Essays 36 to 40

Essay No. 36.
A Plea for a More Rational Method of Bringing up Our Children
BY
Bernard Myers, M.D.
Author of " The Care of Children" ; Lecturer on " The Care
and Management of Infants" at the National Society's
Training College for Teachers of Domestic Subjects.

AT the present time there is to be perceived a move¬ment, more or less permeating the civilised world, in which parents are asking themselves if they are adopting the wisest methods of bringing up their children in order that the latter may best be fitted for successfully battling with what is called "Life," and rendering them loyal, patriotic, wise, honourable, worthy, and healthy citizens; citizens, indeed, who, when the hour of trial may come, will not be found wanting in the capacity to render that service to the State which the latter, as their protector, may rightly
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expect. If it be essential for foreign States to look to the real welfare and fitness of all their citizens,
how much more important is it for us of the British
Empire in general and the United Kingdom in par-ticular ! With our enormous Empire, with its millions
of white and coloured inhabitants whose happiness can be made or marred according to whether we act with wisdom or otherwise, the matter of bringing up the children who will be the Empire's future rulers is to us of paramount, aye 1 of supreme and far-reaching importance.
Let us then consider : Do we, the parents of the United Kingdom, employ the wisest methods of bringing up our children in order to make them loyal, healthy, worthy, and efficient citizens, fit to govern and to be governed ? There are many modern phenomena in the social world to make us fear that the answer to this question must be in the negative. There are large numbers of British people who, while giving full credit to the merits of our present system of bringing up children, are fully alive to certain defects existing in it, and it is to these defects that I desire to call the attention of parents and others interested in this subject.
To explain the subject more fully, let us com-mence by asking ourselves what might be considered the ideal method of bringing up children, and then ascertain whether we adopt such a method. Might we say that the ideal of citizenship should consist of-

In the case of men:
1. Knowledge of religion.
2. Loyalty to Crown and country.
3. Home life (to make good sons, husbands, and fathers).
4. To be mentally, physically, and morally educated.
5. To be efficiently prepared for some profession, trade, or occupation.
6. To be trained as efficient soldiers or sailors, and to be willing to defend their country.
7. To intelligently exercise to the full the ordinary rights of citizenship.
8. The cultivation of altruistic feeling.
In the case of women:
1. Knowledge of religion.
2. Loyalty to Crown and country.
3. Home life (to make good daughters, wives, and mothers).
4. To be mentally, physically, and morally educated.
5. To be efficiently trained in the care and feeding of children, in cooking, and housewifery.
6. To understand the method of rendering first-aid to the injured.
7. To fully and intelligently exercise the ordinary rights of citizenship (as may befit women).
8. Altruistic feeling.

Do we reach this high standard? In individual cases, perhaps, yes! but generally speaking, un-doubtedly no ! Let us instance the want of patriotism in some of those who were unwilling to serve their country in any capacity during the unfortunate South African war, and whose actions could not possibly be said to be calculated to promote loyalty, but which possibly helped to prolong the struggle with disas¬trous results to both sides.
Is it not the case, also, that in the home life, although Britishers compare favourably with any other nation, there are many ways in which it might be improved in the children's interests ?
There are many who find fault with our method of mental education, and probably rightly so ; certainly many children have their minds filled with knowledge of which much proves to be of doubtful use in after life in the various vocations which they follow. This is being generally recognised by the educational authorities, and they will probably correct all the present faults in time—let us hope that it will be soon, as the matter is of great importance to the children's welfare. In the choice of professions, trades, or occupations, it would be beneficial to the boy if the parents and schoolmaster conferred together in the boy's interest ; the haphazard method of bring¬ing up the boy to nothing in particular and trusting to luck ought to be finally dispensed with. There will always be occasional cases where circumstances

will not permit of choosing a trade, etc., for the lad; still, these must remain the exceptions.
In my humble opinion, every able-bodied man should be trained as a soldier to enable him to help to defend his country in time of war, and the funda¬mental part of the training is much more easily taught him while he is yet a schoolboy. Therefore, I believe that drill ought to be compulsory in every boys' school.
If, before they leave school, boys were taught that it will be a great privilege and duty for every one of them, when grown to manhood, to intelligently exercise his rights of citizenship, we should in good time read of 95 per cent. of voters exercising their rights of franchise instead of a somewhat lower per-

