Truth at Home by Harriet Martineau

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 17, 1863

Truth at Home.

By Harriet Martineau

Of all the happy households, that is the happiest where falsehood is never thought of. All peace is broken up when once it appears that there is a liar in a house. All comfort has gone when suspicion has once entered—when there must be reserve in talk and reservation in belief. Anxious parents, who are aware of the pains of suspicion, will place general confidence in their children, and receive what they say freely, unless there is reason to distrust the truth of any one. If such an occasion should unhappily arise, they must keep the suspicion from spreading as long as posible, and avoid disgracing their poor child while there is a chance of its cure by their confidential assistance. He should have their pity and assiduous help, as if he were suffering under some disgusting bodily disorder. If he can be cured, he will become duly grateful for the treatment. If the endeavor fails, means must of course be taken to prevent his example from doing harm; and then, as I said, the family peace is broken up, because the family confidence is gone. I fear that from some cause or another there are but few large families where every member is altogether truthful. But where all are so organized and so trained as to be wholly reliable in act and word, they are a light to all eyes, and a joy to all hearts. They are public benefits, for they are a point of general reliance; and they are privately blessed within and without. Without, their life is made easy by universal trust; and within their homes and their hearts, they have the security of rectitude, and gladness of innocence.—Harriet Martineau.