_An Objection_.

Some mother may perhaps say, in reference to the case of Mary and her aunt,
that it may be all very well in theory, but that practically mothers have
not the leisure and the means for adopting such moderate measures. We can
not stop, she may say, every time we are going to the village, on important
business perhaps, and turn back and lose the afternoon on account of the
waywardness of a disobedient child.

My answer is that it will not have to be done _every time,_ but only very
seldom. The effect of acting once or twice on this principle, with the
certainty on the part of the child that the mother or the aunt will always
act so when the occasion calls for it, very soon puts an end to all
necessity for such action. Indeed, if Mary, in the instance above given,
had been managed in this way from infancy, she would not have thought of
leaving the path when forbidden to do so. It is only in some such case as
that of an aunt who knows how to manage right, coming as a visitor into the
family of a mother who manages wrong, that such an incident as this could
occur.

Still it must be admitted that the gentle methods of discipline, which
reason and common sense indicate as the true ones for permanently
influencing the minds of children and forming their characters, do, in
each individual case, require more time and care than the cuffs and slaps
dictated by passion. A box on the ear, such as a cat gives to a rebellious
kitten, is certainly the _quickest_ application that can be made. The
measures that are calculated to reach and affect the heart can not vie with
blows and scoldings in respect to the promptness of their action. Still,
the parent or the teacher who will begin to act on the principles here