ought to be employed very seldom, and for faults of consequence. These corrections are like the violent remedies which are used in violent diseases: they purge, but alter the constitution and wear out the organs. A mind conducted by fear is always the weaker for it. Whoever, there

fore, has the direction of others, if he would heal, should first use gentle remonstrances, try what he can do by persuasion, make honesty and justice grateful if possible, and inspire a hatred for vice, and a passion for virtue. If this first attempt does not succeed, he may pass to stronger methods and sharper reproaches; and lastly, when all this has been employed to no purpose, he may then proceed to corrections, but by degrees, still leaving the hopes of pardon in view, and reserving the greatest for extreme faults and those he despairs of.

ARTICLE VI.— Of Reproofs.

To make reproofs useful, there are in my opinion three things principally to be considered, the subject, the time, and the manner of making them.

I. It is a very common mistake to use reprimand for the slightest faults, and such as are almost unavoidable in children, which takes away all their force, and frustrates all their advantage. For they accustom themselves to them, are no longer affected by them, and even make a jest of them.

But I make a great difference between admonitions and reprimands. The first savor less of the authority of a master than of the affection of a friend. They are always attended with an air and tone of gentleness, which gives them a more agreeable reception; and for this reason they may be more frequently used. But as reprimands always shock self-love, and often assume an air and a language

of severity, they should be reserved for more considerable faults, and consequently be more seldom used.

2. The master's prudence consists in carefully studying and watching for the favorable moment, when the mind of the child shall be most disposed to improve by correction. Do not, therefore, reprimand a child, says Fénelon, in his first emotion, or your own. If you do it in yours, he will find that you have been governed by humor and inclination, and not by reason and friendship, and you will inevitably lose your authority. If you chide him immediately, his mind is not at liberty enough to own his faults, to conquer his passion and perceive the importance of your advice. You likewise expose the child to losing the respect he owes you. Show him always that you are master of yourself; and nothing will let him see it better than your patience. Watch a favorable opportunity for several days, if necessary, to time a correction well.

3. Corrections and reprimands set before men what they care not for seeing, and attack self-love in the dearest and most sensible part, where it never gives way without great reluctance and opposition. We love ourselves as we are, and would have reason for doing so. Thus we are careful to justify ourselves in our faults by various deceitful colors; and it must not seem strange that men should be displeased with being contradicted and condemned, as it is an attack at the same time upon the reason which is deceived, and the heart which is corrupted.

This is properly the foundation of the care and caution. which are required in correction and reprimand. We must leave nothing for a child to discern in us that may hinder the effect of it. We must avoid raising his ill will by the severity of our expressions, his anger by exaggerations, or his pride by expressions of contempt.

We must not heap upon him such a multitude of reproofs,

as may deprive him of the hope of being able to correct the faults he is reproached with. It might be advisable likewise not to tell a child his faults without adding some means of amending it. For correction when it is sharp, is apt to occasion chagrin and discouragement.

We must avoid giving him any occasion to think that we are prejudiced, lest he should thence take occasion to defend the faults laid to his charge, and to attribute our admonitions to our prejudice. Neither must there be any room left for him to believe that they are occasioned by any interest or particular passion, or indeed any other motive than that of his good.

ARTICLE VII.-To Reason with Children; to Prompt Them by the Sense of Honor; to Make Use of Praises, Rewards, and Caresses.

I call reasoning with boys the acting always without passion and humor, and giving them the reason of our behavior toward them. It is requisite, says Fénelon, to pursue all possible means to make the things you require of them agreeable to children. Have you anything displeasing to propose to them? Let them know that the pain will soon be followed by pleasure; show them always the usefulness of what you teach them; let them see its advantage in regard to the commerce of the world and the duties of particular stations. This, say to them, is to enable you to do well what you are one day to do; it is to form your judgment, it is to accustom you to reason well upon all the affairs of life. It is requisite to show them a solid and agreeable end, which may support them in their labor, and never pretend to oblige them to the performance by a dry, absolute authority.

Children are capable of hearing reason sooner than is imagined, and they love to be treated like reasonable crea

tures from their infancy. We should keep up in them this good opinion and sense of honor, upon which they pique themselves, and make use of it, as much as possible, as a universal means to bring them to the end we propose.

They are likewise very much affected with praise. It is our duty to make an advantage of this weakness, and to endeavor to improve it into a virtue in them. We should run a risk of discouraging them, were we never to praise them when they do well; and though we have reason to apprehend that commendations may inflame their vanity, we must strive to use them for their encouragement without making them conceited.

For of all the motives that affect a reasonable soul, there are none more powerful than honor and shame; and when we have once brought children to be sensible of these feelings, we have gained everything.

Rewards for children are not to be neglected; and though they are not, any more than praises, the principal motive. upon which they should act, yet both of them may become useful to virtue, and be a powerful incentive to it. Is it not an advantage for them to know that the doing well will, in every respect, be their advantage, and that it is as well their interest as their duty to execute faithfully what is required of them either in point of study or behavior.

ARTICLE VIII.-To Accustom Children to a Strict Observance of Truth.

One of the vices we must carefully correct in children is lying, for which we can not excite in them too great an aversion and horror. It must always be represented to them as mean, base, and shameful; as a vice which entirely dishonors a man, disgraces him, and places him in the most contemptible light, and is not to be suffered even in slaves.

Dissimulation, cunning, and bad excuses come very near it, and infallibly lead to it.

Everything that the children see or hear from their parents or masters must conduce to make them in love with truth, and give them a contempt for all double dealing. Thus they must never make use of any false pretenses to appease them, or to persuade them to do as they would have them, or either promise or threaten any thing without their being sensible that the performance will soon follow. For by this means they will be taught deceit, to which they have already too much inclination.

To prevent it, they must be accustomed not to stand in need of it, and be taught to tell ingenuously what pleases them or what makes them uneasy. They must be told that tricking always proceeds from a bad disposition; for nobody uses it but with a view to dissemble; as not being such a one as he ought to be, or from desiring such things as are not to be permitted; or if they are, from taking dishonest means to come at them. Let the children be made to observe how ridiculous such arts are, as they see practiced by others, which have generally a bad success, and serve only to make them contemptible. Make them ashamed of themselves, when you catch them in any dissimulation. Take from them from time to time what they are fond of, if they have endeavored to obtain it by any deceit, and tell them they shall have it, when they ask for it plainly and without artifice.

ARTICLE IX.-To Accustom Boys to be Polite, Cleanly, and Punctual.

Good breeding is one of the qualities which parents most desire in their children, and it usually affects them more than any other. The value they set upon it arises from