centage as at present. Even do not seem able to rouse some of thoroughly comprehending voting accordingly.
Altruistic feeling must be Church, the parents, and the present race after money, this to be cast on one side, and yet

should be present in all classes for the good of the community generally.
With regard to the weaker sex, we may justly say that, taking British women altogether, they are prob¬ably the finest all-round specimens of womanhood in the world, and we are rightly proud of them ; but



even in their case we can also indicate weak points in their bringing up. Thus, if girls were taught the care of children during school life, how much better would it be for their offspring when, in good time, they became mothers. Again, who would deny that a knowledge of cookery and housewifery tends to make for happiness in the home, especially with those of small or moderate means, and yet how many wives nowadays are informed on these matters ? One might also lay stress on the importance of every woman having a sufficient knowledge that would enable her to render first-aid in the case of an accident ; indeed, the schools might with advantage teach boys and girls first-aid treatment to the injured. In time of war such women would be able (presuming they had also a sufficient knowledge of home nursing) to help trained nurses with their duties at the military hos¬pitals, should there be stress of work.
Might one add that there is a common failing even to-day in many schools of slavishly following what is thought to be the correct subjects with which to fill a child's mind ? What is often euphemistically called "good form " is considered before utility. As a matter of fact, in many instances little thought is given to the real and lasting good which boys and girls are likely to derive from the teaching of any particular subject. Would it not be better in all cases for those responsible for education to consider calmly, practically, and logically the most suitable subjects

which can be relied upon to prove of most use to the children in question, when they shall have grown to manhood or womanhood ?
WHY WE FAIL
We fail to cultivate in our children the ideals which we desire them to attain, because, first, we do not always bring up our family in our own homes with the wisdom, discretion, firmness, justness, self-denial, perspicacity, and love which should reason¬ably be expected of parents striving to reach a high ideal for their children. Nor do parents always take care that the environment of their sons and daughters is such as they would wish for them, although the failure to ensure this desirable state of things is an offence against their offspring, and due to laziness, carelessness, neglect, or stupidity.
Secondly, we have not yet, by any means, attained that ideal state in our schools which is beyond dis¬pute absolutely essential if we wish to inculcate the ideals here suggested ; yet it is obvious that the teaching of the home must be reinforced, where necessary, by the teaching of the school, and also vice versa.
Thirdly, we have not yet reached that perfection in family as well as in State government which en¬forces its will in the children's interest. Where the welfare of the country's future men and women is in jeopardy, family as well as State government must

legislate fearlessly and in the loftiest spirit for the children's benefit.
How WE COULD MODIFY OUR PRESENT SYSTEM OF BRINGING UP CHILDREN TO APPROACH THE IDEAL
From babyhood onwards, we should carefully watch and endeavour to ascertain the peculiarities of the child. Many parents would be astonished if they but knew how early, in the young life, various traits were demonstrated which betoken tolerably accurately the developing character. Thus spite, jealousy, obstinacy, vacillation, selfishness, greediness, or determination, sense of justice, liberality, unselfish¬ness, gentleness, and affection, etc., may be seen, if watched for, some, in the early months, others in the early years of the little person's life. Therefore, parents should not wait until the child is six or seven years old before commencing to bring up the child in the way he should go ; they ought, instead, as every observant mother is aware, to begin the bring¬ing up of the child from the moment the little one can understand the right and wrong of things in general. (See "Duty and Discipline" Leaflet No. 26.) In this understanding children differ, as is quite natural. It comes to some very early, to others a little or somewhat later.
Let us presume that a tactful and intelligent mother has brought up her child to the age of six

