THE CHAOS IN MORAL TRAINING. 437 



offense and a belief that she was punished for being detected. 

 Another thought she was punished because her father was the 

 stronger of the two ; another, that fear of liarm to self induced 

 people to do right things ; another tells that he longed for the age 

 of independence to arrive so that he might retaliate. One upon 

 whom fear of punishment from God was freely impressed formed 

 the idea that if he could put off death long enough, lying was 

 the best way out of some things. One child (five years old) went 

 in the front part of the house after she had been forbidden, and, 

 falling, hurt herself. She was told that this was a punishment 

 from God ; whence she drew the not illogical conclusion that God 

 was a tyrant, but that it was possible to outwit him by being 

 more careful next time, and not falling down. One peculiarity 

 of the method of inducing morality by creating fear is that some 

 parents, in order to prevent lying, deem it advisable to lie them- 

 selves ; e. g., talk about cutting off the end of the boy's tongue or 

 making him leave home, etc. But there is hardly any need of 

 multiplying incidents ; all the reports re-enforce the lesson which 

 moralists of pretty much all schools have agreed in teaching 

 that the appeal to fear as such is morally harmful. Of course, 

 there are a number of cases where good results are said to have 

 come from punishment, but in such cases the punishment was 

 incidental, not the one important thing; it was the emphasis 

 added to an explanation. 



3. Some report that they were instructed to do right " because 

 it is right," either as the sole reason or in connection with other 

 motives, such as harm to one's character, or displeasing God or 

 parents. A little more than one tenth of the persons report this 

 as a leading motive instilled. Most simply mention the fact, 

 with no comment as to the impression made upon them. One 

 remembers displeasing her mother (after she had been told that 

 she must do right because it was right) by asking why she must 

 do what was right rather than what was wrong. On the whole, 

 she was confused, and the basis of morality seemed to be arbi- 

 trary authority. 



4. Such answers as the following are exceedingly common : " I 

 saw by mother's face that I had grieved her " ; " was made to feel 

 that I had shocked and pained my j^arents " ; " the motive appealed 

 to was giving pain to my parents, who loved me " ; "I felt ashamed 

 when I found I had grieved my father"; "was made to feel sorry 

 when my parents were made unhappy by what I did," etc. There 

 is a paucity of information about the attitude toward morality 

 left by this mode of treatment. The following, indeed, is the 

 only comment made in any of the reports : " Upon disobeying my 

 mother, I was told that I was naughty and bad, and that she 

 would not love me unless I was sorry and promised not to dis- 



