Mexico weekly ledger., 1882-06-22
A Theory on Spanking.
An Eastern exchange, edited by an

R1A.a A<esseSih S-ASiiaais,Gt CeteSo pt III
old maid, says:
''Never whip children just before
they retire to rest. Let the father.
caress, the mothers kiss be the linl
between the days pain or pleasure
and the nights sleep. Send the chill
dren to bed happy. If there is sor
SOW, punishment or disgrace, let then
meet In the daytime, and have hours
Of play and thought in which to recovl
happiness. Let the weary feet, the
busy brain, rest in bed happy"
That's all right, of course, to some
extent. We used to talk that way
before we were parent. We knew
a good deal more about children any.
how before We had to grapple with
them than we do now. We used to
be great stiekler for moral suasion
and love and parental gush than we
are now. .ft s
/ Our theory now in relation to chill
dren is changed from what it was
formerly. We maintain now, after
several years. study Of the primary
biped, that there is a style of child
that cannot go to sleep at night un-
less spanked. 5--=
We have in our mind little child
of the masculine style of architecture,
who will lie and sob, and kick the
clothes off 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 all
overshoe he will quiet down and be
asleep in five minutes.
He is not to blame for being the
victim to this 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 your maturer habits.
Strange freaks do often grow into
confirmed habits that are almost i'm
possible to shake off. Children are
often the victims of strange and un-
natural customs like older people.
This child, for instance, did not al
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
you could set your watch by him
He was also attached to a Ger
tain kind of artic overshoe thai
you couldn't accomplish anything by
padding him with any other style Of
chastisement. Love is good thing
and we often wish that more of it hat
been lavished on us during our pas
life, but after all there are children
who do not yearn for affection hal
as much as they do for armed aggres
sion. OF course your conscience
snites you at intervals when you g
past the little bed after the conflict il
over and peace and slumber are tn
victors. Something may come up il
your throat when you see the littl
rebel lying with his feet on the pillow
and his his head down at the foot o
the cot, and a little tear on his eye
lashes. You feel, perhaps, as thougl
it looked like taking an undue advant
age for a 2O0-pound man to catch
5-year old boy when he is unprepare'
and paddle with an overshoe, ant
yet sometimes it has to be done.
We know that in our own cas-
corporal punishment was resorted t
while all the other boys in the famil.
escaped with moral suasion. Th
result is just what might have bee
expected. We are the only one @
that promising collection of boy
whose promissory notes have game
a worldwide circulation to-day
While the other boys were contente
to plod along and run up little petit
accounts at the store, we struck OF
boldly toward fame and insolvency
You can encourage a child with
press-board sometimes and thus Civ
him an impetus which vii! aid hil
through his life.-BM Nye.