ulty, some genius has said, is the nurse of greatness, a
harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster-children into strength and
athletic proportions.

The great point is that this treatment be given in time, when it is
possible to administer it with success and fruit. The ordinary child
does not need Oft-repeated doses; a firm hand and a vigorous
application go a long way, in most cases. Half-hearted, milk-and-water
castigation, like physic, should be thrown to the dogs. Long
threatenings spoil the operation; they betray weakness which the child
is the first to discover. And without being brutal, it is well that the
chastisement be such as will linger somewhat longer in the memory than
in the sensibility.

The defects that deserve this corrective especially are
insubordination, sulkiness and sullenness; it is good to stir up
the lazy; it is necessary to instil in the child's mind a saving
sense of its own inferiority and to inculcate lessons of humility,
self-effacement and self-denial. It should scourge dishonesty and lying.
The bear licks its cub into shape; let the parent go to the bear,
inquire of its ways and be wise. His children will then have a moral
shape and a form of character that will stand them in good stead in
after life; and they will give thanks in proportion to the pain
inflicted during the process of formation.

CHAPTER LXVII.
JUSTICE AND RIGHTS.

JUSTICE is a virtue by which we render unto every man that which to him
is due. Among equals, it is called commutative justice, the which alone
is here in question. It protects us in the enjoyment of our own rights,
and imposes upon us the obligation of respecting the rights of our
fellow-men. This, of course, supposes that we have certain rights and
that we know what a right is. But what is a right?

The word itself may be clearer in the minds of many than its
definition; few ignore what a right is, and fewer still perhaps could
say clearly and correctly what they mean by the word. A right is not
something that you can see and feel and smell: it is a moral faculty,
that is, a recognized, inviolable power or liberty to do something, to
hold or obtain possession of something. Where the right of property is
concerned, it supposes a certain relation or connection between a
person and an object; this may be a relation of natural possession, as
in the case of life or reputation, a relation of lawful acquisition, as
that of the goods of life, etc. Out of