The Boy Who Told The Truth

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Title:     The Boy Who Told The Truth
Author: Anonymous [More Titles by Anonymous]

One cold, bleak day in winter, during study hours, the pupils of Mr. Wise's school heard the sound of a carriage coming toward the school-house. A moment after, and it was before the door; and the loud voice of a man called for Mr. Wise. He went to the door, heard what the man had to tell him, came back into the room with a much sadder face than he had left it, and said,--

"Boys, I have just now been told that a very dear friend of mine is very ill, and wishes to see me. Mr. Bird, the man who is at the door, has asked me to ride back with him; and as my friend lives five miles from here, and I know of no other way of going there, I would like to accept his offer. I can dismiss you all in a short time; but I do not like to oblige Mr. Bird to wait for me until I put away my books and papers, and lock up the school. Now, I wish to leave three boys here to do it in my place; and those who think they can do this in a proper manner, and would like to do a favour for me, may hold up their hands."

Nearly every boy in the room, large and small, raised one hand. Mr. Wise smiled, and said,--

"I am glad to see so many of you ready to oblige me, but three will be quite enough for the work; and I shall select from among you those whom I regard as the most trusty."

He then named Thomas Jones, George Evans, and James Black.

"James Black is not so old as many others here," he said, "but I think I can rely upon him to do what is right; and if any harm should happen, I know he will tell me the exact truth about it."

Mr. Wise then sent all the boys home, but the three whom he had chosen to remain; and after having given these last a few orders as to where they should put the keys, &c., he left them, jumped into the carriage, and was soon riding along at a swift rate to visit his sick friend.

The boys had begun to put away the things in nice order, when they heard a loud halloo. They turned to find out from whom it came, and saw four of their school-mates at the door.

"Go away, Edward West, and the rest of you boys," said Thomas Jones.

"No, indeed!" said they; "we are not going quite yet."

"Now, I dare say you want to know how we came here, and what we want," said Edward West, who seemed to be the leader of the party; "and to save you the asking, I'll just tell you. We hid behind the school-house until the master was out of sight, and then we came out to pay you a visit; and you ought to be very glad to see us. Our reason for doing so was to have some fun, of course; and now you have the whole story."

"Well, we'll just tell Mr. Wise, and see what he will have to say about it," said George Evans.

"Oh, we don't mean to do any harm," said Edward. "We only want to have a little play; and you would not tell unless we do wrong. Would you, George?"

"What shall we do about these boys?" asked George aside, speaking in an undertone to Thomas and James.

"I am sure I cannot tell," said James; "for I am afraid they will not go away for us."

"That is what I think," said Thomas; "and we may only get into a quarrel with them, and do no good by it. How would it do for us to tell them they may stay, if they will give us their word of honour not to behave badly?"

"Yes, that is all we can do," said George.

"Well, boys," said Thomas aloud, "I think it would be much better for you to go home; but if you promise to behave, we will not object to your staying here with us, though I am not quite sure that Mr. Wise will like it."

"Well, on the whole, I call that a polite speech," said Edward, "and I give my hand to the bargain."

"Yes; we all agree to behave well," cried the others; and they began to mount the desks, and perform sundry little antics. At first the three boys who had stayed in to work went on doing their duty, as if their wild school-mates were not there at all, except now and then, when they would pause to smile at some of their odd tricks, or speak a few words to them. When they became too rude and noisy, George or Thomas called them to order, by giving them a hint of the bargain which had been made. Very soon they began to argue upon some point that seemed hard to settle, from the loud tones with which they spoke.

"What is the matter?" asked James Black, for he heard his own name used in the debate.

"Why, Hiram says you cannot jump over that stool, and I know you can," said Edward.

James looked at the stool. It was a high one, and stood on a clear space, not far from the desk of Mr. Wise.

"Yes, I can jump over it, and at the first trial too, as I will soon show you," he said; and as he spoke he joined them, with a view to proving the truth of his words.

The boys stood off to leave him room. He gave one high leap quite over the stool; but before his feet gained the floor on the other side, they struck an end of the master's desk, and upset an inkstand over some letters and papers which were highly valued by Mr. Wise. For a moment the boys all stood aghast and silent, gazing on the ruin before them. Edward West spoke first.

