Morris tribune., 1882-08-10
A Theory ON Spanking.

An eastern exchange, edited by an old
maid says:
"Never whip children just before
hther's caress, the mothers kiss, be the
fast link between the days pain or
pleasure and the nights sleep. Send
Ihe children to bed happy. II there is
sorrow, punishment or disgrace, let
them meet it in the daytime, and have
hours Of play and thought in which to
recover happiness. Let the weary feet,
the busy brain, rest in bed happy"
That's all right, of course, to some ex-
tent We used to talk that way before
we were parent. We knew good
deal more about children anyhow before
we had to grapple with them than we do
now. We used to be greater stickler
for moral suasion and love and parental
gush than we are now.
Our theory now in relation to children
is changed from what it was formerly.
We maintain now, after several years
study of the primary biped, that there
is style of child that cannot go to sleep
at night unless spanked.
We have in our mind o little child OF
the masculine style Of architecture, who
will lie and sob, and kick the clothes of
and be mean and restless for two hours
if you forget about him, but if you go
and turn down the coverlid and fan his
person with an overshoe he will quiet
down and be asleep in five minutes.
He is not to blame for being the victim
to his habit, but he is that way, and he
can't help it. He is tied to his spank
just as you, gentle reader, are tied to
maturer habits.
Strange freaks do often grow into
confirmed habits that are almost i'm
possible to shake of. Children are
often the victims of strange and un-
natural customs like older people.
This child, for instance. did not at
first apparently care whether he had his
spanking at 8 p. m. or earlier, but
later he was so regular in his demand
for corporal punishment that you could
set your watch by him. He was also
so attached to certain style Of arctic
overshoe that you couldn't accomplish
anything by padding him with any
other style of enlistment. Love is
good thing, and we often wish that
more of it had been lavished on us dur
ing our past life, but after all there are
children who do not yearn for affection
half as much as they do for armed
aggression. Of course your conscience
smites you at intervals when you go past
the little bed after the conflict is over
and peace and slumber are the victors.
Something may come up in your throat
when you see the little rebel lying with
his feet on the pillow and his head down
at the foot of the cot, and little tear
on his eye-lashes. You feel, perhaps,
as though it looked like taking an un-
due advantage for 2O0-pound man to
catch six-year old boy when he is un-
prepared, and paddle him with an over
shoe, and yet sometimes it has to be
done.
We know that in our own case cor
poral punishment was resorted to while
all the other boys in the family escaped
with moral suasion. The result is just
what might have been expected. We
are the only one of all that promising
collection of boys whose promissorY
notes have gained worldwide ciroul-
alton to-day. While the other boys
we're contented to plod along and run up
little petty accounts at the store, we
struck out boldly toward fame and in
solvency.
You can encourage a child with the
press board sometimes and thus give
him an impetus which will aid him all
through life.