"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."