300 NATURE AND MAN. 



unrestrainedness of thought and feeling, and in no more re- 

 strainedness of action than has been imposed on them by external 

 coercion or by fear of punishment. These young &quot;reprobates&quot; 

 have not the least idea of self-control, or of doing anything else 

 than that which their inclinations prompt ; their notions of &quot; right &quot; 

 are all based upon limited self-interest ; and they hold everything 

 to be &quot; wrong &quot; which interferes with what they conceive to be 

 their own &quot;rights.&quot; Now the first lesson that has to be taught 

 them is that of obedience to discipline, for which punishment has 

 often to be used as a motive. But in proportion as the habit of 

 se(/-contro\ is acquired, appeals to the better nature come to have 

 a force superior to that of mere coercion : and the greatest success 

 is attained when that controlling power is spontaneously exerted 

 under the direction of the ought or ought not. So, in the cultiva 

 tion of the dormant moral sense, the first teaching goes to show 

 that what the pupil considers his [or her] &quot; rights &quot; are some one 

 else s &quot; wrongs ; &quot; and the golden rule is enforced by the practical 

 applications which are found most suitable to impress it on each 

 individual nature. Thus a foundation is laid for the development 

 of that higher moral sense, on which the principle of religious 

 obligation is most securely based. But the result of the most 

 successful effort in this direction is only considered to have been 

 attained, when the subject of it has been awakened to a full con 

 sciousness of possessing a power within himself to resist temptation 

 and to act as duty directs ; which power it rests with himself to 

 exert, and for the non-exercise of which he is responsible.* 



Of course it will be replied by the automatist, that all such 

 &quot;training&quot; is part of the external influences which go to the 

 formation of the character; and that its efficacy depends upon 

 the degree in which the sense of duty can be thus developed by 

 judicious culture into efficient predominance. But I affirm it to 

 be a matter of notorious experience, that it is the reiteration of 

 the assurance that the child or juvenile offender can govern his 

 temper, if he will try hard enough ; that he can overcome a 

 difficulty, if he will summon courage to make a vigorous effort ; 

 that he can choose and act upon the right; in spite of strong 



* My information on this subject is mainly derived from my sister, Mary 

 Carpenter ; than whom no one can speak with a greater weight of authority. 



