The Washington times., 1894-04-01
will have to keep him scared all the time to
keep him In It. Lead him to It.,

est man you know 1t is q good thing for your
boy. You may find something good for your
self while you are teaching him. Talk to him
about these things naturally. as you talk
about ANYTHING eise-his studies, his plays,
his companions. 1t isn't always well to ap-
point a set hour and place, calling him into
your room with q countenance Of such awful,
woe-begone solemnity and q voice so sepul-
chral in its hollow intonation that the boys
first chilling fear Is that his mother has fallen
down dead, and his second thar he is going
to get most terrific thrashing for some OF
his many misdeeds, and he is so frightened
that he can't think which one. Take him
into your confidence; tell him Of your own
early aspirations, and fears, and hopes; your
first thoughts upon religious questions; talk
to him about your experience" SO
that he can understand 1t without any Of the
half-intelligible cant Of the average "experi-
ence meeting" in phrases which convey
nothing to the boy, and which too often he
thinks he is expected to initiate II he wants to
"get religion" The best and sweetest re-
hgious teaching the boy gets is at his mothers
knee. She lays the foundation for the build
ing OF pure and noble character in the sweet
old Bible stories, the tender psalms, the low
ing words of the Saviour, the exalting. up
lifting sentiments OF the epistles, and the sub
lime strains of the old prophets The pastor
might shake his head doubtfully at her exc
gesis sometimes, but her teaching is tender
and loving and pure, and goes right to the
heart of the child, and is the beginning Of his
religious life.
Many men talk to their boys about religion
you know they do-as though they were
half ashamed OF it, and heave a sigh Of relief
when the topic is exhausted, or rather dies of
inanition, and the conversation, turning into
lighter, frivolous channel, ripples along
with all of the gayety OF the chatter and gos-
sip in the rear carriage on the return from
funeral. This great question of your boys
religious life should be discussed as freely.
and frequently, and frankly as the matter Of
his selection Of a profession or business. And
man, be sure of this. once your boy takes you
into the fullest confidence of his religious
life, tells you his temptations, his weaknesses,
what he is striving for and what he is fighting
against, bares his heart and his life to you
almost as he opens it to God, you have hold
upon him, knowledge and power to help
him that nothing else in the world can give
you. You know him then. How many men
knew their boys as well as strangers know
them? How many things vitality important
in his physical and moral life does boy
learn with brutal coarseness from vile men
that he should have been taught with tender
and careful wisdom by his father? What do
you know about your boy? What do you
know Of the temptations which beset him, the
temptations which are far greater and far
more seductive than those Of your own young
days?
1.-THE question of punishment-how best
effected?" Well--if the patient reader will
pardon the unseemly intrusion of the capital
Il" right here-I should say, looking ar the
question from my own point of view, that
very often it is best effected by omitting it.
Bear in mind, this is the view of man who
has known in his life very intimately in close,
complete confidence but two boys, himself and
his own boy. And he doesn't believe in the rod
at all. Beating isn't very good for horses;
the best and most successful trainers use the
whip very little or not at all, and it isn't
bit good for children. Boys must be punished
women have to be punished many times. But
God doesn't beat US. Every time we break
commandment the earth does not yawn and
swallow us up. His gentlest punishments are
the heaviest. 1t wasn't hot word Of scath-
ing and contemptuous rebuke that broke bad
Peters heart. that melted it into fountain
of burning tears; 1t was loving, compass
sionate, pitying look. Fire and birthstone
can't make a hell so hot and terrible as SELF
reproach, remorse, heart-deep pcnitence, sor-
row for sin. We beat the boy. not often for
his good, but because we are angry and want
to beat somebody until the burst of anger is
over. Then we are busy people and whip
ping takes up less of our valuable time than
any other mode of punishment To reason
with the boy, to talk it over with him calmly
and lovingly, would take an hour. maybe two
hours. But you can whip him in three min
utes. A man fighting, say at one hundred
and fifty-two pounds, ought to be able to
knock nine-year-old boy out in the first
round. You go on to your work nervous,
half ashamed, irritable. your conscience, If it
be not scared TO callousness, lashing you
axr-l,i - Anl @Ia ln,-
his way, wrath and hate and contempt
writhing in his heart, born of the pain and
ache on his smarting back 1t is the punish
ment OF the savage: it has been abolished
from the navy and the army. and is retained
only in Christian homes, and other homes
not quite so Christian.
And If whipping does very little good
mind, l don't admit that it does any-scold-
ing, which is the next most popular mode of
punishment, does absolutely no good what
ever, under any circumstances, not one
particle. All the scolding in the world, from
the dawn Of creation down to the issue of
this number Of the Ladies' Home Journal,
never did one solitary bit of good. 1t makes
girls, women, and men-ner-
vous with anger; it irritates, annoys, frets,
and maddens them; drives boys away from
home and men to distraction, and that is
about all it does. People say: 'well, see
how your favorite grand old prophets
scolded." Yes, they did, and some OF them
got sawed In two for. it. And the people
whom they scolded went on worse than ever.
Besides they scolded men who ought to know
better; We are discussing the punishment Of
Of what he was thinking while you were
scolding him you'd never do it again.
OF course, there must be punishment for
offenses; punishment for the sake of discipline
The prohibitory law without the penal clause
is OF very little effect. But revenge isn't pun
ishment. 1t is better by your example, by
your honest counsel, to keep the boy out Of
trouble than it is to whip him for getting into
it. The more loving and forgiving your
punishments the deeper will be their impress
sion upon the heart of the boy. Be gentle
and patient with him. His worst faults irri-
tate you the most keenly because you know
whence he inherits them. If you are going to
make him New Testament man, model your
self on the same lines. 1t was Elisha. the
prophet, good man, a holy man, and a just
man, who in righteous anger laid upon
Gehazi the leprosy of Naaman that should
'cleaye unto him and unto his children for
ever" punishment for covetousness and
ying. But when the Man of Nazareth came
into the world He laid His hand upon the
eper and cleaEsed him with perfect healing
and tender words. When you have made up
your mind in about ten minutes or ten sec
onds that your boy needs good sound whip
ping. take about three days to think over it
l whipping will keep for week-and then see
f you can take stick aDd beat him.
The Choice of Profession.
"Plain Girl writes the Ledger that it is
for her to do something to earn her
living. She does not see any good prospect
If success as n teacher, and would like to