+Truthfulness is speaking and acting in a perfectly straightforward way, without any attempt to add to, or take from, the facts. Its opposite is Lying or Deception.+ If Lying were the rule and Truthfulness the exception, society would soon be destroyed. Men could not do business with each other if they could not be trusted to speak the truth, and to keep faithfully a promise once made. Instead of trusting, they would fear one another; every time they were assured of anything they would doubt, and perhaps suspect a trap. If all men resorted to lying, they would soon begin to destroy each other, because it is an instinct of human nature to preserve one's self from the attack of enemies. The liar is the enemy of mankind. A great man was once asked: "Do the devils lie?" "No," was his answer; "for then even hell could no longer exist." (1) Regard for Truthfulness forbids us to tell, as truth, what we know to be false. This is the worst form of lying. Only the most hardened will lie deliberately; no one who has not had long practice in this vice can tell a deliberate falsehood without despising himself. That can only be done when the Conscience is at last asleep, and when the character has become vicious. (2) Another form of lying is telling, as truth, what we do not know to be true. People often assert things which they cannot possibly know to be true; for instance, the motives of other persons. There are also things which are only probable, and of which we cannot be certain. To state as absolutely true what we cannot know to be true is falsehood. Again, there are things which are merely matters of opinion, and upon which vastly different opinions may be held. If we would be strictly truthful, we must be careful to state as true only what can be proved to be facts. (3) Another form of deceit is telling what may be true in fact, but telling it in such a way as to convey a false impression. This may be done by (_a_) exaggerating, or adding to, the facts; or (_b_) by withholding some important part of the facts. Many a character has been ruined by some enemy who wilfully overstated, or understated, facts of the highest importance to the person's reputation. Many a man has ruined his own character by allowing himself to acquire the habit of exaggeration. (4) Untruthfulness shows itself in other ways. A lie may be acted as well as spoken. For example, when a boy allows himself to be praised for some action he never performed and does not give the praise to the right person, or at least disown it for himself, he acts a lie. The boy who tries to make his master believe him to be obedient and studious when he is not acts a lie. The boy who brings up as his own work an exercise which he has cribbed, or in which he has been assisted, acts a lie.