Before long, his father, passing by, beheld his
beautiful tree entirely ruined; and, entering the house, he earnestly
asked who had been guilty of the destruction. For a moment George
trembled and hesitated. He was strongly tempted to deny that he knew
any thing about it. But summoning all his courage, he replied,
"Father, I cannot tell a lie. I cut it with my hatchet." His father
clasped him to his arms, and said, "My dear boy, I would rather lose
a thousand trees than have my son a liar."
This little anecdote shows that George Washington, when a boy, was
too brave and noble to tell a lie. He had rather be punished than be
so mean and degraded as to utter a falsehood. He did wrong to cut the
pear-tree, though, perhaps, he did not know the extent of the injury
he was doing. But had he denied that he did it, he would have been a
cowardly and disgraceful liar. His father would have been ashamed of
him, and would never have known when to believe him. If little George
Washington had told a lie then, it is by no means improbable that he
would have gone on from falsehood to falsehood, till every body
would have despised him. And he would thus have become a disgrace to
his parents and friends, instead of a blessing to his country and the
world. No boy, who has one particle of that noble spirit which George
Washington had, will tell a lie. It is one of the most degrading of
sins.
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