employers do act in this way every day to their workpeople; but this is
not a justified and intended part of the situation: it is an abuse
of Capitalism which nobody defends in principle. As between child and
parent or nurse it is not argued about because it is inevitable. You
cannot hold an impartial judicial inquiry every time a child misbehaves
itself. To allow the child to misbehave without instantly making it
unpleasantly conscious of the fact would be to spoil it. The adult has
therefore to take action of some sort with nothing but his conscience
to shield the child from injustice or unkindness. The action may be a
torrent of scolding culminating in a furious smack causing terror
and pain, or it may be a remonstrance causing remorse, or it may be a
sarcasm causing shame and humiliation, or it may be a sermon causing the
child to believe that it is a little reprobate on the road to hell. The
child has no defence in any case except the kindness and conscience of
the adult; and the adult had better not forget this; for it involves a
heavy responsibility.

And now comes our difficulty. The responsibility, being so heavy, cannot
be discharged by persons of feeble character or intelligence. And yet
people of high character and intelligence cannot be plagued with the
care of children. A child is a restless, noisy little animal, with
an insatiable appetite for knowledge, and consequently a maddening
persistence in asking questions. If the child is to remain in the room
with a highly intelligent and sensitive adult, it must be told, and if
necessary forced, to sit still and not speak, which is injurious to
its health, unnatural, unjust, and therefore cruel and selfish beyond
toleration. Consequently the highly intelligent and sensitive adult
hands the child over to a nurserymaid who has no nerves and can
therefore stand more noise, but who has also no scruples, and may
therefore be very bad company for the child.