years with the knowledge of the difference between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, determination and obstinacy, liberality and meanness, sufficiency and greediness, industry and idleness, the progress made from six to twelve years will again depend upon the home influence, and also the method of in¬struction employed at school. It is very doubtful if any teaching, however excellent of its kind, can be all that we would desire it to be without a sufficiently conspicuous place being given to the enlightening of the young mind with an adequate knowledge of the Supreme Being. Therefore, religion and secular education must more or less be taught so that one forms the complement of the other.
At no other period of life is it quite so important for the system of culture (physical and mental) to be so complete as between the ages of from six to twelve years. It should be suitable to the individual, sane in its application, and beneficial in preparing the child for the battle of life, and instructing him in his duties as a future citizen. It is a period during which the parents have their great opportunity of inculcating into the child religion, loyalty to King and country, family duties, responsibilities, and altruism. Unsel-fishness, truthfulness, industry, courage, endurance, alertness, moderation, determination, gentleness, friendship, good feeling, and common sense need alluding to on appropriate occasions and in a tactful manner in order that good qualities may bear fruit,

and undesirable ones be eliminated or kept in check. Great, indeed, are the responsibilities of parents, but little short of prodigious are the possibilities which wise parents may achieve in guiding the expanding minds of their children. During the same period it is surely incumbent upon the school authorities to teach instantaneous obedience, respect for authority (illustrated as far as possible from the lessons to be learned from the lives of great Britons of the past), respect for and comprehension of the Union Jack, systematic military drill, and physical exercises, be¬sides reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geo¬graphy, drawing, etc.
The Earl of Meath's efforts to establish "Empire Day " (May 24th) deserve the thanks of the whole British Empire. It is a day to think of King, flag, country, and duty ; it has already done much good, and will in the future appeal to all classes to an even greater extent as its scope and meaning become more generally and thoroughly appreciated.
Another point : Let us make our system of educa¬tion a thoroughly practical one and suitable for dif¬ferent classes of children so that it will be a material gain to them and not a possible hindrance as they grow older. For instance, boys who intend to be farmers and who show no special aptitude for book learning ought surely only to be taught the three R's, history, geography, patriotism, drill, and such special knowledge as will be directly useful to them in after

life as farmers. By all means give every boy the chance to rise as high in the world as his natural gifts are capable of elevating him, only do not let us attempt to make a boy do impossible things by an impossible system. We must always see that our system of education is based upon knowledge of what is required, common sense, and experience.
In dealing with the education of girls from six to twelve years the same principles hold good. There¬fore, surely, all girls from the age of ten years ought to be taught those subjects which will be of special use to them in after life, such as cooking, sewing, laundry work, and the laws of health.
It is desirable to teach each subject in the simplest and most practical manner by experts. I am not in favour of teaching girls the care and management of babies until they are twelve years old, but then it should be compulsory. Housewifery and first-aid to the injured could also be taught after this age.
It will be well here to suggest that though it is our duty to do the best that we can for feeble-minded children, it is doubtful if the desire to improve these unfortunate little ones does not involve much wasted energy and money. Make them happy by all means, and improve them as far as it has been shown to be possible ; but some of the money possibly uselessly spent in this direction at present might be better utilised on behalf of ordinary or exceptionally clever children.

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mately gain and so be repaid for its care in enforcing a well-considered and wise system of education in the schools.
No one would deny that appropriate food, good housing and suitable clothes are of great importance to the growing child, but much more important is the example, for good or otherwise, which he receives from his parents, schoolmaster and companions. When a child of well-to-do parents is of a tender age it is a wise precaution for them to satisfy them¬selves that the nurse, whose power over the child is considerable, is a suitable person to have charge of the child and that she can really speak the King's English, thus obviating the possibility of the young and active brain learning English inaccurately and in a slovenly manner. The power of imitation in the child is highly developed, and it plays a conspicu-ous part in the dawn of intelligence; therefore, parents ought to be sufficiently careful of their off¬spring's environment.
In days gone by there can be no doubt that children were harshly and even cruelly treated by their upbringers, but at the present time the fault is, as a rule, that too much indulgence is shown to them. Treat children with kindness, love, justice and reason : this is the duty of all parents; but instantaneous obedience should from the earliest years be insisted on. Should the child need reproving, it must be done by first quietly reasoning with the child (if it is

