We are now in the world of morals, the door to vice is open.  Deceit and falsehood are born along with conventions and duties.  As soon as we can do what we ought not to do, we try to hide what we ought not to have done.  As soon as self-interest makes us give a promise, a greater interest may make us break it; it is merely a question of doing it with impunity; we naturally take refuge in concealment and falsehood.  As we have not been able to prevent vice, we must punish it.  The sorrows of life begin with its mistakes.

I have already said enough to show that children should never receive punishment merely as such; it should always come as the natural consequence of their fault.  Thus you will not exclaim against their falsehood, you will not exactly punish them for lying, but you will arrange that all the ill effects of lying, such as not being believed when we speak the truth, or being accused of what we have not done in spite of our protests, shall fall on their heads when they have told a lie.  But let us explain what lying means to the child.

There are two kinds of lies; one concerns an accomplished fact, the other concerns a future duty.  The first occurs when we falsely deny or assert that we did or did not do something, or, to put it in general terms, when we knowingly say what is contrary to facts.  The other occurs when we promise what we do not mean to perform, or, in general terms, when we profess an intention which we do not really mean to carry out.  These two kinds of lie are sometimes found in combination, [Footnote:  Thus the guilty person, accused of some evil deed, defends himself by asserting that he is a good man.  His statement is false in itself and false in its application to the matter in hand.] but their differences are my present business.

He who feels the need of help from others, he who is constantly experiencing their kindness, has nothing to gain by deceiving them; it is plainly to his advantage that they should see things as they are, lest they should mistake his interests.  It is therefore plain that lying with regard to actual facts is not natural to children, but lying is made necessary by the law of obedience; since obedience is disagreeable, children disobey as far as they can in secret, and the present good of avoiding punishment or reproof outweighs the remoter good of speaking the truth.  Under a free and natural education why should your child lie?  What has he to conceal from you?  You do not thwart him, you do not punish him, you demand nothing from him.  Why should he not tell everything to you as simply as to his little playmate?  He cannot see anything more risky in the one course than in the other.