The children understand perfectly well that in such a case as this it is not in any sense wrong to say what is not true.

But how are they to know what kind of untruths are right, and what kind are wrong, until they are taught what the distinction is and upon what it depends.
Unfortunately many parents confuse the ideas, or rather the moral sense of their children, in a much more vital manner by untruths of a different kind from this--as, for example, when a mother, in the presence of her children, expresses a feeling of vexation and annoyance at seeing a certain visitor coming to make a call, and then, when the visitor enters the room, receives her with pretended pleasure, and says, out of politeness, that she is very glad to see her.

Sometimes a father will join with his children, when peculiar circumstances seem, as he thinks, to require it, in concealing something from their mother, or deceiving her in regard to it by misrepresentations or positive untruths.

Sometimes even the mother will do this in reference to the father.

Of course such management as this must necessarily have the effect of bringing up the children to the idea that deceiving by untruths is a justifiable resort in certain cases--a doctrine which, though entertained by many well-meaning persons, strikes a fatal blow at all confidence in the veracity of men; for whenever we know of any persons that they entertain this idea, it is never afterwards safe to trust in what they say, since we never can know that the case in hand is not, for some reason unknown to us, one of those which justify a resort to falsehood.
But to return to the case of the children that are under the training of parents who will not themselves, under any circumstances, falsify their word--that is, will never utter words that do not represent actual reality in any of the wrongful ways.