmation of this belief.
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