The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-22

LAM in receipt of numerous letters deal
 ing with Corporal Punishment
 which was debated warmly in our de- partment a matter of three months ago.
 Some of these communications are too long for insertion Some too good to be condemned to the limbo of the waste basket. Our readers have not forgotten the letter from an English form woman who related the particulars of whipping inflicted upon her for lying and stealing when she was 10 years of age. We have had protests and adverse comments with out number with regard to the graphic tale. Mothers and daughters will not object to the surrender of sufficient of our space to- day to a contribution from one especially well qualified to pronounce upon the ques- ton of a, parents. right to chastise child in the, circumstances and to explain tha grounds of his convictions.
 {" As physician, will you allow me to say . word or two with regard to the debate upon corporal punishment that has been held in your Corner of our family journal? q In the first place. what self-respecting mot to say decent-man or woman would whip a 19 year old daughter and what girl of that age would suffer herself willingly to be punished In that manner? And if she would, could she ever afterward have any vestige of respect for a father who could do such thing? The mere thought of the thing is ridiculous to the American reader. I don't like to doubt the word of any one, but l am forced to suspect that our Mil- waukee correspondent either wished to make a sensation or that her memory Is at fault.
 q Every girl or woman over IA years of age knows of the delicate organs she pos
 i. ,-tI,r ( I. L a and injured. Just imagine giving a severe whipping to a grown-up lady whether it be spanking with strap. or a switch ing. or a beating over the shoulders with a horsewhipl Such an inhuman punishment would seriously affect certain exquisitely sensitive organs in said lady to an alarm ing degree besides hurting her morally and taking away much of her self-respect. If such punishment were inflicted 1t was by force and by a semi-harbarous parent
 '' People may talk of family government in the days of our godly grandmothers. but not one-tenth of the stories told of dis cipline (which meant punishmenD of those times are true.
 |" Now, am not saying anything against spanking young children Let the mother or father once in a while spank the young sters with the palm of the hand. or the slip per, or the hair brush. It will do most of them good and teach them obedience when nothing else will But girl should never be spanked after she passes her infancy nor boy after he Is 12 or 13 years old. If spanking up to that age has not cured their faults or evil practices, no amount of 1t administered afterward will.
 No right minded parent will ever whip little girl over or years of age. By so doing they hurt an indefnable something away down in the girls consciousness that she will never get over. And her pride. too. that large asset in the girl, Is deeply hurt. As for the boy over 12, a beating simply hardens him.
 Our correspondent thinks that little more whipping of boys 15 and 10 years old would lessen the amount of crime in the country. She probably does not know that very recently New York state examined