The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1897-05-22
SHOULD BE WHIPPED.
Arp Tells How Children Ought to
Be Brought Up.
Unless Children Are Made to Fear
Their Parents They VIII Never
Make Good Men and
Women.

write a letter about how to raise fam
lily of children SO that they will all be-
have, the boys make good citizens, good
husbands, good fathers, and the girls
make good wives and good mothers. SIS
it possible TO do this he asks.
When the lawyers determine that
thing cannot be legally done they say
it is ultra vires," which means beyond
strength. In the first place it is not
possible to devise any plan or method by
which all children can be raised or
trained to do right and behave. 1t is
ultra wires" and even if it were posi-
BILE, it is ultra wires" with me to make
it known. Ever since the failure Of
Adam to raise Cain, this thing of rails
ing all the children to be good has been
an unsolved problem. Whether the
difference in children of the same
family is due to the laws of he
redity or the doctrine of election
or to different environment and as
sociations or to the devil himself we
cannot tell, but one or more of these
causes have been at work. My wife and
| were discoursing this last night and
in all our acquaintance of half CEN
fury we could not name a single family
of six or more children Of whom all
were good. Anxiety and grief and
trouble because of children is the com
mon lot. 1t began with Adam and came
on down to Noah and Jacob and David
and Solomon and yet these men had the
special favor of God and were blessed
by Him in every way except in the con-
duct of some OF their children. Poor
old Ell, the high priest and judge of Is
rael for 40 years, was cursed with two
bad boys and God at the last cursed him
for not restraining them. There shall
rot be an old man in thy house forever,
and all the increase of thy house shall
die in the flower of their age. Because
his sous made themselves vile and he re-
strained them not" What an awful
curse was that. These sons of Belial!
naughty-vile, and fits many bad boy
in our day. II is fact that reflects on
our sex that the sons of Belial are men
toned more than dozen times in the
Scriptures, but there is no daughter OF
BeEal. He restrained them not"
Well, the good old man did talk to them
and reproved them most earnestly.
"Why do we such things? 1t is no good
report that | hear. Ye make the Lords
people to transgress. If one man sin
against another the judge shall judge
him, but if a man sin against the Lord
who shall entreat for him?'
wonder what kind of restraint the
Lord expected or required of Eli. 1t
was not talking or pleading with them,
of course, for he did that. wonder If
the old man didn't experiment on the
modern Atlanta plan of raising the
boys on his love and their honor, for
fear of breaking their spirits. 1t makes
an old man very tired to read the wise
utterances of the modern Solons against
corporal punishment of bad boys in the
public schools. had rather go and ask
the convcts in the changing for an
opinion. Nine-tenths of them would
say began in disobedience and was not
restrained. The lamentable fact is that
at least one-fourth of the boys at these
schools have no restraint at home, and
if they are not punished at school they
get it nowhere, and SO these sons OF
Belial go to the bad very early and be
come victims to the rigor of the law
and the courts. There is many boy in
these schools who is right now on his
way to the changing. These Solons
say that corporal punishment is brutal
and barbarous and must give away ITO
the progress and refinement of the age.
About what time did the youths of this
generation become better than those of
half century ago? Read the daily pa
pers and answer. How many houses in
Atlanta are in mourning because of the
bad conduct of their boys? What good
results can come from expulsion of a
bad boy from school? He is not want
ed anywhere by decent people, and so he
associates with his kind and becomes
worse and soon comes to grief and
brings sorrow to his kindred.
Obedience to law, to government, to
parents is absolutely necessary for the
peace and welfare of society. This ODE
dience is enforced among bad men by
the fear of the law. 1t cannot be en-
forced among bad boys except by fear
of corporal punishment. Their honor
or their shame is too feeble a factor to
be considered. Obedience must begin
early, even in infancy. My little two
year-old grandchild loves to play in the
dirty coal box. Caroline, you must
not do that" her mother says, and en-
forces her command by Shaping her
little hands and then washing them
That is corporal punishment, and is
Just as severe TO the little child as the
rod is TO the boy of ten, and both are
right and both effectual. The enforce
ment of obedience in early childhood
saves all necessity for punishment in
later years, and it saves a sight of scold
ing. What a world of worry bad chill
drcn are to other people! What com
fort are good ones at home and abroad
Some mistaken parents say that they
boys are too high-strung TO be whipped
Yes, and those boys are in danger OF
being still higher strung when in fiji
of passion they kill somebody. The
poet Shelley said obedience is the
bane Of genius, virtue, freedom and
truth; makes slaves of men and of tbs
human frame mechanical automaton.'
He was one OF these high-strung sub
limated creatures whose rule Of life was
to do as be pleased, TO follow his OWL
sweet will. What a miserable life hi
| lived, and was drowned when only &c
vaare old Lie ainrmed his schoolmate.