ldren who
are not degenerate or imbecile, frequently arise directly from faults
of management and can be controlled by correcting these faults.
Suppose, for example, that a child is found to have taken money not
his own. The action of the parents faced with this difficulty and
disappointment will determine to a great extent whether the incident
is productive of permanent damage to the child's character. The
peculiar circumstances of each case must be considered. For example,
the parent must bear in mind the relation in which children stand to
all property. The child possesses nothing of his own; everything
belongs in reality to his father and mother, but of all things
necessary for him he has the free and unquestioned use. Unless his
attention has been specially directed to the conception of ownership
and the nature of theft, he may not have reasoned very closely on the
matter at all. Very probably he knows that it is wrong to take what is
not given him, but he does not regard helping himself to some dainty
from a cupboard as more than an act of disobedience to authority. He
may have imbibed no ideas which place the abstraction of money from a
purse belonging to his parents on a different plane, and which have
taught him to regard such an action as especially dishonourable and
criminal. Finally, a child who, undetected, has more than once taken
money belonging to his father and mother, may pass without much
thought to steal from a visitor or a servant. To deal with such a case
effectively, to ensure that it shall never happen again, requires much
insight. If the father, shocked beyond measure to find his son an
incipient criminal, differing in his guilt in no way from boys who are
sent to reformatories as bad characters, convinces the child that
although he did not realise it, he has shown himself unworthy of any
further trust, untold harm will be done. Almost certainly the child
will act in the future according to the suggestions which are thus
implanted in his mind. If the household eyes him askance as a thief,
if confidence is withdrawn from him, he sees himself as others see him
and will react to the suggestions by repeating the offence. The
seriousness of what he has done should be explained to him, and after
due punishment he must be restored completely and ostentatiously to
absolute trust. Only by showing confidence in him can we hope to do
away with the dangers of the whole incident. To inculcate good habits
and