tained; but it is not, in all cases, to be expected, either during the continuance of the punishment, or immediately afterwards.

A well trained child, if affectionately admonished after correction is over, and not being irritated at the idea that it may be continued, will generally yield at once; but it is not considered necessary to put this always to the proof. He has committed fault, and has suffered the consequences. Here it is often wisest to leave the affair for the time, choosing the earliest favorable opportunity, when he has more perfectly recovered himself, for receiving his submission, and assuring him of forgiveness.

If his attendant have conducted herself in the right spirit, he will have felt the force of her correction, though he may not have shewn it at the time. The next day, if she desire him to put up his play-things, he will, pretty certainly, obey with more than common alacrity.

When a child has been punished, he should be restored as soon as possible to. favor: and when he has received forgive-

ness, treated as if nothing had happened. He may be affectionately reminded of his fault in private, as a warning for the future; but, after peace has been made, to upbraid him with it, especially in the presence of others, is almost a breach of honor, and certainly, a great unkindness. Under any circumstances, to reproach children in company is equally useless and painful to them, and is generally done from irritability of temper, with a little view to their profit.

We are to remember that shame will not effectually deter children from what is wrong; and that in employing it too much as an instrument of education, we have reason to apprehend we may lead them to act from the fear of man rather than from that of God. Every thing, too, which may in the least injure the characters of children, is to be strictly avoided. To have the name of a naughty child will produce so disheartening an effect upon the mind, that the ill consequences may probably be felt through life. It is on this account desirable, that tutors, governesses, and nurses, be cautious

of enlarging upon the faults of those under their care to any but the parents.

Blame, and even praise, are to be dispensed with nearly as much caution as punishments and rewards; for a child may be called "good," "naughty," "troublesome," “kind,” or “unkind,” till either his temper will be kept in continual irritation, or he will listen with perfect indifference.

A child must not be punished or reproved from the impulse of temper; we may regulate his actions, but we cannot hope to subdue his will, or improve his disposition, by a display of our own wilfulness and irritability; for our example will more than counteract the good effects of our correction. If irritated, we should wait till we' are cool, before we inflict punishment, and then do it as a duty, in exact proportion to the real faultiness of the offender; not to the degree of vexation he has occasioned ourselves. A child should be praised, reproved, rewarded, and corrected, not according to the consequences, but according to the motives, of his actions, solely with

reference to the right or wrong intention which has influenced him.

Children, therefore, should not be punished for mere accidents, but mildly warn, ed against similar carelessness in future. Whereas some people shew much greater displeasure with a child for accidentally overthrowing the table, or breaking a piece of china, than for telling an untruth; or, if he hang his head, and will not shew off in company, he is more blamed than for selfishness in the nursery. But does not such treatment arise from preferring our own gratification to the good of the child? and can we hope, by thus doing, to improve him in the government of his temper, or to instruct him in the true standard of right and wrong?

Punishment, administered in anger, is no longer the discipline of love, but bears too much the character of revenging an injury, and will certainly excite in the sufferer a corresponding temper of mind. From fear, indeed, he may yield externally, but the feelings of his heart would lead him to re

sentment rather than to penitence and submission. And let it never be forgotten,

that if we desire to perform our duties to children, it is not to their outward conduct, but to the heart, that we must direct our chief attention.

To punish with effect requires decision, and sometimes courage. If, in addition to this, our punishments carry with them the stamp of love; if they are inflicted with an undisturbed serenity of temper, with a simple view to the good of the offender, "not for our pleasure, but for his profit," they will rarely fail in accomplishing the intended purpose; for children have a quick sense of the motives that influence us, and their hearts are not unfrequently as much softened, and their affections as powerfully called forth by such correction, as by the most gratifying rewards that could be bestowed upon them.