the
average boy; and the average boy is not of this type.

Conversations between master and boy on the subject are, of course,
quite necessary and often very helpful. Very often a boy is mystified,
or it may be terrified, by what seems to him some peculiarity in his
nature, and it may do him all the good in the world to unburden his
soul to some one older and more experienced than himself. It is best,
too, that the House master should be the man to whom such a boy
naturally turns; though if the boy should prefer to turn elsewhere, the
fact should be to the House master food for thought rather than for
anger. Indeed, while in one way there is far too much talk on this
subject, in another there is far too little. Too much may easily be
made of conventional "talks" on conventional occasions. What is rather
wanted is a relationship between boy and master, created by frank
intercourse on other topics, such as will naturally bring the boy to
the master for help in these difficulties, with the sure knowledge that
the latter will not "lecture" him, but will speak as one who has been
through similar difficulties in his own boyhood, and is anxious only to
help and to explain.

Under the present system, when the verbal appeal fails, recourse is
often had to corporal punishment. We have no room here for a
discussion of the ethics of punishment; but a method more foolish could
scarcely be devised, if the aim is to enable the boy to overcome
temptation. And of all forms of punishment, corporal punishment is the
worst. The physical side of the boy's nature is asserting itself in
all its strength; and you attempt to combat it by making a physical
appeal which must from the nature of the case be far less powerful and
compelling. Moreover, any one with even a slight knowledge of sexual
psychology (and it is curious how few schoolmasters take the trouble to
acquire such knowledge) is aware that given a certain temperament on
the part whether of the giver or the receiver, perils lurk in this form
of punishment of the very type which it is designed to meet.

But the only sound way of combating the over-development of one side of
a boy's nature is to develop the other. Make a boy's whole life one of
joy and interest; let him live with a constant sense of the beauty of
grass and sky, of the exultation of vital work, of the happiness of
love and friendship. As the days go by, let him feel his latent powers
developing, and glory