f-governing individual,
not one who needs to be governed by someone else. Until a person learns to
govern himself he counts for little in this world.

Two serious mistakes are made in child government. One is the indulgence of
a soft, vacillating policy by the parent which permits a child to shirk his
duties and to escape from the natural results of his misdeeds. Through the
parent's taking upon his own shoulders the consequences of the child's
wrong-doing, the child is lured into the false belief that duty may be
shirked, responsibility set aside, and life be made to yield one sweet
round of pleasure. How will a child so trained be prepared to endure the
disappointments and heartaches of a world which compels each of us to
drink his portion of the bitter hemlock?

The other mistake is to employ unnatural or arbitrary punishments. Even the
smallest child has an instinctive idea of justice and resents anything
which he regards as unjust. On the other hand, he learns quickly the
inevitableness with which pain follows the violation of law, and how
certain is the working out of cause and effect.

Mrs. Harrison gives this admirable illustration: "The little one puts his
hand upon the hot stove; no whirlwind from without rushes in and pushes the
hand away from the stove, then with loud and vengeful blasts scolds him
for his heedlessness or wrong-doing. He simply is burned--the natural
consequences of his own deed; and the fire quietly glows on, regardless of
the pain which he is suffering. If again he transgresses the law, again he
is burned as quietly as before, with no expostulation, threat, or warning.
He quickly learns the lesson and avoids the fire thereafter, bearing no
grudge against it."

When the child scatters her toys and playthings all over the room, the
natural penalty is to require that they be gathered up and the room made
tidy; when the boy scampers across the newly-cleaned floor with his muddy
boots, he should be made to mop up the floor carefully; thus in a thousand
similar ways, the parent may train the child to observe care and order in
everything done.

Nothing is more beautiful than a large family where each child is taught to
care for and to rely upon himself, and to give a little willing service to
others. But the tired mother will remark, "Oh, yes, that all sounds very
nice, but mothers have no time to spare to eternally watch and train their
children." Hold a moment, there is a fallacy here; she