but such yielding should not be suffered to become habitual. It is
a safety valve merely, to be employed only when the pressure of
circumstances threatens to become dangerous. An engine whose safety
valve should be always in operation could never generate much power.
Nor is there much difficulty in leading even a very strong-willed
and obstinate child to give up his own way under extraordinary
circumstances. If he is not in the habit of setting up his own will
against that of his mother or teacher, he will not set it up when the
quick, unfamiliar word of command seems to fit in the with the unusual
circumstances. Many parents practice crying "Wolf! wolf!" to their
children, and call the practice a drill of self-control; but they meet
inevitably with the familiar consequences: when the real wolf comes
the hackneyed cry, often proved false, is disregarded.

[Illustration: Herbert Spencer]

[Sidenote: Disobedience]

When the will is rightly trained, disobedience is a fault that rarely
appears, because, of course, where obedience is seldom required, it is
seldom refused. The child needs to obey--that is true; but so does his
mother need to obey, and all other persons about him. They all need to
obey God, to obey the laws of nature, the impulses of kindness, and
to follow after the ways of wisdom. Where such obedience is a
settled habit of the entire household, it easily, and, as it were,
unconsciously, becomes the habit of the child. Where such obedience is
not the habit of the household, it is only with great difficulty that
it can become the habit of the child. His will must set itself against
its instinct of imitativeness, and his small house, not yet quite
built, must be divided against itself. Probably no cold even rendered