The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1897-05-05
Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child.
Bill Arp

Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child.
Bill Arp.
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 90
and ask the convicts in chain
gang for an opinion. Nine-tenths
Of them would says l began in
disobedience and was not re-
strained. The lamentable fact is
that at least one-fourth of the
boys at these schools have no re-
straint at home, and if they are
not punished at school they get it
nowhere, and so these sons of Be-
lial go to the bad very early and
become 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
chain gang. These solons say
that corporal punishment is brutal
and barbarous and must give away
to the progress and refinement of
the age. About what time did the
youths of this generation become
Better than those of half a century
ago? Read the daily papers and
answer. How many houses in
Atlanta are in mourning because
OF the bad conduct of their bows?
What good results can come from
expulsion of bad boy from
school? He is not wanted any
where by decent people, and 50 he
associates with his kind and be.
comes worse and soon comes to
grief and brings sorrow to his
kindred.
Obedience to law, to govern.
ment, to parents is absolutely
necessary for the peace and vel
fare of society. This obedience /.
enforced among bad men by thu
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, ever
In infancy. My little two-year
old grandchild loves to play i'll tn,
dirty coal box. Caroline, yo,
must not do that" her mother saws
and enforces her command b,
slapping her little hands and thel
washing them. That is corpora
punishment, and is just as sever
to the little child as the rod is +,
boy of ten, and both are rich
and both effectual. The enforce
ment of obedience in early child
mood saves all necessity for pun
1shment III later years, and it save
q sight OF scolding. What a worl,
Of worry bad children are to otbe
peoplel What a comfort ar
good ones at home and abroad
Some mistaken parents say tina
their boys are too high-strung t.
be whipped. Yes, and those bow
are in danger of being still highe
strung when in a fit of passion
they kill somebody. The poe
Shelby said: obedience is tn
b@ae of genius, virtue, freedom
and truth; makes slaves of me-
and OF the human frame a me
chanlcal automaton. He wa
one OF these high-strung subj
mated creatures whose rule of lif
was TO do as he pleased, to folio,
his own sweet will. What a mis-
cradle life he lived, and wa
drowned when only thirty wear
old. He alarmed his shoolmate
by his passion when nineteer
The same year he eloped with
hotel keepers daughter and ma,
RED her at Gretna Green. Tire
years later he abandoned her an
she drowned herself from grief
Soon after this he married on
other woman, with whom he bee
living previous to his first wife
death. He was the intimate frien,
OF Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt
and they witnessed the crematio
OF his body and deposited the ashe
near the grave of Keats, in tn
Protestant cemetery at Rome.
No, / can not tell anybody bo,
TO raise their children. 1t is
fearful responsibility. I bav
known preachers to undertake III
task and fail, and the congress
ton smiled inwardlv at ~
preachers failure to raise his ow
IN an exemplary and orthodo
way. ~