nt;
while for unthinking, commonplace minds, and undeveloped, unsensitive
souls, the habit of obedience and docile respect for authority, in any
and all forms, may be an excellent thing. A wolf cannot be trained in
the same way as a setter dog, or a canary bird; and even among horses,
the kind of treatment that a cart-horse thrives under, would ruin a
thoroughbred completely.

The traditional methods of handling children date back to a time when
there were many wolves and cart-horses and no method would have
generally survived which did not include them.

But in our advanced civilization, as mothers frequently have more
sensitive stock to deal with, there is reason for them to feel that,
somehow, they should go about it differently. This appears to be a
partial explanation of what we see going throughout the length and
breadth of our land. It is for their benefit that a more sympathetic
principle has been gradually emerging from the confusion.

And let us note in passing that the altered sentiment on the part of
mothers, and the principle which responds to it, cannot be credited in
any way to the achievements of modern science, because a similar
tendency showed itself sooner and became more pronounced and wide-spread
in communities of China and Japan, where no modern science had
penetrated. It would seem rather an intuitive growth of delicate
understanding on the part of parents, as they become relieved from the
strenuous needs of material existence.

This third principle does not tend to "spoil" the child, or repress its
affection, or distort any of the finer impulses of its spiritual nature.
It does not destroy obedience or discipline; but instead of obedience
and discipline inspired by a whip, it seeks to erect self-obedience,
self-discipline and self-control.

How does it work? First, through love, because in nature that comes
first; then, little by little, through the unfolding of conscience and
faith.

We have talked about the heart feelings of a child, so it is only
necessary to refer to them again, not for the joy they may bring to
mothers, but because loyalty, fidelity, consideration for others,
growing out of affection, may merge imperceptibly with feelings which
are essentially moral and spiritual, to the immense advantage of both.
Let a mother love her child, then, and cherish its love, with all the
lavishness, tenderness, constancy of which she is capable. There can
never be too much of it--there ca