The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1869-12-01
The Rod and the Child.
BY T.. NJ. S.
lFrom the N. @, Times.l

g [From the N. o. Times.l
"Spare the rod, and spoil the child.
! Pithy sentence to be doubtfullv deal
1 with.
! The rod and the heavy, brutal hand
; that will not pause even to seize tina
instrument of infantile tortue, have
spoiled more children than they have
spared.
How cowardly, as well as cruel, i.
the man or. woman who ruthlessly
beatsa little, helpless child! a =
Z In tile humber walks of life, and-tc
their shame be it spoken!-even among
+ the educated middle classes, childhood
and infancy are too often governed
only by the fierce objurgation that
startles the innocent ear, and tho heavy
savage blow that bruises the soft flesh
1t is not reason that prompts an
adult to beat child; it is exasperated
teniper-it is tosgive vent to the pas
sion of tile man or woman whom the
poor child may have willingly or un-
Willingly provoked.
We were told once of q Catholic
priest whose wise rule it was to forbid
for II time that man or woman to an
pr"ach the sacrament who confessed to
having manna.ly corrected IL child on
the impulse of their own anger.
| Nothing could be more admirable
than the restraint imposed on his pen
itents by this priest. He bade them, if
a child offended, not to administer cor
poraf punishment for an hour at least
when their own anger would be cooled.
Savage indeed as is the instinct
which prompts violence to little crea-
ture incapable of defending itself, we
doubt whether the number of young
children who shrink and shrek and
COVER under tle savage blows of faith
er and mother wonld not be greatly
reduced if those fathers and mothers
could be brought to observe the rule of
this good priest. as1.
In these Wanted days of progress,
when orphanages and reformatories
are being raised throughout the land
might we not look for a little reform in
the old blind and brutal rule of the
domestic circle? Ni-ttf
"a How little of love, and how much of
fierce coercion has been known by the
wretched children for whom the re-
fbrnlatories are erected! GFhfi +
Isit not n fact we'll known as it is
horrible, that there are demons in hui
man form-men and women we will
not call them--wlo bring up their chill
dren to the trade of beggars, and saw
agely beat them if they do not bring
home money enough, not to purchase
food for their own poor little empty
stomachs, but to buy strong drink for
the miscreant parent 5f ltF'tA-. r
How much not only of material for
the reformatory bnt of grown-up wick
ednessL results from the blows shower
ed on little children! ....,. ...--t-..
Doyon suppose that the heart of the
poor little bruised creature does not
swell with Indignation as the stick or
clenched fist of the parent desccnds9
Rage, malice, cruelty, decet-all
are taught by it's swollen and lacerated
flesh.
Smooth, well-bred, we'll to do sOcie-
ty is by no means aware how large
portion of infant humanity is taught
with evil words and fed with blows.
If the boy is father to the man, what
manner of man will grow out of the un
mercifully beaten boy?
The child, brutalizcd by blows, will
avenge himself on a yet younger and
more feeble child-not improbabiy,
when he is strong enough to rise up
against the fierce parent. ..s g.1
Ill-usage of animals, wife beating,
murder itself, are results of the crsel-
ty of which in the poorer localities the
children are both the witnesses and
victims.
We do not exaggerate not only the
fathers but the mothers of the humber
classes seem with only a few praise
worthy exceptions, to recognize no
other mode of governing their children
than blows and terror.
we might fill volume with instan-
ces of parental cruelty which we have
ourselves witnessed. Any person of
common observation might do the same
they are of daily and hourly occur
renee.
A poor little creature, scarce three
years old, was seen but the other day
'shrieking in agonies of terror at the
door of public house. 1t had been
sent to buy beer, and had fallen down
and broken the jar. - @
What manner of mother must this |
have been to send such a mere infant
on such an errand ? and what must her
customary usage Of it have been that it
should fear being terribly beaten be-
cause it had accidentally broken an
earthenwarejug4 itf.as tZaa
Not fortnight ago, a woman, keep
ing chandler's shop in n tolerably
respectable street, beat a boy of seven
years old so savagely that the neigh
bors interferred when she impudently
told them that she had right to beat
her own son as much as she pleased.
A few nights afterwards she chas-
tised an infant girl with equal severity,
and the boy, hardened by his own suf-
ferings, was heard to exult in those of
his little sister. h.a -4.s--s1
This woman is slatternly virago,
with scowling brow and unkept locks.
But alas! such unmotherly and unwo-
manly outrage is not confined to her
class. Through an open window in
respectable street, the writer few
nights since heard mothers savage
blows descend and a child's pitcous
cries Tor mercy. ,.-..t-,..s
Oh! that the hnmanitarians and
teachers of the people would try and
enforce the law of love, and show its
potency in the domestic circle.
Prevention is better than cure if
there were fewer brutal parents there
would be fewer vicious children.
Filial obligations is no doubt very