e will reason
thus:--"If I put a stop to this I shall prevent the acquirement of a
certain amount of knowledge. It is true that I may save the child from a
burn; but what then? He is sure to burn himself sometime; and it is
quite essential to his safety in life that he should learn by experience
the properties of flame. If I forbid him from running this present risk,
he will certainly hereafter run the same or a greater risk when no one
is present to prevent him; whereas, should he have an accident now that
I am by, I can save him from any great injury. Moreover, were I to make
him desist, I should thwart him in the pursuit of what is in itself a
purely harmless, and indeed, instructive gratification; and he would
regard me with more or less ill-feeling. Ignorant as he is of the pain
from which I would save him, and feeling only the pain of a balked
desire, he could not fail to look on me as the cause of that pain. To
save him from a hurt which he cannot conceive, and which has therefore
no existence for him, I hurt him in a way which he feels keenly enough;
and so become, from his point of view, a minister of evil. My best
course then, is simply to warn him of the danger, and to be ready to
prevent any serious damage." And following out this conclusion, she says
to the child--"I fear you will hurt yourself if you do that." Suppose,
now, that the boy, persevering as he will probably do, ends by burning
his hand. What are the results? In the first place he has gained an
experience which he must gain eventually, and which, for his own safety,
he cannot gain too soon. And in the second place, he has found that his
mother's disapproval or warning was meant for his welfare: he has a
further positive experience of her benevolence--a further reason for
placing confidence in her judgment and kindness--a further reason for
loving her.

Of course, in those occasional hazards where there is a risk of broken
limbs or other serious injury, forcible prevention is called for. But
leaving out extreme cases, the system pursued should be, not that of
guarding a child from the small risks which it daily runs, but that of
advising and warning it against them. And by pursuing this course, a
much stronger filial affection will be generated than commonly exists.
If here, as elsewhere, the discipline of the natural reactions is
allowed to come into play--if in those out-door scramblings and in-door
experiments, by which children are liable to