punishment in its crudest form. It very deeply influences the
personal modesty of the child. This should be preserved above
everything as the main factor in the development of the feeling
of purity. The father who punishes his daughter in this way
deserves to see her some day a "fallen woman." He injures her
instinctive feeling of the sanctity of her body, an instinct
which even in the case of a small child can be passionately
profound. Only when every infringement of sanctity (forcible
caressing is as bad as a blow) evokes an energetic, instinctive
repulsion, is the nature of the child proud and pure. Children
who strike back when they are punished have the most promising
characters of all.

Numerous are the cases in which bodily punishment can occasion
irremediable damage, not suspected by the person who
administers it, though he may triumphantly declare how the
punishment in the specific case has helped. Most adults feel
free to tell how a whipping has injured them in one way or
another, but when they take up the training of their own
children they depend on the effect of such chastisement.

What burning bitterness and desire for vengeance, what canine
fawning flattery, does not corporal punishment call forth. It
makes the lazy lazier, the obstinate more obstinate, the hard,
harder. It strengthens those two emotions, the root of almost
all evil in the world, hatred and fear. And as long as blows
are made synonymous with education, both of these emotions will
keep their mastery over men.

One of the most frequent occasions for recourse to this