"An th' boord iv iddycation is discussin' th' petition. It can't quite
make up its mind whether Solomon wasn't right. Solomon said, accordin'
to Hogan, spile th' rod an' save th' child. He must've had a large
famly if he was annywhere near Tiddy Rosenfelt's law iv av'rages. I
don't see how he cud've spared time f'r writin' from correctin' his
fam'ly. He must've set up nights. Annyhow, th' boord iv iddycation is
discussin' whether he was right or not. I don't know mys'lf. All I
know is that if I was a life insurance canvasser or a coal dealer or
something else that made me illegible to be a mimber iv a boord iv
iddycation, an' an able-bodied man six feet tall come to me f'r
permission to whale a boy three feet tall, I'd say: 'I don't know
whether ye are compitint. Punishing people requires special thrainin'.
It ain't iv'rybody that's suited f'r th' job. Ye might bungle it.
Just take off ye'er coat an' vest an' step into th' next room an' be
examined.' An' in th' next room th' ambitious iddycator wud find James
J. Jeffreys or some other akely efficient expert ready f'r him an' if
he come back alive he'd have a certy-ficate entitlin' him to whack anny
little boy he met--except mine.

"Sure there'd be very few people to say they believed in corporal
punishment if corporal punishment was gin'ral. I wudden't give anny
wan th' right to lick a child that wanted to lick a child. No wan shud
be licked till he's too old to take a licking. If it's right to larrup
an infant iv eight, why ain't it right to larrup wan iv eighteen?
Supposin' Prisidint Hadley iv Yale see that th' left tackle or th' half
back iv th' football team wasn't behavin' right. He'd been caught
blowin' a pea shooter at th' pro-fissor iv iliminthry chemisthry, or
pullin' th' dure bell iv th' pro-fissor iv dogmatic theosophy. He
don't know any different. He's not supposed to ralize th' distinction
between right an' wrong yet. Does Prisidint Hadley grab th' child be
th' ear an' conduct him to a corner iv th' schoolroom an wallup him?
Ye bet he does not. Prisidint Hadley may be a bold man in raisin'
money or thranslatin' Homer, but he knows th' diff'rence between
courage and sheer recklessness. If he thried to convince this young
idea how to shoot in this careless way ye'd read in the pa-apers that
th' fire department was thryin' to rescue Prisidint Hadley fr'm th'
roof iv th' buildin' but he declined to come down.

"But what wud ye do with a chi