The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-10-22
Mark Twain on Child Government.

fOr WnlpplngS are not given IN our
house for revenge; they are not given
for spite, nor even in anger; they are
given partly for punishment, but mainly
by way of impressive reminder, and
protection against repetition of the
offense. The interval between the
promise of whipping and its infection
Is usually an hour or two. By that
time both parties are calm, and the one
is judicial, the other receptive. The
child never goes from the scene of pun
ishment until it has been loved back
into happy-heartedness aud q joyful
spirit. The spanking is never cruel
one, but it is always an honest one. 1t
hurts. If it hurts the child, imagine
how it must hurt the mother. Her
spirit is serene, tranquil. She has not
the support which is afforded by anger.
Every blow she strikes the child bruises
her own heart. The mother of my
children adores them there is no
milder term for it-and they worship
her. They even worship anything
which the touch of her hand has made
sacred. They know her for the best
and truest friend they have ever had or
ever shall have; they know her for one
who never did them a wrong, and can
not do them wrong, who never
told them a lie nor the shadow of
one; who never deceived them by
even an ambiguous gesture; who
never gave them an unreasonable
command, nor ever contented herself
with anything short of perfect obedi-
ence; who has always treated them as
politely and considerably as she would
the best and oldest of the land, and has
always required of them gentle speech
and courteous conduct toward all, of
whatsoever degree, with whom they
CHANGED to come in contact; they know
her for one whose promise, whether of
reward or punishment, is gold, and al
ways worth its face, to the utmost farth-
ing. In a word, they know her, and 1
know her, for the best and dearest
mother that lives-and by long, long
way the wisest.
You perceive that / have never got
down to where the mother In the tale
really asks her question. For the rea-
son that / cannot realize the situation.
The spectacle of that treacherously
reared boy, and that wordy, namby-
PANTY father, and that weak, namby-
PANTY mother, is enough to make one
ashamed of his species. And If could
cry, l would cry for the fate of that
poor little boy-a fate which has cruelty
placed him in the hands, and at the
mercy of pair of grown up children,
to have his opposition ruined, to come
up ungoverned, and be a nuisance to
himself and everybody about him, in
the process, instead of being the solacer
of care, the dissemination of happiness,
the glory and honor and Joy of the
house, the welcomest face in all the
world to them that gave him being-as
he ought to be. and would be, but for
the hard fortune that flung him into the
clutches of these palterlng incapables.
In all my life have never made a
single reference to my wife in print be-
fore, as far as can remember, except
once in the dedication of book; and,
so, after these fifteen years of silence,
perhaps 1 may unseal my lips this one
time without improperly or indelicacy.
/ will institute one other novelty / will
send this manuscript to the press with
out her knowledge, and Without asking
her to edit it. This will save it from
getting edited in the stove. Mark
Train, IN the Christian Union.