Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-16

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"HE child who tells lie is not necessarily to-
bogganing down the steep grade to perditon
Its moral strain of thought may perhaps be
temporarily switched off the main track of truth.
but it is not necessarily derailed or wrecked By
loving wisdom and consecrated commonsense, chill
dren who handle truth reckessly can be evolved
into sturdy, fine fbered men and women of honor
and probty.
Lying is not kind of moral measles of childhood;
it is not really moral disease at all; it is merely
symptom Headache is not disease of the physical
body it too is only symptom. The wise physician
never attempted to cure locally He realizes it is
as warning sign of trouble down the line, in
other part of the system. He seeks to locate the
disturbing cause and to remove it; knowing that if
this be accomplished the headache will disappear
automatically. He is thoroughly aware that trouble
in the eyes. ears, teeth brain, stomach, muscles,
nerves, liver, heart: or in any other OF hundred
headache. 1t may be the consequence OF mental
strain, worry, anguish emotional tension, or any of
the multitude of ills of the mind
Whether the headache be the result OF a physical
or psychical cause, the wise physician knows that
it is really only soothing quackery to attempt to re-
move the headache except by destroying its cause,
the actual disease The engineer who sees the red
lantern the track does not think he has done his
duty he takes down the light and PUSHES his train
removed In this illustration is the revelation of the
true method of treating the lies of childhood.
The first duty of the parent or teacher who dis
covers that child is telling lie is to find out why
he tells it. If child speaks what is untrue in order
escape punishment he tells the lie OF fear If the
fear be gently and lovingly eliminated this form of lie
will be killed in its inceptlon-the root from which
it derives life vitality, and for being. There
are the lies too of vanity selshness, secretvenesS
stubbornness, righteousness, imagination, the lie
spectacular, and many other phases worth studying
briefly from the viewpoint of diagnosis and treat
ment.
The Most Common Lie
THE lie of fear is perhaps the most common of all
the juvenile assaults truth 1t is form of alibi
ingenously formulated to evade punishment. The
child may have in its little gallery of memories
pictures of prior punlShmentS, severe administered
in temper unproportioned to cause. where the
crime did not merit the punishment; and sitting in
the shadow of inevitable discovery it quietly formu
1ateS its little campaign of defense. 1t this
simple method of defeating justice and of cirCum-
venting law, and just takes the ready at
hand.
1t may not yet have acquired that dexteritv in
lying that plugs up all holes of detail, that makes
its alibi absolutely waterproof, and it is convicted
of bearing false testimony the subsequent cross
examination before the parental supreme court and
is ruthlessly exposed and punished on two counts
Perhaps it may succeed in hoodwinking the court
1t puts up its lie in compact package, with the
edges tucked in neatly and it gets into the knack of
lying more cleverly, making better counterfets of
truth
If the home atmosphere had been one of truth
real, permeat1ng, persistent, pervading truth-the
child would have realized that the telling an
truth would be counted the worst of faults; that
prompt full confession of any crimes against the
home code would largely antidote its guilt; that
with truth its side could always throw itself in
perfect safety on the mercy of the court that pun