d equally bear the
burden. The one should not oppose the discipline which the other is
administering. This destroys its effect, and leaves the child in a state of
indecision, leading to prejudice against one or the other of the parents.
It too often happens that parents thus take opposite sides,--the father too
severe perhaps, and the mother too indulgent. Thus divided, their house
must fall. Nothing is more ruinous to the child than for the mother to
counteract by soothing opiates, the admonitions of the father. Children
soon see this, and will as soon hate their father. When one parent thus
holds the reins without the rod, and the other uses the rod without the
reins, the very ends of discipline are frustrated. Sometimes the child is
given over to the mother exclusively till a certain age, when the father
begins to act without the mother. This is wrong. A child is never too young
to be ruled by the father, and never too old to come under the softening
influence of the mother.

Discipline should be administered with impartiality. Never make one child
a favorite. Favoritism and consequent indulgence, will produce prejudice
against the other children. It will introduce dissension among them. This
is unworthy the Christian parent and his home. The history of Jacob and
Joseph, as regards both the subject and the victim of parental favoritism,
is a warning against such partiality. It produces, pride, envy, jealousy,
family broils and strife, in which even the parents take a part, and by
which the husband is often set against his wife, parents against children,
and children against each other.

Correction is an essential element of true discipline. "The rod and the
reproof give wisdom." There are two things in correction,--the reins and
the whip, or the command and the chastisement. The one should not take the
place of the other. The scepter must not be converted into a whip. If the
reins are properly held and used, the whip need scarcely ever be required.
If the child is timely and properly trained, commanded and chided, he will
not require much chastisement,--perhaps no corporeal punishment. It is
better to prevent crimes than to punish them; for prevention is more than
cure.

Hence the first thing in discipline is timely and wholesome command. Guide
and train your child properly, and you need seldom resort to coercion.
Training and leading are better than forcing. By the former you establish a
habit of systematic obedie