supplement what he actually saw with what he feels _must_ have
been a part of the incident. Defects of judgment as well as
delusions of the senses or lapses of memory may lead to
misstatements that are not really lies. Some delusions of the
senses, especially of sight and of hearing, undoubtedly have a
physical cause.

Another source of comparatively harmless lying is the instinct for
secretiveness. Children just love to have secrets, and if there are
none on hand, they have to be invented. A child will tell another a
secret on condition that it be kept a secret; but when the secret is
told it turns out to be a falsehood--perhaps even something
libellous. Now, the child cannot feel that he has done anything
wicked, for to his mind the big thing is that Nellie promised not to
tell, and she broke her promise! If she had not broken her promise
to keep the secret, it never would have come out, and no harm would
have been done. Perhaps we have not yet sufficiently driven secrets
from our common life to demand that the children shall be without
secrets. When we set the children an example of perfect frankness
and open dealing in all matters, we may perhaps be in a position to
discourage the invention of secrets by the young people.
Secretiveness leads naturally to deceit; but it is not in itself
serious enough to make much ado about. Healthy children in healthful
social surroundings will outgrow this instinct; where the atmosphere
is charged with intrigue and scheming and dissimulation, this
instinct may survive longer, but its manifestation is in itself not
a trait that should give its concern.

Some children lie because they are inclined to brag or show off;
others for just the opposite reason--they are too sensitive or