The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-11-17
THE ROD AND THE CHILD
DRAWINGS ILLUSTR4TfNG FORMS
or CORPORfL PTNISHMENT.
floggins Past and Present Nearly All the
States Have Abolished II. bnt 1t sur
wives in Maine and Texas.

a queer exhibit has just arrived at the
Atlanta Exposition. 1t consists Of ser
les Of forty drawings done in black and
white by Felix r. Mahony. a Washington
artist, which illustrates the various forms
Of corporal punishment that nave in past
times been administered 10 refractory
pupils. England, America and other
countries ere drawn upon for examples.
The idea OF the exhibit originated with
Professor William 4. Harris his aim
being 10 enforce the principle OF moral
suasion, which has consistently been adj
Vocated by the National Bureau of Edu-
cation for several terms past. The origin
OF The rod as Informative agent is Of
unknown antiquity As the pater fami-
las energies from the mists OF prehistOr-
ic time he bears q birch in his hand. The
earliest literdtures refer TO IL as q thing
long kOnwn, tested and approved. Solo
mons warning that the sparing OF the
rod meant the spelling Of the child is
familiar 10 every one. We know that
young Spartan children We're whipped
Tor hours before the altar, making IL
point of honor not TO cry. and that the
scourge was the sign OF dominion i'm an
cient Roman households, wreaked by the
lord and lady Of the house inliscrimuatc-
ly upon children, servants and slaves. In
the Middle Ages children. whether high
or low. male or female, were birch "A into
the ways that they should go. SO highly
was whipping esteemed I'm those simple
times that II was even used as a men
monte exercise. Children were trounced
whenever any great evnt occurred in
order 10 impress the matter firmly in their
minds. An execution especially was fol-
lowed by a universal brching of the
innocents 10 impress the moral upon .nelr
minds.
1t ST natural that the birch so highly
esteemed by our ancestors should have
been brought over BY them TO this coun-
try. Even the whipping post, which in
England was not abolished until 1871
found here q congenial soil, and still sur
wives In Delaware.
OF recent years a general sentiment I'm
the larger towns and in the centres OF
intelligence. both here and abroad, against
the use OF corporal punishment upon
young people, has been gradually but
surely developed. The rule Of the red
at home has been pretty generally super
seeded, and in most States and countries
legislative enactment has abolished IL in
the schools. In the United states this
reform was pretty well established by
1880. one after another the States wheel
"a into line. until with only one or two
exceptions all have abrcSated the right
which the teachers claimed AT common
law. and for which they quoted the Bib
lical precept. He that spares the rod
hateth hts child" New York city was
one OF the pioneers In this movement. SO
early as 1870 its Board OF Education pass
ed law prohibiting the use OF the rod.
and providing that lncorrigible pupils
should be suspended from schools. II
was made the duty OF principals to report
all such cases 10 the City Superintendent.
The belief was that the number or these
suspensions would be the full measure
Of the cases which were 50 refractory and