speak the truth, but to speak the simple unaltered truth, whether it tell for or against themselves; but this we cannot effect, unless our example uniformly concur with our instructions. We should teach them not only to confess their faults, but to confess them freely, and entirely, without prefacing them by excuses, or endeavoring to lessen their own offence, by laying blame upon another. When referring to others their mutual complaints and disputes, they should be warned to relate the case honorably and fairly; to state both sides of the questionto be willing to accuse themselves as well as their companions. In these points, even conscientious children, who dread a falsehood, are extremely prone to equivocate, and to keep back, at least, part of the truth. The habit of idle gossipping, of seeking and dispensing amusement, by hearing and repeating the affairs of others, is one great source of misrepresentation, and not unfrequently even of direct falsehood. The dawnings of such a habit are to be checked, the meanness of tale-bearing and detrac

tion must be strongly impressed upon the mind in early life, and children reminded

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that not only duty but a sense of honor should lead us to speak of others in their absence as we would do in their presence.

The confusion and undesigned inaccuracy, so often to be observed in conversation, especially in that of uneducated persons, proves that truth needs to be cultivated as a talent as well as a virtue," children require not only to be told to speak the truth, but taught how to do it. To this end, it will be highly beneficial to accustom them gradually and by continued practice, to give an accurate account of what they have read or seen, and to relate correctly circumstances in which they have themselves been engaged; for this perspicuity and precision are commonly the result not only of good principle but of intellectual cultivation.

Dr. Johnson observes, "Nothing but experience can evince the frequency of false information; some men relate what they think as what they know; some men of confused memories and habitual inaccuracy ascribe

to one man what belongs to another, and some talk on without thought or care. Accustom your children, therefore, to a strict attention to truth, even in the most minute particulars; if a thing happened at one window, and they, when relating it, say that it happened at another, do not let it pass, but instantly check them; you do not know where deviation from truth will end. It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world."*

On no account whatever, let any thing be said or done in the nursery that Mamma is not to be told.

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In case of any unpleasant occurrence, it is the duty of a nurse to take the earliest opportunity of informing her mistress; and to do this, when she can with propriety, in the presence of the children. She is ever to enforce the same habit among them, encouraging them, if they have met with

* See Boswell's Life of Johnson, oct. vol. iii. pp. 249, 250.

an accident, or committed a fault, at once, (for in these cases, delays are dangerous,) to go to their mother, and freely to confess it to her.

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It is desirable, as far as possible, to manifest confidence in the honor and veracity of children; for we should wish deceit and falsehood to be considered among them as offences of which we do not even suppose them capable; to accuse a child falsely, breaks his spirit, and lowers his sense of honor. If we have, at any time, reason to suspect a child of telling a falsehood, or of concealing the truth, great caution is necessary in betraying that suspicion. We should endeavor to ascertain the fact by our own observation, or the evidence of others, rather than by the common expedient of questioning the child himself, or strongly urging him to confession; for, in so doing, we shall often lead him, if he be guilty, to repeat the falsehood; or, if innocent and timid, to plead guilty to a fault which he has not committed. Besides, no small care is necessary that we do not bring children in

to temptation, or put too much to the proof their still weak and unformed principles. There are many suspicious cases, the truth of which being buried in the breast of a child, cannot be discovered; and these it is generally wiser to leave unnoticed; at the same time, the more vigilantly observing the offender, and treating him with the greater strictness upon those occasions in which the truth can be ascertained by positive evidence. For example; were a child to assure me that he had so many times read over his lesson to himself, and I had reason to doubt the fact, I would let it pass in silence, dreading the effects of ill-placed suspicion, and knowing that, if he were guilty and should choose to deny it, I had no means by which to convict him. On the other hand, if a child tell a nurse that his mother has desired she should give him fruit, or a cake, and she suspect he is deceiving her, let her say nothing to him at the time, but apply, without his knowledge, to the mother; should her suspicions be confirmed, the child is convicted, and the opportunity