ffense. It is in their _certainty_, and not in
their _severity_, that the efficiency of them lies. Very few children are
ever severely burnt by putting their fingers into the flame of a candle.
They are effectually taught not to put them in by very slight burnings,
on account of the _absolute invariableness_ of the result produced by the
contact.

Mothers often do not understand this. They attempt to cure some habitual
fault by scoldings and threats, and declarations of what they will
certainly do "next time," and perhaps by occasional acts of real severity
in cases of peculiar aggravation, instead of a quiet, gentle, and
comparatively trifling infliction in _every instance_ of the fault, which
would be altogether more effectual.

A child, for example, has acquired the habit of leaving the door open. Now
occasionally scolding him, when it is specially cold, and now and then
shutting him up in a closet for half an hour, will never cure him of the
fault. But if there were an automaton figure standing by the side of the
door, to say to him _every time_ that he came through without shutting it,
_Door_! which call should be a signal to him to go back and shut the door,
and then sit down in a chair near by and count ten; and if this slight
penalty was _invariably_ enforced, he would be most effectually cured of
the fault in a very short time.

Now, the mother can not be exactly this automaton, for she can not always
be there; but she can recognize the principle, and carry it into effect as
far as possible--that is, _invariably, when she is there_. And though she
will not thus cure the boy of the fault so soon as the automaton would do
it, she will still do it very soon.

_Irritation and Anger_.

Avoid, as much as possible, every thing of an irritating character in the
punishments inflicted, for to irritate frequently the mind of a child
tends, of course, to form within him an irritable and unamiable temper. It
is true, perhaps, that it is not possible absolutely to avoid this effect
of punishment in all cases; but a great deal may be done to diminish the
evil by the exercise of a little tact and ingenuity on the part of the
mother whose attention is once particularly directed to the subject.

The first and most important measure of precaution on this point is
the absolute exclusion of every thing like angry looks and words as
accompaniments of punishment. If you find that any wrong which your child
commits awakens irrit