t
the side of the berth.

"I do not regard his statements as lies in any proper sense of the word,
Dr. Connelly," replied Christy with considerable spirit. "I have had
occasion to deceive the enemy on several occasions; and nearly two years
ago I looked up the morality of lying on the field of battle and its
surroundings. I think my father is as good a Christian man as draws the
breath of life, and I found that I simply held to his opinions."

"Your father is good authority," added the surgeon.

"I studied history a little in relation to this subject, for I wanted
to know whether any lies I might tell in serving my country were to
be registered against me. I know that I would not tell a lie in the
ordinary relations of life; but I am sure that I should have been a
traitor to the Union if I had told the enemy the simple truth on several
occasions. I captured a schooner loaded with cotton by pretending to be
what I was not. If it is justifiable to kill a man in war, it must be
justifiable to tell a lie to the enemy."

"I think you are right, Mr. Passford. You spoke of history."

"George Washington is regarded as one who could not tell a lie from the
time the little hatchet story had birth to the end of the Revolution. We
read that he strongly impressed Clinton with the belief that he intended
to attack New York; and the school history says that this deception was
so successfully practised, that Washington was some distance on his way
to Virginia before Clinton suspected where he was leading his army.

"Bancroft says that Clinton was deceived by letters which were written
to be intercepted. The books say that Washington used every art in his
power to deceive Clinton. He wrote letters containing the barefaced
lie that he intended to attack New York when he intended to attack
Cornwallis. It was not a mere white lie, for he intended to deceive. We
don't regard Washington as a liar, and he was not a liar in any proper
sense of the word. All the high-toned generals on both sides in the
present war do not hesitate to deceive the enemy, for it is a part of
their duty to do so. In my judgment, a lie that is acted is the same as
a spoken lie."

"You are a moral philosopher, Mr. Passford," said the surgeon, laughing
at the earnestness of the speaker.

"Hardly, doctor; I looked up the subject for my own benefit. I simply
mean to say that I do not consider my cousin a liar," replied Christy,
who was an earnest debater when he