MARCH 251 



ness. Temper cannot be conquered, except from within. 

 To help the child to help itself, that is the only method. 

 I do not really believe that punishment ever does any 

 good to old or young, though self -mortification helps 

 many natures. Prisons rank with mad -houses ; they 

 exist to protect the public, not to benefit the individuals 

 who suffer punishment. The only way with children is 

 gradually to get them to see what most helps themselves. 

 I admit that to understand the way children's minds 

 work is a humiliatingly difficult task, and one cannot be 

 too careful not to shock their feelings by either laughing 

 at them or letting them see any contempt for their most 

 natural ignorance. There is a well-known story of a 

 little girl who, having been naughty, was told to ask 

 forgiveness of the Almighty in her evening prayers. 

 The next morning, when questioned as to whether she 

 had done so, she quietly answered : 'Oh yes, but Dod 



said : " Don't mention it, Miss B " ' ! 



In a letter on some remarks about children in my 

 first book, a most kind and able woman wrote to me as 

 follows : ' The only point on which I do not quite agree 

 with you is where you say you cannot judge of a child's 

 character before twelve. When I look back to my early 

 childhood, I can see how exactly I and my brothers and 

 sisters were as little children what we are to-day. What 

 I do think is that, from about twelve to twenty -two or 

 three, or even twenty -eight, a certain deflection takes 

 place ; but as one fully develops, one returns to what 

 one was as a little child. I know that I am to-day far 

 more like what I was at seven years old than what I was 

 at sixteen. The child is father to the man, not to the 

 youth. Of course you must be keen enough to read the 

 child's character. Children are such mysterious things 

 that few grownup people, even those who are keen read- 

 ers of adult character, can understand them.' 



