The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-11-07
Corporal Punishment.

DR.. Morrill, WynaD, of Cambridge,
who was very active in denouucing the
recent use of girl whipping in that
city, says the Mail, has published a
pamphlet setting forth the moral and
physical reasons why corporal punish
ment should not be inflicted upon girls
with great clearness and force. He
says; Why should not girls be treated
like boysi Because girls are not boys,
Every parent having children of both
sexes knows that they have moral char,
acteristico which at once distin-
guish them before they arrive at
the school age. They are weak
er in body and moro sensitive in
feeling, and are more occupied with
the impression they make npon others
long before they know its value. That
delicate sense of propriety which dis
tinguishes the woman, has already its
germs in the girl, they seem to know,
instinctively, that they cannot rely
upon physical strength, and as instinc-
lively cling to others for support and
protection. They are gentle, docile.
confiding and afiectionate. They ex-
hibit these gentler qualities at home
and in schools in thousand ways;
they hasten to meet their teacher as she
approaches in the morning; they run
by her side, they seize her hand and
evince their affection by kisses Oh her
cheek, and roses upon her desk. The
skillful and faithful teacher takes ad-
vantage of these qualities, especially OF
their dOcility, and so moulds them that
corporal punishment is not only unne-
cessary, but it is cruelty.
Physically, she is different and to this
would most earnestly beg your atten-
tion. Her blood corpuscles are smaller,
her nervous system is of more delicate
structure, her brain is lighter, and her
muscles smaller; she is made for quick
ness and vivacity, but not for strength
and endurance. The same reasons which
prevent her from sharing the rougher
games and plays of the boys would pre-
tect her from suffering the harsher pun
ishment of boys. She is more sensitive
to internal emotions and external sensa-
IlUuS, anu dSoClly NllhouV Va NSH
tradiction, that no physician can sarely
be trusted to advise for the preservation
of health, or its restoration, whe dis
regards even in the child the distinction
of sex. The most eventful period of her
physiological life is spent in schools.
During this period there is not unfre-
quentiy mental uneasiness, irritability
and depression, easily mistaken for pet
ulance and defiance by the unwise, and
greatly fear, has sometimes produced
punishment for that which she is an
swerable to her God alone.
With a rapidity of development un-
known lin the other sex, she becomes a
woman, with all a woman's refined SEN
sibilities, hopes and fears. She now in
stinctively knows that upon the good
impression she makes upon others are
based her hopes for the future. II her
physical organization is sensitive her
spiritual organization is doubly sensl-
tive, and it is this that makes har what
she is. 1t is in vain to count the num-
bers and weigh the severity ofthe blows
upon her person, and note the hours
that elapse before their marks disap-
pear. Her spirit is wounded; she is
disgraced and degraded; years may not
efface the consequences. 1t is this that
stirs the sensibilities and brings down
the censure of the civilized world, and
from none is the censure moro severe
than from the cultivated woman.
Strike not a woman, not even with a
feather, is the motto of civilization,
and it is i'll accordance with the spirit
of Christianity also.