Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1907 — THE SCIENCE OF PUNISHMENT. [ARTICLE]

THE SCIENCE OF PUNISHMENT.

Victims it# Many Cases Do Not Know ' The Reason. : It is a fact that many a child is punished without knowing that he is punished, says Success. He may neither see how lie did wrong nor that the punishment has anything to do with it. I know of a little boy who was ordered to give up wearing his precious watch for a time as a penalty for a minor offense which had . nothing to do with watches of property. The next time lie did the same deed he.met his father's reprimand with a cheery plea that lie had obediently taken off iris watch! A punishment may thus tie taken as a kind of conditional sanction. i have known children who were smacked by their parents, who showed eventually that they did not know that the castigation meant that that particular deed was wrong. It has been accepted as one among many things not understood in this ambiguous and conventional world. We see, then, that punishment must be intelligent as well as rtrhn and fair. Nhw, add that it must be timely and also-sure; Severity has very little to do with reformation, exeat that it usually retards it. Frequency also reduces the efficiency. Treated intelligently and good-naturedly, a child can often be Brought to see that his course is objectionable. In such a case a child will often co-operate with his parent in devising a penalty for himself.

It is not possible in the limitations of this article to prescribe for every possibla offense. Taken with the foregoing general principles, a few examples will suffice. A child who has a habit of leaving the door open may be made to shut it and stand by it every time, counting fifty; if he neglects to brush his teeth, he must go without some or all of his brenkfnst; if he does damage through heedleSsiiess or disobedience, lie must give compensation by work or money; if he defaces a brick wall, he must clean it, or, barring that, he given a brick to crayon for a period. The penalty of unpunotualit.f may be restraint for double the number of minutes late—as the old Hebrews 'punished theft by a twofold, fourfold, fivefold restitution, according to the sort of property stolen. A person who cannot be trusted can sometimes be punished by trusting him—his shame being his penaTty of pain. Young people trained to high ideals may also be trained into seif-punish-ment. I once heard of a l>oy who, having told an untruth, was obliged to go about with n placard on his buck, “I am a liar.” The discipline was defended on the ground that he grew up to lie a good man and a minister! The discipline was outrageous, and might have cost the boy hhi Tt was enough to harden him- into adopting the course advertised on his back. It ia amazing how many children turn out better thau their training. It ia estimated that 3,000 marriage* are performed daily throughout tbs world.