Australian Tales - Setis

and were to depress it, and at the same time elevate the bump of
combativeness, or destructiveness, that would be a very serious matter,
no doubt; but what would be your feelings as long as you lived, if your
hasty slap on the head were to disorganise those wonderful faculties of
the brain altogether, and cause poor Joe to drivel out his days a moping
idiot, or a raving maniac?’
“Ruth looked horrified at my question, as well she might. ‘Oh! Peter,’
she said, with tears in her eyes, ‘I have never thought of that dreadful
risk. I will promise never to slap a child on its head again — never.’
“ ‘That's right, my dear,’ said I, ‘for it's a dangerous mode of inflicting
punishment, although a very common one. ‘I'll box your ears!’ is the last
expression which many a poor child's reason has comprehended; and I
dare say there are wretched beings this day in our lunatic asylums, whose
incurable maladies are really chargeable to unlucky slaps on the head in
childhood; and many other poor creatures are wriggling through life with
crooked spines, or otherwise distorted limbs, caused by hasty blows of
heavy-handed parents. Whenever I hear folks pettishly talk of giving
their children a good thumping, I shudder worse than if I were in danger
of being kicked by an elephant.’
“I disapprove of corporal punishment as a rule, Mr. Boomerang, still I
do not dispute the correctness of the proverb about sparing the rod and
spoiling the child, by no means. A rod in a household of young children
is perhaps as essential for the preservation of peace and decorum as
policemen are in a city; but if proper judgment be used, the rod need only
be kept to look at. That is my opinion, founded upon experience. I used
to keep a short switch, a little thicker than a lark's leg, hanging over the
clock; and on rare occasions I have taken it down and administered two
or three smart strokes to a refractory youngster, on a part where there
was no risk of bruising bones. It tingled unpleasantly, no doubt, but it did
no physical injury; and it is surprising how durable its moral effects
were. I had only to look up at the clock if Master Joe were uproarious,
and perhaps, quietly remark that a small piece of stick liquorice might do
him good, when he would be as quiet as a dead mouse in a minute. Joe
knew what was the time of day when I looked at the clock, if he were
naughty; and he knew too, that if he did not immediately mend his
manners if would soon strike one. But the rod over the clock was
something like my grandmother's warming-pan, which hangs up in my
kitchen, more for show than for use; and I don't think I have used it four
times in forty years.
“I have heard it remarked, ‘that the most uncomfortable house to live
in, is a house full of pets; such as pet dogs, pet canaries, pet parrots, cats,
and cockatoos, but worse than all pet children.’ I subscribe to that
opinion, though not so much from personal experience, as from casual
observations. I believe it is a positive sin for parents to pamper their