"Never mind, James," he said, with a look of pity at poor James, who stood near to him, quite pale with grief and dismay at what he had done. "Never mind; you did not mean to do any harm, and it cannot be helped now."

"No," said Thomas; "the master need not know how it was done, for none of us will ever tell about it."

"No, indeed, we will never tell," cried all the boys.

James stood as before, and made no reply: from a deadly paleness his face had grown quite red while they spoke; but this was all the change which their words seemed to make in him.

"It will be quite easy to hide the truth from the master, James," said Hiram; "and I'll tell you how. Shut up the desk now and lock it, and then, when he asks about it, we will say that we saw you put all the books and papers and other things safely away in the desk, and lock it up. That is all true, you know. Then he will think that in some way the desk has got a jolt, which upset the inkstand after it was closed."

"Why, Hiram!" said James in an amazed tone, "do you think I would tell a lie?"

"That would not be telling a lie, I am sure," said Hiram; "for you did put all the things safely by in the desk; and that was all I told you to say. You need not tell him how the ink was spilt. Let him guess that."

"Yes," said Edward; "for he will not be likely to say, 'James Black, was it you who upset my inkstand?' and if he does not, I do not see that there need be any lie told in the case."

"I do not see how I can help telling a lie, unless I tell the whole story in full, just as it came about," said James.

"Well, I do not see where you can find one false word in all I told you to say," said Hiram.

"It is certainly a lie to pretend to tell the whole story, and yet keep back the chief part of it, and that, too, which is most to the point," said James.

"Then, what do you mean to do?" asked Hiram.

"Tell the whole story in full, to be sure, and not keep back a single part of it which the master ought to know; then say to him that I am very sorry that I did not go on doing my duty, as I should have done, and that I hope he will pardon me for it," said James in a firm, clear tone.

"What! Do you mean to tell that we came back to school after we had been sent home?" asked one of the boys, with an angry shake of the head.

"Not if I can help it, and yet tell the whole truth about what I did myself," said James.

"That is right," said Edward West. "James Black is not as old as we are, but he has more real honour about him, and is more of a man, than any of us; and I think we ought to copy him, and come out boldly too, and tell the truth of our part of the affair."

"I think so too," said one or two others; and those who did not speak, in their hearts agreed with what Edward said.

"I never heard James Black tell a lie since I have known him," said Thomas Jones; "and I would sooner trust his plain YES or NO than all the oaths in the world from many other boys; for he always tells the truth."

"I never trust the word of a boy who swears," said George Evans; "for any one who swears will be quite ready to tell a lie when it suits him."

"Yes," said Edward West; "and I always doubt a boy who uses any words to make what he says seem more strong. We can't make 'YES' mean more than 'YES,' or 'NO' more than 'NO,' by adding other words to them; and they are quite enough for me, when they come from a boy whom I can trust."

"That is just what I think," said James. "I should be afraid that God would strike me dead, as he did the wicked man and his wife whom we read of in the Bible, who told a lie to Peter about the price he got for the land he had sold."

"I have often heard that story," said Hiram; "but God does not strike people dead now when they tell lies."

"He has the power to do it," said James; "and he is just as angry at liars now as he was then. When I told a lie, my mother talked to me a great deal about the sin of lying. She said that Satan was called the father of lies; and that, though God does not punish them at the time they sin, he has said, 'All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone;' and he will surely keep his word."

"Yes, that is an awful fate, which we all ought to try to avoid," said Thomas. "But see," he added, "I have wiped off all the ink I can with this piece of sponge; and as that is all we can do to repair the harm, I think we had better shut up the school-room and go home."

"I am sure you are very kind," said James, as he looked into the desk; "for you have done it much more nicely than I could."

Thomas locked the desk, and put away the key where Mr. Wise had told him. Then, when all was ready, the boys put on their caps and overcoats, and started for home.

James was very sorry indeed for having injured Mr. Wise's papers and letters, for he knew how much he valued some of them; and he felt real regret at having been so remiss in doing his duty. The words of Mr. Wise, "I think I can rely upon James to do what is right," were all the time in his mind; and his heart blamed him for not having proved worthy of the trust. "I ought not to have minded when they called me to try if I could jump over that stool. I have paid very dear for doing so, and much more than the game was worth, I am sure. It was not the proper way to behave in school, either: for I would not have done so if the master had been there; and when he is absent I should not act in a way that I know he would not like if he could see me."