400
old enough), and pointing out his or her fault ; if this fails to have the desired effect, it may be neces¬sary to have recourse to corporal punishment. "Spare the rod and spoil the child " is as true to-day as it was generations ago ; only we must be quite sure that we have tried first in every reasonable manner to cure the offence before having recourse to punish¬ment. Let us also remember that punishments which are not dreaded are ineffective, and ineffective punish¬ments are worse than useless ; they only irritate. Corporal punishment ought never to be applied to really hurt the child, but rather to make him or her understand you are in earnest in a reasonable request and that you must be obeyed. Nobody who is well acquainted with children could doubt the truth of the old adage, "The boy is father to the man," and the time spent by parents in heart-to-heart talks with their children is never wasted.
CONCLUSION
In this dissertation upon the upbringing of children I have endeavoured to write in an impartial manner of the general principles which might be established in this connection ; only here and there has a particular class been specified, and then only when it was apparent that they would be specially affected by the point in question. Far from my mind is the idea that the matter as here considered will be agreed to by all parents, as naturally in some

Essay No. 37.
The Model Childhood
BY THE
Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D.
Editor, Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia ; Author of "Silent
Times," " Making the Most of Life," "The Building of Character," and
numerous publications.
WHAT should the child-life be that would perfectly fulfil its part in the home ? We have a model. Once there was a home on earth in which a Child lived Whose life was spotless and faultless, and Who realised all that is lovely, tender, and true in child¬hood. If we knew how Jesus lived as a child in that Nazareth home, it would help other children to live aright. We know well that He helped to make the home happy. He never caused His parents one minute's anxiety, one pang, one moment of bitter¬ness. He never failed in a duty. We know that if we only had a narrative of His years of childhood, telling us what He did, every other child could study it and learn beautiful lessons from His example.
We have no such narrative, but we have one single glimpse into His home-life which reveals a great deal. We see Him at twelve years of age. He is in the temple at Jerusalem. The parents had lost

Him when they left the Holy City to return home, and after they found Him again, we are told in one brief sentence that "He went down with them, and came to Nazareth ; and He was subject unto them." For eighteen years longer He remained in that home. We have not another word about Him. The story of those years is told in a single verse : "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."
Scripture is silent about Him all those years. We have only this one sentence about the way He lived in that home : "He went down with them, and was subject unto them." Yet this one glimpse reveals the whole history of those years. He was subject to His parents.
Remember Who this Child was. It was over His birth that the angels sang their song : "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." He was the eternal Son of God. He had made all the worlds. Him all the hosts of glory obeyed. Yet He humbled Himself, veiled His glory, and dwelt in a lowly home of earth for thirty years as a human child. He submitted Himself to earthly parents, and obeyed them. No details are given—just this one word; but we can easily fill out the picture for ourselves. We see, for thirty years, from infancy to full manhood, this holy Child exhibiting in His home the most perfect dutifulness, obedience, honour, and helpfulness. He obeyed His parents, not

by constraint, but cheerfully, all these years. He did His part well in the making of that home.
This example is the answer to the question : "What is the child's part in the home ? " What is it but this : That the great duty of childhood in the home-life is to obey ? He was subject unto His parents. Although He was the Son of God, yet He learned and practised obedience to human parents. He did their will, and not His own. He had entered upon the affairs of His Heavenly Father. In the temple He had said : "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business ? " Yet immediately after saying this He went back to His own home to take and keep for eighteen years more the lowly place of a child. Hence we conclude that the Father's business for Him all those years was subjection to His earthly parents. This was the work which was given Him to do for that time. He had come to earth on a great mission, the greatest ever under¬taken or performed in the universe, yet the place in which He was prepared for that mission was not in any of the fine schools of the world, but in a lowly home ; not at the feet of the rabbis and philosophers, but with His own mother for His teacher. What an honour does this fact put upon home ! What a dignity upon motherhood !
It would seem that no argument after that were needed to prove to children the duty and the dignity of obedience to parents. We take our place far back

