an act of
selfishness--and to make matters worse, through a feeling of shame, he
has first attempted concealment and then resorted to lying.

That is a rather trying situation for mother to face. It is about as
hard a nut as she will ever have to crack. In the old days, there would
be no hesitation in saying that the first thing it called for was a good
sound beating.

But instead of that, let us imagine that mother is brave enough to stick
to her love feeling, reassures her boy, smilingly, and holds him close.
First she gives him a chance to tell all about it, in his own way, and
helps him along to a confidential admission of the shameful facts.

And to make the case as extreme as possible, we will assume that there
were no palliating circumstances whatever. The best that the boy can say
for himself is that he just didn't stop to think--he went ahead and did
it--and afterwards, he felt ashamed and didn't want anyone to know--and
then, well, he tried to get out of it by lying.

_Mother (smiling, thinking):_ "Well, well--here's a pretty kettle of
fish--isn't it? What in the world are we going to do about it?"

_Boy (looking down, nervous, does not answer)._

_Mother:_ "I suppose there's no use crying over it. The main thing is
how we can find a way to keep it from happening again. Perhaps it would
help, if we could find the right kind of punishment?" (No answer.) "What
kind of punishment shall it be--the fairest we can think of? Suppose you
decide it for yourself. What would you suggest?"

_Boy (very nervous):_ "I don't know."

_Mother:_ "How would it be if, the next time you told a lie, you and
mother couldn't, either of you, go riding in the automobile for two
days?"

_Boy (troubled, thinking, giving her a look):_ "Two whole days?"

_Mother (smiling):_ "That's a pretty big punishment but, after all,
lying is a pretty bad thing, which we don't want to have happen. Suppose
we start with that and agree on it--two whole days?"

_Boy (looking down, thinking, very nervous):_ "If you couldn't go
riding, either--why should you be punished?"

_Mother:_ "Because I'm your own mother and I love you better than
anything in the world. Whatever you do, can't help affecting me.
Besides, you see, in a way, I'm largely responsible for whatever you
do. If I don't bring you up right--isn't it my fault? And if we both
have to be punished together, that may help you to remember."

_Boy gives her a glance, looks down, thinkin