Every kind word that the master had ever spoken to him seemed to rise up before him, to chide his breach of trust. He sighed deeply, as he said, "Mr. Wise has indeed been very kind to me; and all I can do now to repair the wrong I have done him, is fully and freely to tell him the whole story, and ask him to pardon me. But my Father in heaven has been more kind to me than any friend I have on earth could be; and, first of all, I will humbly ask his pardon of my sin."

Then he knelt down, and prayed that God would pardon the wrong he had done, and help him to be more on his guard in the future, and to tell the whole truth to Mr. Wise.

The next day James went to school with a heavy heart. Mr. Wise was at his desk when he went in, and was about calling the boys to order to begin the school duties. Then, as was his custom, he read some verses from the Bible, and offered a short prayer. When this was done, James waited a while for him to ask about his desk; but he said nothing, though he looked grave and sad. Then James left his seat, and went up to the desk with a firm tread. The eyes of all the boys in the room were fixed upon him; but he did not seem to notice it, for his own were bent toward the ground. He hardly raised them, to look at Mr. Wise, as he said, in a low tone,--

"It was I, sir, who upset the inkstand over your papers; and I am very sorry for it."

"Well, never mind," said Mr. Wise, kindly, for he saw how sad James was; "I dare say you did it while putting away my things, and could not help it."

"No, sir," said James; "I did it in trying to jump over that high stool. I know it was wrong; and I hope you will pardon me."

Mr. Wise looked grave.

"It was a rude way to behave when I trusted you so far as to leave you here alone," he said. "But as your sorrow seems so real, I will pardon you. I know, too, that you do not ask this of me from a dread that I will punish you for what has been done, but from a sense of duty, and a feeling of regret at having done wrong."

"You are very kind," said James, "and I thank you for it; but oh, sir, will you ever trust me again as you once did? For, indeed, I will try hard to deserve it always."

Mr. Wise paused, and looked in his face for a moment, and then said,--

"Yes; I feel that I can trust you still; for I think that you will be more on your guard for the future. And, at any rate," he said, taking the hand of James in his own, "I can rely firmly upon your word; for you have always told me the truth--the whole truth; and when you do wrong, you never try to excuse it, or make it seem right."

James tried to thank Mr. Wise for the kind words he had spoken, but he could not; his heart was too full for words, and he could only press the hand which held his own, in token of what he felt. As he did this, he turned away from the desk.

He had hardly taken his seat, when Edward West rose and went up to Mr. Wise, and after him, one by one, came each of the four boys who had gone back into the school-house on the day before without leave. Not one stayed behind--not even the one who had been so angry lest James Black should tell of them. As head of the party, Edward spoke for them, telling Mr. Wise that they were to blame for the ruin of his papers, as James would not have been likely to leave his work if they had not come back to school to tempt him. He said that they knew that they had done wrong in not going home as they were told, and that if the master chose to punish them, they felt that it was but right, but that they hoped to behave better in time to come.

Mr. Wise was pleased with the frank manner of the boys, in so freely telling him of their bad conduct; yet their doing so was a matter of some wonder to him. Perhaps Edward saw this, for he said,--

"At first we urged James to hide his fault from you, sir; but when he told us, in such a firm way, that he would not tell a lie, we were shamed out of our own desire to conceal the truth."

"You did right, in part," said Mr. Wise; "but I hope you will learn to tell the truth from a pure love of truth, and to shun a lie from a deep hatred of all that is false. Study your Bibles, and you will find how God hates lying; and you will also learn there the awful fate of liars."

Then, after a few words of reproof and caution, he sent them to their seats.

Mr. Wise felt very sorry at the loss of his letters and papers, for they were of great value to him; but he nearly forgot his sorrow in the joy which it gave him to find his pupils ready to confess their faults so freely to him.

How plain it is that the path of duty is the only path of peace and safety!

[The end]
Anonymous's short story: Boy Who Told The Truth

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