The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1857-01-31
Fear as a Mode or Punishment for
Children. ..t

Fear as a Mode or Punishment for Y
Children. 7.1s-a
4 case recently occurred at Troy, in tn,
State Of New York, wherein teacher, by
attempting to place a young girl in darl
room, as mode of punishment, so frighten
cd his pupil that she was attacked with sick
ness. aud her mind was thereby seriously
affected. Such cases arc of more frequent
occurrence than people generally believe
In many schools. t more than dozen
years ago, 1T was quite common occur.
renee to send children, who had misbehaved,
into dark cellar, and to keep them ther,
during the interval between the forenoon
and afternoon schools. To every child of a
sensitive nature this was the most cruel and
unwise punishment that could be devised
Those who really deserve punishment the
most, are, on the contrary, comparatively
little affected by being shut up in the dark
They have outgrown the nursery tales
which represented darkness as the abode OF
evil spirits Of every kind, and consequently
that mode Of punishment is OF no avail fol
ailyviciOus children.
We have never looked upon that side o.
the teacher which represents the castigator
with much degree of favor We know thai
IN every school, there are pupils who fire.
queDtly deserve some sort Of punishment
but if the ability of the teacher is generally
in the inverse ratio to. the frequency Of his
punishnents. Corporeal punishments are
bad enough, especially when arbitrarily or
injudiciously inflicted; but, properly ad-
ministered, they may be tolerated, particu-
larly when very seldom inflicted upon the
same individual. Bu. when a master fiogs
boy day after day, for month. as we
have seen it done during our school days,
that master is entirely unfit for his vocation.
After two or three Intellectual attempts with
the ferale or rod, he ought to discover that
such means are not adapted to produce sub
ordination in the boy. and he ought there
after, to adopt some other measures to at
tain the desired end.
Still corporal punishment, even when in
judicous, is better than appealing to the
fears of children, by threatening to shut
them up in dark places. To those who in
their infantile years have been unwisely sub
ectcd to the goblin tales of the attendants
Of the nursery, such threats may affect, if
not overthrow the reason. Such mode of
punishment should never be tolerated, for a
moment, ih any Of our institutions of learn
in-.
And moreover, If parents knew the mode
which nurses and nursery maids frequently
take 10 quiet children. we opine that there
would he some little commotion in the in
fantile Kingdom. There are many Children
whom the mother can DO nothing to quiet,
but who are perfectly still when under the
care of Hursc, favori;e nursery maid.
When the difference is not to be explained
bv the administration of 4 narcotic, il will
generally be found that the infant, as soon
as il can comprehend, is frightened 10y sio-
rics of direfu dangers connected with dark
ncss.-The child greedily listens to such
stories, and, its fears excited, il obeys those
who appeal to its fears. when persuasion
will have little or no effect upon it. But
this stiffness is attained at the expense Of
the reason, and it lays the foundation Of
nervousness and irritability which in after
life ruins the character.
Upon children who have been thus trcat-
ed in their infancy, threats of being shut up
in dark rooms daring thor adolescence have
a most scrioue effect. Better, far better,
knock such c.Aldren in the head than to SUBJ
Iect their impaired system to such shock.
\ I'D upon those whose nervous systems are
sound, and who have not been Taught to as
sociate darkness with everything evil, this
mode of punishment is alto ogethcr abortive.
Let it therefore be abandoned, wherever
practiccd. 1t is always certificate of the
iolly Of a parent or teacher, and is disgrace
% the age in Which we live.-EJstoA Herald
WHAT CHEMISTRY MiGnr Do.-The trans
formations Of chemistry, by which we are
enabled to convert the most apparently use
ess materials into important objects in the
arts, are opening to US every day sources Of
wealth and convenience, of which former
ages had no idea, and which have been pure
gifts of science to man. What strange and
unexpected results have not this science
brought to light in its application to some of
the most common objects? Who, for in
stance, could have conceived that linen gs
were capable Of producing more than their
own weight in sugar, by the single agency
Of one Of the cheapest and most abundant
acids, (the snlphuricy:-.hat dry bones
could be magazine OF nutrimcnt, capable
of preservation for years, and ready to yield
up Their sustenance in the form best adapted
% the support Of life, on the application of
hat powerful agent, steam, which enters so
argely into all our processes, or, of an acid
It once cheap and durable?-that sawdust
tself is susceptible of conversion into a
substances bealins no remote analogy to
bread; and though certainly less palatable
han that of flour, yet no way dis,greeable,
md both wholesome and digestible as well
IS highly nutritive? What economy, in all
processes where chemical agents are en-
,loyed, is introduced by the exact knowl
.dge Of the proportions in which natural
clements unite, and their mutual powers of
displaying each ether, What perfection in
III the arts where fire is employed, even in
is more violent application, (as, for instance,
n the smelling of metals by the introduc
ion OF well-adapted fiues, whereby we OBJ
ain the whole produce of the orc in its
,urcst state1 or in its milder forms, as in
uSar-refining, the whole modern practice of
which depends on curious and delicate re-
mark of late eminent scientific chemist. on
he nice adjustment of temperature, at
which the crystanisation Of syrup takes
lace; and a thousand other arts which it
would be tedious to enumerate We quot,
hese luminous facts from Sir john Herr
chefs Discourse upon the study of Natural
slro1 4a a.ss1q srI
:xract from Letter from the Con,ignees ship Nep
tunes Car, in San Francisco, to her Owners. ya #
"A HEEoINE-The ship Neptune's Car, ar
lived Nov. 18th. Fifty days ago, Capt. Pat
en- was attacked with the brain fever, and
or the last twenty five days he has been
blind. Previous to his illness he had put
he first mate off duty, on account of his. In
Afterwards, the second mate
ook charge Of tho ship, but as he did not
understand navigation, the captains wife
worked up the reckoning every day and
brought the ship safely into port. q The first
nate wrote Mrs. Patten a letter, reminding
,er of the dangers of the coast and the great
She had assumed, and offered
o take charge of the ship, but she stood by
he.judsment Of her husband, and declined
he offer. During all this time she acted as
Nurse to the captain; studied medicine, to
earn how to treat his case; shaved his head,
md by. her constant care and watchfuluess
cent him alive She said that for fifty