in the history of the world; we stand under the cloud-crowned, fire-wreathed Sinai, and amidst its awful thunderings we hear the voice of God proclaim : "Honour thy father and thy mother ; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." But even all these scenes of majesty—the voice of Jehovah, the burning mountain, the cloud and the thunder—did not give to this command such sacred authority, such solemn importance, as when Jesus, the Son of God, for thirty years in a lowly home on earth, submitted Himself to earthly parents and obeyed their commands.
Does any question ever arise as to the authority of this Divine word in the Decalogue ? This picture of Jesus obeying it in that Galilean home is sufficient answer.
Does the thought ever arise : "Is it manly—is it womanly—to yield to my parents, to have no differ¬ing will of my own, in any matter, to do their bidding in all things ? " Behold Jesus, till thirty years of age, yielding to the control of His human parents, asking them continually what they would have Him to do, referring every question to them. Was this manly in Him ? Surely, then, it cannot be unmanly in any son in this world. Where shall we learn manliness, if not in the life and from the example of Jesus ?
Thomas Hughes has said, in speaking of man-liness, and of courage as one of its elements :

life will always be more or less a failure which in its earlier years does not learn to submit and be ruled. No one is fitted for ruling others who has not first learned in his place to obey.
Someone may say again : "My parents are very plain people. They have never known much of the world. They have missed the opportunities that I am enjoying, and therefore have not intelligence or wisdom or education sufficient to direct my life."
We have only to remember again Who Jesus was. Was there ever any human parent in this world who was really worthy or capable, in this sense, to be His teacher, to guide and direct His life ? Was there ever, in any home on earth, such a distance between parents and child as there was in that home at Nazareth ? Yet this Son of God, with all His wisdom, His knowledge, His grandeur of character, did not hesitate to submit Himself to the training of that peasant mother and father. Shall any other child, in view of this model child-life at home, assert that he is too far advanced, too much superior in knowledge and culture, too wise and intelligent, to submit to the parents God has given him ? If Jesus could be taught and trained by His lowly parents for His glorious mission, where is the true parent who is not worthy to be his own child's guide and teacher ?
This, then, is the part of every child in the home-life. This is the way in which children can do the

most to make the home true and happy. It is the part of the parents to guide, to train, to teach, to mould the character. God holds them responsible for this. They must qualify themselves to do it. Then it is the part of the children to accept this guidance, teaching, training, and direction at the parents' hands. When both faithfully do their part, the home-life will be a sweet song of love ; where either fails, there will be discordant life, and the angel of blessing will not leave his benison of peace.

Essay No. 38.
What the Police Know
PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY FOR INCREASING CRIME
Extracts from the Introduction to the Criminal Statistics for 5909 by H. B. Simpson, C.B., of the Home Office; and from the Reports of the Chief Constable of Liverpool for 1909 and 191o.
COMPILED BY
Isabel D. Marris
IT is to be regretted that pressure of work, lack of interest, or disinclination to tackle the supposed profundity of Blue Books, should prevent so many philanthropic workers and social reformers from studying the reports of Government Officials, of the Police, and of other active administrators who are in constant touch with the actual conditions of our national life. It is unfortunate that the valuable stores of experience and information obtained by such men and women concerning hard facts and practical methods should be so slightly utilised by the general public, and that the progress of reform should thereby be retarded.
An attempt has here been made to set forth some of the carefully considered conclusions of two responsible officials in regard to recent criminal statistics, and the deductions to be drawn therefrom.

412
A closer study of the reports from which these extracts are taken is strongly recommended. Their full official, titles, price, and addresses from which they can be obtained, are given at the end of this paper.
The passages here quoted have been arranged in four sections, three of which follow lines of thought suggested by the Chief Constable of Liverpool in his reports as follows :-
I. That crime is increasing."
II. That the poor suffer more through this increase than the rich."
III. That the sentimental attitude of the general public towards crime and the criminal must, to some extent at all events, be blamed for the increase."
A fourth section has been added in which remarks
indicating possibilities of remedial work have been gathered together :-
IV. Remarks indicating possible lines for re¬medial work.
The passages quoted are indicated in the usual way, though obviously the sequence in which they appear here cannot be that of the original reports.
In submitting the statistics to the Secretary of State the Permanent Under Secretary writes :---"The Introduction of the Statistics has been prepared by Mr. H. B. Simpson, C.B., of this Office. In the

