dden, it has been found necessary at all times, to enact laws to
govern and even to punish him, when he acts contrary to them; and
who will deny the man a just reward who has done any act whereby his
fellow-men have been benefitted? "The hope of reward sweetens labour."
If, then, rewards and punishments are necessary to make _men_ active,
and to keep them in order, how can it be expected that children can be
governed without some kind of punishment? I am aware that I am taking
the unpopular side of the question, by becoming an advocate for
punishment, but notwithstanding this, I must say, that I think no
school in England has ever been governed without it; and that the
many theories ushered into the world, on this subject, have not been
exactly acted upon. And since this was written I am in a position to
state the same with regard to both Scotland and Ireland. Indeed, it
appears to me, that while men continue to be imperfect beings, it is
not possible that either they or their offspring, can be governed
without some degree of punishment. I admit that it should be
administered with great prudence, and never employed but as a last
resource; and I am sorry to say, that it has descended to brutality in
some schools, which, perhaps, is one reason why so many persons set
their faces against it altogether. I might write as others have done,
by stating that I had brought up a family of my own without ever
having struck even once any of my children, but then this is no
argument for the general conducting of a school; in school, children
are spoiled before they come to you, in a family the judicious parent
begins at the beginning, the cases therefore entirely differ.

The first thing that appears to me necessary, is to find out, if
possible, the real disposition and temper of a child, in order to be
able to manage it with good effect. I will allow that it is possible
to govern some children without corporal punishment, for I have had
some under my charge whom I never had occasion to punish, to whom a
word was quite sufficient, and who, if I only looked displeased, would
burst into tears. But I have had others quite the reverse; you might
talk to them till you were tired, and it would produce no more effect
half an hour afterwards, than if they had not been spoken to at all.
Indeed, children's dispositions are as various as their faces; no two
are alike; consequently, what will do for one child will not do for
another; and hence t