The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-05-26

r,s DISCUSSION as to the propriety of cor
al nunishment either in the school or
n.sbod has been carried on for num-
-. ar wears. Ii is but branch of the
p YIN ouestion as to whether penalties of
Ia .r SORT should be inflicted upon the body
"a human being Iy legal or other ac-
s,Sxledged authority, whether in the
army, navy, prison, family or elsewhere.
al while the discussion is going on, it only
needs an observation OF landmarks
W carry the conviction that the
%n,a.tion is gradually settling it.
w Corporal punishment has
s'nneared as a part q, lulita,y and naval
Ssciplne: it has been largely diminished
srS in some cases abolished
ssucgether in penitentiaries, and there
sss been A notable decrease of it in the
srrools. In The family it may be said, as a
, IL. 10 have been slipping down through
tho trades of society until little or none of
Ills left among the most cultivated aud re-
srad class. There are great many very
excellent people who still make use of the
rod hat the fact remains that the most
highly evolved fathers. mothers, guar
Ssns and school-teachers no longer
whip. This may be an affecting
nr,position to some, but it is the stern,
aid and, il may be added, fortunate truth
fthe situation. Corporal punishment is
disappearing in the direction that most so.
rial errors disappear. Like prize-ighting,
lis outlet is through the gateway of the
dregs, though it has a somewhat longer dis.
lance TO travel.
The heart and the head go together in
this movement. The human instincts are
receiving active support from common
sense. What was years ago condemned as
impracticable and visionary is being found
not only to be entirely practicable but con-
/, being accertained that though whip.
ping may produce temporary obedience
Ia the child, its more lasting effect is un-
favorable. 1t is discounting the future. 1t
IS an act of short -sightedness. 1t is trite
saving that brutality brutalizes. and how.
ever guarded and sanctitied by holy resolu-
tons personal chastisement may be, it is
essentially brutal. No amount of prayer
or consideration of the recipients future
good can remove the fact there is a
brutality in powerful person beating
helpless one, and the latter in his heart of
hearts can not help recognizing it as an
outrage. He cannot reason it out, but
the impression is there not to be
eradicated. Society having sanctioned it,
he will get his revenge, when he is able
out of society. To an extent he is bru-
talzed, and if the effect is not overcome by
ahigher mental development than that
possessed by the person who beat HIM, he
will prosecute others when his time come,
and probably with a clear conscience.
1t incucates disregard of the inviolabil-
ity of the human body. Ifa mans house
is his castle, his body is trebly so, and y
child should not be taught to believe other
wise. Moral growth must come through
reflection and rightly disposed energy, and
feelings of resentment can only have re-
tarding effect. There is deeper truth
than is generally recognized in the saying
OF Trumbul;
Noman eer felt the halter draw
With good opinion of the law.
II men or children are to be taught to
have good opinion of the moral law, it
must be by some other means than brut o
force. The ocular schoolmaster who
claimed that if learning could not be got in
to the head any other way Unjust be drive n
up the backbone, WAS fully as logical as
those who assert that morals can be incu l.
Gated by beating. The end to be gained
aud the means are lncongruous. The con-
necti0n between the two in the common
mind is a false one. The mental nature of the
child or Of the man is true to itself and
acts logically-albeit unconsciously and
i revolts at the misappllcation. The true
theory is to lead, not to drive to control
the source of impulse and desires, not to
neglect the source and stand ready with a
club, metaphorlcally speaking, to knock
the latter senseless when they move out of
the ruts. As the mental system of the
child is abused by the old systems of in
struction which compel the tedious learn
lng OF things by rote, instead ofilluminating
the philosophy of the subject to the strug-
cling little intellect and delighting it
thereby, so is the moral nature abused by
endeayoring to nourish it by blows,
II a child is too bad to stay in school
better send it home than whip it. A blow
Is an action of wrath, however disguised
and like begets like. Every seed brinselh
iorth af.er its own nature. Old Izaak
walton told the angler to take his fish out
Of the water as if he loved it, but the fish
with the hook in its mouth scarcely ap
preclaled the force of such love- To exhor
chastiser to beat firmly but lovingly is
adVice OF similar character. BY some il
may appear that the practical difficulties il
!he way OF abolishing corporal punishment
IN schools and households are insepera
pie but this impression comes from fore,
Oh haolt and from not seeing into thing!
quite as far as others do. If it is pointed
OUT that certain children can be controlled
IN no other way, in nine cases out Of ten /
VIII be found that the children never had ,
ialr chance,an in the other cases that ther,
is mental defect which indicates restrain
rather than punishment. The matter il
nol TO be confined to narrow-minded dis
cusslon. 1t is to be viewed on broat
grounds, and in whatever way local ant
temporary deliberations may result, tn,
proofs are unmistakable that the time i
approaching when the rod will take it
place beside the thumb.screw, from which
Twill be adjudged to differ in degree, no
IN kind.-[Glohe. Democrat