Letters from a Father to His Son

description, as a piece of wit; but, in fact, it was simply a low and
vulgar equivocation. One boy would hand an apple to another,
and say, "I am going out—here is an apple; will you promise
faithfully to give it to my brother William?" The other boy would
say, "I will;" but low down to himself he said "not," so that what he
really said was "I will not;" and when the boy who gave him the
apple was gone, he ate the apple himself. Of course he was found
out; and then he excused himself by saying he said "not" low
down to himself. This was a base, paltry trick; he induced the boy
who gave him the apple to believe that he would truly and
honestly give it to his brother; and the word "not," which he said
low down, was the same as not said, because no one heard it.
These sort of boys, in the end, always become shunned by their
companions—no one believes them or trusts them; and their
promises and statements are never in the least relied upon.
I explain this to you, not that I suppose for a moment either you,
or any of your companions or schoolfellows, would be guilty of
so silly and unmeaning—so false and base a trick; but to impress
on your mind, that all tricks which interfere with the truth are
bad, and that you should never for a moment, in any shape or
way, allow yourself to trifle with the truth, nor play tricks which
involve a deviation from the great principle which I wish to press
on your attention in this letter.
Recollect, also, what I have often told you, that truth and candor
are the basis of all virtue and goodness in life, and a departure from them
the foundation of every evil. Abilities of the most splendid character
without truth, are of no avail to their possessor. No one respects
an untruthful boy, or a deceitful and false man; his very abilities
often prove his destruction, because falsehood leads to crime and
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