American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-08-29
4 Word to the Little Folks.

THE Herald IF Heahh says some very
excellent things TO its little folks on
| ruthfulness and Lying: - t---7 =
The word truth is from the Saxon word
| treOrth. II means what is what has been,
what will be. The sun will rise to-mor-
row. This is the truth. The sun will
never rise again. This is falsehood 1t
is not the truth. 1t does not conform
with fact. If you were to lay your plans
| for tomorrow on the supposition that the
| sun would not rise you would not ac-
complish anything. Perhaps YOU would
sleep all day; or if you walked up and
| found the sun was shining in at your
window you would not be prepared for
your days work, and the day would be
| lost.
! Lying, on the other hand is telling
something which is not so. The word
lie is also Il Saxon word, zig, and means
contrary to fact. A lie is statement
that is intended to deceive. We gener-
ally call lie falsehood. This is
thought to be a milder way of expressing
it. If one man calls another liar many
think it a vulgar way of stating it. Hor-
ace Greeley generally spoke of people
who were not truthful as liars, and many
people thought it very coarse express
sion. A falsehood, however, is n0tling
bit q lie. The Lat n word talsus means
to deceive, and Il falsehood is something
not true, not conformable to fact some
thing contrary to what exists or is said
or done.
One of the most beautiful traits of
character in man is truthfulness. /
wonder if you all know the multiplied
ton table? Well, this table never lies
but always tells the. truth. Test it when
ever you will and it will not lie to you.
1t always tells you that ten times ten is
100 and that seven times twelve is
eighty-four. If this were not SO there
would be no certainty in anything. Sup
pose the multiplication table was not
truthful and you had some marbles, say
100. to sell at eight cents dozen. You
could never tell when you got the right
pay for them; you might get too much
or too little, or nothing at all; you might
even have to pay to have some one take
them. A truthful table tells yod just how
much you are to get and you are sa is
fed it is right. If it were not for the
strict truthfulness of this table we could
do no business with our friends and
neighbors
Truthfulness is just as beautiful in
children, in men and women, as it is in
our arithmetics. 1t is beautiful every
where; and it is just as important, too.
A person who is not reliable, that you
cannot depend on, that never keeps his
word, is "A very dangerous one. He will
HHu IL HdTu 10 yet through tnt "oIlu, anu
will make great deal OF trouble. If we
know it we never trust him.
Children are generally truthful. Lying
is hard for them; but they learn after a
while if their parents are not careful.
Usually fathers and mothers are to blame
for it more than anybody else. They are
not always careful to keep their word
with them. They make careless state
ments and promises which are never full
filed, and little by little children learn
to initiate them. Servants often teach
children 10 lie by doing SO themselves.
Such hings are an abomination. We
hope al he children who read this will
learn to speak the truth. 1t will be easy
enough if you begin when young and
stick to At; but if you once lie you will
find it hard to stop. Form the habit of
always telling what is exactly so, and
you will be as useful and as much a COM
fort to those you know as the multiple
cation table as TO business men.