VERACITY. 197 



It will not do to say that we all know that it is wrong to lie, and 

 right to speak the truth, and that there the whole matter ends. For 

 we shall discover, if I mistake not, that in the rediscussion even of 

 a topic so old and apparently threadbare as this we shall come upon 

 some points of theoretical and practical importance which, if not 

 altogether new, may derive an element of novelty from restatement, 

 and which at any rate will be found to furnish food for thought. 



What, then, do we mean by veracity? In nine cases out of ten 

 the answer given would be : By veracity we mean simply telling the 

 truth ; or, in other words, the making of such statements only as we 

 believe to accord with facts. !N^ow, this rough definition gives what 

 we may describe as the solid substratum or foundation principle of 

 veracity, though it is, in common affairs, rarely pressed to its full 

 meaning. Hence we may accept it as far as it goes. Veracity will 

 always signify, on the positive side, telling the truth; and on the 

 negative, the avoidance of statements not in harmony with facts. 

 But, ethically considered, while it denotes all this, it also connotes a 

 good deal more than this; and some of its more important implica- 

 tions call for distinct formulation. 



The complete conception of truthfulness, then, must in the first 

 place be taken to embrace, not only the habit of saying that the thing 

 which is so is so, but also constant care in conveying at all times the 

 correct impression in regard to facts, and that impression only. That 

 in every kind of prevarication, dissembling, and evasion we fall 

 short of strict veracity, even when no directly false statement is 

 made, is a commonly accepted principle ; and in current parlance we 

 condemn also as immoral the silence which leaves another in igno- 

 rance or with a distorted notion of reality, when we are in a position 

 to set him right. But it is not so generally recognized that overcolor- 

 ing of any sort, introduced for any purpose, exaggeration, the trick 

 of extravagant epithets, the indiscriminate use of expletives, are to be 

 adjudged as untruthful. How difficult it is to keep the straight line 

 in these matters every one knows who has had occasion to tell a num- 

 ber of times over the story of any adventure or curious experience. 

 Before long the magnifying tendency is almost certain to show itself; 

 the adjectives grow a trifle stronger, the language a shade more pro- 

 nounced ; and unconsciously we presently begin to mold our material 

 with an eye not upon accuracy, but upon effect. Then, after a while, 

 like the redoubtable Tartarin de Tarascon, we lose sight of the plain 

 and simple facts, and take our own more or less imaginative version 

 of the story as correct in outline and color, thus deceiving ourselves. 



Our common carelessness in ordinary conversation is revealed 

 by the random employment of superlatives, characteristic of all of 

 us, but of women perhaps more than of men; the highly charged 



