North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1868-05-27

Child Punt shment.
We do not always like Mr.. Beecher's
sentiments but we confess to an admira-
ton of his style. He always writes and
speaks in such human.weakness, easy,
on-chalant, don't-eare-a.ccnt way about
matters that pertain to practical life that
we cannot refuse him tho respect due to
talent and smooth sauciness. We clip from
the Ledger an amusing article on the pun
ishment of children. Let us 20 back to
childhood and recall the nonsense of pinch
ing, slapping, hair-pulling, starving, ear
jerking, jailing and all the other ills which
juvinile flesh is heir to and remember to
respect our mothers. ii. Ward writes tbs
photograph Of early life to the letter and
! wisely comments thereon.
Among the tender recollections Of child
hood, none have more permanently estab-
lished themselves than the memory of
whippings. ! do not allude to such drub-
bings as one boy gives to another; nor to
the tlageliations of the school master nor
to the rough and tumble ehastisement oc.
casionally administered by the hired mer
but to the household disc pline, the whole
some manifestations Of parental moral GOV
ernment There were punishments mas
cullne and feminine, acute and chronic, in
series or sum totals. Very seldom did q
woman's hand WELD q genuine switch,
There was generous titiation in fresh
cut branch from hazel brush, or ounce,
which seasoned the whole day, and gave d
robust activity to the conscience, and so
suddenly, too, that it seemed more like the
development Of new faculty than the
arousing Of an old one. This was almost
wholly masculine.
Feminine punshnents consisted in 60
ing to bed without supper, or shearine off,
rom dinner the pie or slice Of pudding,
or the inHiction of a diet OF bread and
water; or for hcinous offences, the entire
cutting off Of supplies, and the imprison-
nent of the culprit in suppcrlcss bed.
The numberless petty ollenses which
flew up in our boyhood-path like dust, or
those jets of temper which pulled out like
smoke from an ill-ceansed chimney, were
treated with extemporized punishments-
Sometimes the head was smartly snapped,
or raped with a thimble, or the ears re-
| ceived sudden box, sounding nearly as
loud as a crack of thunder; and these
amusing little reminders Of duty or of sin
were varied by twitch of the hair, or a
pull of the ears, or a shake from the shoul-
ders which set all the teeth chattering
like an aguc. Even n smart pinch has its
virtues in feminine discipline. Some forms
of sin were met with one treatment, and
some with another; though on what prin-
ciple the remedy was selected | never
could guess. For what particular sins are
dark closets beneficial? Is there any vir-
tue in the hand as rubefacient, over
stick employed as a counter-irritant p
Which Of all the evils of a boys heart is
best managed by tying him to q chair or
bed-post?
.. Long as punishment has been in vogue,
we doubt whether it has eyer been studied
| phiosophically. 1t is yet an empire art,
but not Il science. Young parents have to
fnd their own way to its performance,
! lighted only by dim recollection Of their
own passive experience.
Do children, in general, need as much
punishment as our fathers seem to think?
admit, that some children need more, do
not the greater number need less? Is not
the rod a cheap substitute for parental
skill? There oaght to be statistical table
formed, with the following heads: Unuhip-
ped children, Whipped a HHt, Whipped
fully, Whipped q great deal. Then we
could form judgment of the benefits &C.
cruing. Are our most virtuous men to be
found in the first or the last class
We would not be understood as repro
batting corporeal punishment. Grateful
for our own youthful enjoyment Of such 4
means of grace, We advocate Il due meas
ure Of it But not upon all some child
rem are better without it. Whipping
should not become common and vulgar. 1t
should be served up in a striking man
ner, SO as to fire the ina gination, while it
stirs up the flesh. Only for grave offences,
for bestial sins, for brutal conduct, for
most dishonorable and mean offences,
should it be employed.
1t is Il sin and shame to slap and punch,
rap and snap for every peccadlllo. Shall
4 child be uncovered for breaking plate,
for tearing his clothes, for moments
temper. for shirking some disagreeablo
work, for running Off a skating, for play
ing truant on the dazzlingest afternoon of
the year, when the militia are parading
and the drums beating. and the whole air
full of the very delrum Of temptation?
We should not venture any advice en-
this matter, which after ALL must he set
tied in every house for itsslf. But; if we
should ever venture to express ourselves,
we think it would be in about this wise
Govern by rational and moral motives,
and govern yourself first use the rod
rarely, but when you take it, make jubi-
lee of it, S, that such an elect hour will
stand up like monument in the ehilIs
memory and never use it except as a
kindof exorcism to expel some animal
demon.