nurse. All of which was unnecessary, as Willie wasn't sick; I had been
lying myself. But that same day, all the same, she sent a line to the
hospital which filled up the neglected blank, and stated the _facts,_
too, in the squarest possible manner.

Now, you see, this lady's fault was _not_ in lying, but in lying
injudiciously. She should have told the truth, _there,_ and made it up
to the nurse with a fraudulent compliment further along in the paper.
She could have said, "In one respect this sick-nurse is perfection--when
she is on the watch, she never snores." Almost any little pleasant lie
would have taken the sting out of that troublesome but necessary
expression of the truth.

Lying is universal--we _all_ do it. Therefore, the wise thing is for us
diligently to train ourselves to lie thoughtfully, judiciously; to lie
with a good object, and not an evil one; to lie for others' advantage,
and not our own; to lie healingly, charitably, humanely, not cruelly,
hurtfully, maliciously; to lie gracefully and graciously, not awkwardly
and clumsily; to lie firmly, frankly, squarely, with head erect, not
haltingly, tortuously, with pusillanimous mien, as being ashamed of our
high calling. Then shall we be rid of the rank and pestilent truth that
is rotting the land; then shall we be great and good and beautiful, and
worthy dwellers in a world where even benign Nature habitually lies,
except when she promises execrable weather. Then--But am I but a new and
feeble student in this gracious art; I cannot instruct _this_ club.

Joking aside, I think there is much need of wise examination into what
sorts of lies are best and wholesomest to be indulged, seeing we _must_
all lie and we _do_ all lie, and what sorts it may be best to avoid--and
this is a thing which I feel I can confidently put into the hands of