A DISCUSSION.

While Caleb stood upon the mole, he began to whip the water; and, in doing so, he spattered David and Dwight a little.

Dwight said, “Take care, Caleb—don't spatter us;” and he went up to him, and was going gently to take hold of his whip, to take it away. “Let me have the whip,” said he.

“No,” said Caleb, holding it firmly, “I want it.”

“Let go of it, Dwight,” said Madam Rachel.

“Why, mother, he ought to let me have it, for I went and got it for him. He would not have had it at all without me.”

“You must not take it by violence,” said his mother, “if you have ever so good a right to it. But did you get it for him?”

“Yes, mother; and he told a lie about it.”

“O, Dwight,” said his mother, “you ought not to say so. I can't think Caleb would tell a lie.”

“He did, mother; he said he was sure he hung it up, when, after all, he dropped it in the water; and we agreed to leave it to you if that was not telling a lie.”

“Did you know, Caleb, when you said you hung it up, that you had really left it in the water?”

“No, grandmother,” said Caleb, very earnestly; “I really thought I had hung it up.”

“Then it was not telling a lie, Dwight. A lie is told with an intention to deceive. To make it a lie it is necessary that the person who says a thing, must know distinctly at the time that he says it, that it is not true; and he must say it with the particular intention to deceive. Now, Caleb did not do this.”

“Well, mother,” said Dwight, “I am sure you have told us a good many times that we must never say any thing unless we are sure it is true.”

“So I have. I admit that Caleb did wrong in saying so positively that he had hung his whip up, when he did not know certainly that he had. But this does not prove that it was telling a lie. You know there are a great many other faults besides telling lies; and this is one of them.”

“What do you call it, mother?” said David.

“I don't know,” said she, hesitating. “It is a very common fault,—asserting a thing positively, when you do not know whether it is true or not. But if you think it is true, even if you have no proper grounds for thinking so, and are entirely mistaken, it is not telling a lie.”

“In fact,” she continued, “I once knew a case where one boy was justly punished for falsehood when what he said was true; and another was rewarded for his truth, when what he said was false.”

“Why, mother?” said Dwight and David together, with great surprise.

“Yes,” said Madam Rachel; “the case was this. They were farmers' boys, and they wanted to go into the barn, and play upon the hay. Their father told them they might go, but charged them to be careful to shut the door after them in going in, so as not to let the colt get out. So the boys ran off to the barn in high glee, and were so eager to get upon the hay, that they forgot altogether to shut the door. When they came down they found the door open, and to their great alarm, the colt was nowhere to be seen. Josy, one of the boys, said, 'Let us shut the door now, and not tell father that we let the colt out, and he will think somebody else did it.'

“'No,' said James, the other, 'let us tell the truth.'

“So about an hour afterwards, Josy went into the house, and his father said, 'Josy, did you let the colt out?'

“'No, sir,' said Josy.

“Not long after he met James.

“'James,' said he, 'you had a fine time upon the hay, I suppose. I hope you did not let the colt out.'

“James hung his head, and said, 'Why, yes, sir, we did. We forgot to shut the door, and so he got away.'

“Now, which of these boys, do you suppose, was guilty of telling a lie?”

“Why, Josy, certainly,” said David, Dwight, and Caleb, all together.

“Yes, and yet the colt had not got away.”

“Hadn't he?” said Dwight.

“No, he was safely coiled up in a corner upon some hay, out of sight; and there the farmer found him safe and sound, when he went in to look. But did that make any difference in Josy's guilt, do you think?”

“No, mother,” said Dwight. David, at the same time shook his head, shewing that he entertained the same opinion.

“I think it did not,” continued Madam Rachel, “and the farmer thought so too; for he very properly punished Josy, and rewarded James.”

Dwight seemed to assent to this rather reluctantly, as if he was almost sorry that Caleb had not been proved guilty of telling a lie.

“Well, mother,” he said presently, with a more lively tone, “at any rate he disobeyed you; for you told him not to go near the brook where the bank was high; and he did, or else he never would have fallen in.”

“But I could not help it,” said Caleb, “the cow frightened me so.”

“Yes, you could help it,” said Dwight; “for the cow did not come up and push you; you walked back yourself, of your own accord.”

Madam Rachel observed that Caleb appeared more pale and languid than usual; and this new charge which Dwight brought against him, made him more sad and melancholy still.

Madam Rachel accordingly then said she would not talk any more about it then, for she must go in, and she asked Caleb whether he would rather go in with her, or remain out there with the boys. He said he would rather go in. So he took hold of Madam Rachel's hand, and walked along by her side. David said he would bring his rocking-chair for him, when he and Dwight should come in.

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