praised when successful. These practices produce
demoralisation. Once in a wood I saw two parents laughing while
the ice held on which their son was sliding; when it broke
suddenly they threatened to whip him. It required strong
self-control in order not to say to this pair that it was not
the son who deserved punishment but themselves.

On occasions like these, parents avenge their own fright on
their children. I saw a child become a coward because an
anxious mother struck him every time he fell down, while the
natural result inflicted on the child would have been more than
sufficient to increase his carefulness. When misfortune is
caused by disobedience, natural alarm is, as a rule, enough to
prevent a repetition of it. If it is not sufficient blows have
no restraining effect; they only embitter. The boy finds that
adults have forgotten their own period of childhood; he
withdraws himself secretly from this abuse of power, provided
strict treatment does not succeed in totally depressing the
level of the child's will and obstructing his energies.

This is certainly a danger, but the most serious effect of
corporal punishment is that it has established an unethical
morality as its result. Until the human being has learnt to see
that effort, striving, development of power, are their own
reward, life remains an unbeautiful affair. The debasing
effects of vanity and ambition, the small and great cruelties
produced by injustice, are all due to the idea that failure or
success sets the value to deeds and actions.

A complete revolution in this crude theory of value must come