Year: 1860

arc VINO Woulo scold, ana perhaps punish,
although it was purely an accident How
many would not stop to reflect upon her
good intentions to afford needed aid, but
think only of the loss sustained, She
might be careless ; but then she should be
reproved for carelessness, and not for the
injury done. The extent of the injury
might be noticed to show the sad results of
but with no other view. Chill
dren are sometimes chastised for soil
ing and tearing their clothes, losing,
articles of value, and injuring compan
ions, and similar acts, when nothing wrong
was intended. A man of rank and affiu.
enco said that, in his youth, he was sevcre-
ly punished for losing ten dollar bill
with which he was sent to a neighbor's and
he confessed that he always carried the
recollection Of it as an act of injustice on
the part of his father. lie desired to per-
form the errand promptly. He yielded
cheerful obedience and yet it all weighed
nothing beside the accident of losing the
money.


The tendency of such disregard of mo-
tive in the punishment of children is, to
beg2t the feeling of having been wronged
to arouse spirit of hostility against
what SEEMS to be, and what actually is in
justice Children know when they intend
to do wrong, and when they do not intend
it. They know that there is a great diff.
ference between the moral state of the
heart in the two cases and while consci-
ence condemns them for the intended
wrong, it does not for the accidental. Pa.
rents know this, too. They always Judge
Of men by motives The killing of a man
is not murder unless it is done with malice
atore.hought. The nj olive is always re
garded in judging of men. Shall not chill
dren be treated with as much consi deration
as adults? Especially ought not this to
be the case when making no difference be-
tween fault ofintenton and accident OBJ
literates the distinction between right and
wrong in the mind of tho child How
can child know what is right and what is
wrong, if his motives are not regarded
There can be no line to distinguish be-
tween them, when this is removed. To
child, it must be confusion and mystery.


6. Parents provoke their children to
wra h by habitual fault finding Some
people have tact for fault. finding. In
the ncighborhood and family, they are
more likely to discover blcmishes than sra-
ccs. They pass by exhibitions of human
excellences with a kind of reserve and de.
termin,d silence, and speak and comment
only when defects are seen. When this
class become parents, they watch their
children closely for faults, and are seldom
disappointed in discovering them. As
children are not usually more nearly per-
feet than their parents, the opportunities of
reminding them of their faults are numer-
Gus. The consequence is that almost con-
tinual faultfnding salutes their ears. Pa
rents differ at tins point, like the comman-
dcrs of vessels described by Basil Hail.
Speaking Of two captains, he says, "When-
ever one Of these commanding officers came
on board tue ship, after an absence of a
day or two, and likewise when he made
his periodical round of the decks after
breakfast, his constant habit was to cast
his eye about him, in order to discover


what was wrong; to detect the smallest
thing that was out of its place in word
to lind as many grounds for censure as
possible. This constituted, in his opinion,
the best preventive to neglect, on the part
OF those under his command; and he ac-
ted in this crusty way on principle. The
attention of the other officer, on the con.
trary, appeared to be directed chiefly to
those points which he could approve Of
For instance, he would stop as he went
along from time to time, and say to the
first lieutenant, Now, these ropes are very
nicely arranged this mode of bestowing
the mems bags and mess kids is just as |
wish to see it; while the first officer de-
scribed would not only pass by these well
arranged things, which Lad cost hours of
labor to put in order, quite unnoticed, but
would not be easy till his eye had caught
hold of some casual omission which af
forded an opening for disapprobation.'


Under the one, accordingly, we all
worked with cheerfulness, from the convic-
ton that nothing we did in proper way
would miss appr obation, But our duty
under the other, being performed in fear,
seldom went on with much spirit. We had
no personal satisfaction of doing things
correctly, from the certainty of getting no
commeudatiou. The case being
quite hopeless, the chastisement seldom
conduced either to the amendment of an
offender, or to the prevention of offences" "


1t is so in the family Habitual fault
finding breaks the spring of generous and
noble effort. 1t hardens the heart against
its influence, so that recklessness is the
legitimate result. Children who are ac-
customed to hear fault-fnding so generally
heed it about as much as they do the idle
wind. 1t proyokes them to yet grosser
faults.


1t should be remembered, y, in dealing with
the faults of children, that many minor
shortcomings grow out of one great defect
like the twigs and branches from large


limb of tree and the removal of the


great fault will cause the lesser ones tc


disappear, The husbandman is not SC


foolish as to spend his time and strength
= T II Il