reaking a window purposely.

Falsehood. The Force of Example.

We are now within the domain of morals, and the door is open to vice.
Side by side with conventionalities and duties spring up deceit and
falsehood. As soon as there are things we ought not to do, we desire
to hide what we ought not to have done. As soon as one interest leads
us to promise, a stronger one may urge us to break the promise. Our
chief concern is how to break it and still go unscathed. It is natural
to find expedients; we dissemble and we utter falsehood. Unable to
prevent this evil, we must nevertheless punish it. Thus the miseries
of our life arise from our mistakes.

I have said enough to show that punishment, as such, should not be
inflicted upon children, but should always happen to them as the
natural result of their own wrong-doing. Do not, then, preach to them
against falsehood, or punish them confessedly on account of a
falsehood. But if they are guilty of one, let all its consequences
fall heavily on their heads. Let them know what it is to be
disbelieved even when they speak the truth, and to be accused of faults
in spite of their earnest denial. But let us inquire what falsehood
is, in children.

There are two kinds of falsehood; that of fact, which refers to things
already past, and that of right, which has to do with the future. The
first occurs when we deny doing what we have done, and in general, when
we knowingly utter what is not true. The other occurs when we promise
what we do not mean to perform, and, in general, when we express an
intention contrary to the one we really have. These two sorts of
untruth may sometimes meet in the same case; but let us here discuss
their points of difference.

One who realizes his need of help from others, and constantly receives
kindness from them, has nothing to gain by deceiving them. On the
contrary, it is evidently his interest that they should see things as
they are, lest they make mistakes to his disadvantage. It is clear,
then, that the falsehood of fact is not natural to children. But the
law of obedience makes falsehood necessary; because, obedience being
irksome, we secretly avoid it whenever we can, and just in proportion
as the immediate advantage of escaping reproof or punishment outweighs
the remoter advantage to be gained by revealing the truth.

Why should a child educated naturally and in perfect freedom, tell a
falsehood? What has he to hide from y