413
Introduction Mr. Simpson discusses fully the causes of the increase of crime during the last ten years; the suggestions he puts forward must be taken, not as the official views of the Department, but as con¬clusions to which he personally has been led after long experience and close study of criminal ques tions."
Mr. Ii. B. SIMPSON, C.B.
SECTION I.
The following are Mr. Simpson's words in regard to the increase of crime :-
" The high figure for crime which was a marked feature in the Statistics of 1908 is again apparent in the 1909 Statistics. In 1908 the total number of persons tried for indictable offences was 68,116, a larger number than in any previous year for which figures are available. In 19o9, though not so large as in 1908, it was 67,149, which is considerably larger than in any year before 1908.
"For the five years 1894-8 the annual average was 52,208; for 1899-1903 it was 55,018; for 1904-8 it was 62,000; and for 1909 it was 67,149."
"As to the increase of crime generally since 1899, how¬ever, the figures leave no room for doubt.
"It is no doubt probable that an increase or decrease of crime in a single year as compared with the preceding year may be in part attributable to industrial causes and the con¬dition of the country generally, but it would, I think, be impossible to obtain any series of figures bearing on the general condition of the country that would at all coincide with the remarkable series of figures relating to crime which is now under consideration. These point to a steady increase of criminality during the last 10 years which is more marked than at any previous period for which similar statistics are

414
available. It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that during these years some cause favourable to crime has been regularly at work which before then either did not exist at all or did not exercise sufficient influence to affect the figures. Moreover it can scarcely be doubted that there is a growing indisposition to prosecute for offences of the less serious kind, a growing inclination towards leniency to first offenders, a growing reluctance to take the trouble to prosecute a thief who, if he is convicted, is likely to be let off with little or no punishment ; and it is consequently probable that the real increase in crime has been even greater than is shown by the figures relating to the number of persons prosecuted. These figures are taken as the best available index to the number of crimes committed, and though they are nothing but an index, it is right to say that the figures relating to the number of crimes reported to the police, though they are probably in themselves of less statistical value, give substantially the same results."
SECTION 2.
The following passage on page II of Mr. Simp-son's Introduction bears upon Mr. Dunning's second point, i.e. that it is the poor who suffer more through this increase (of crime) than the rich.
"The crimes committed by them [i.e. men of weak character who largely compose the criminal class] are mostly crimes against property, but not, as a general rule, against the property of the wealthy, and the takings, being on a modest scale, require to be very frequent in order to provide sufficient means for living. It is probable that, in contrast to the eminent criminals whose coups most attract the attention of the police and the public, it is only a small proportion of their thefts that form the subject of a criminal charge or appear in the Criminal Statistics. The persons who suffer mostly from their depredations do not belong to what is

415
ordinarily known as the ' propertied class.' A wealthy man does not often expose any appreciable proportion of his income to the mercy of the common thief : his money is at his bank, and though the loss of his purse may be vexatious, it is not likely to cause serious embarrassment. A working man, a clerk, or a small shopkeeper, on the other hand, may be vitally affected by a theft which persons who belong to a higher social standing would regard as trivial. In the 1,795 cases of larceny from the person, and the 47,363 'minor larcenies' which came into court during 1909, the victims who suffered most were ill-paid clerks or working men and women, who were robbed of money that had been saved to pay the rent, or to pay for the annual holiday, or for their children's clothes; lodging-house keepers and domestic servants defrauded by rogues who were better off than them¬selves, or artisans who lost the tools that formed the whole of their working capital. The theft of tools valued at a few shillings may seem to many a paltry theft, not deserving of severe punishment, but to the owner it may mean a period of acute unemployment or even a subsidence into the ranks of unskilled labour. So, too, with burglaries : the rich man's house offers more temptation to the burglar ; but it is, on the other hand, more difficult to break into than the house where one servant only or none is kept; while the house-breaker, who operates by day, finds his best opportunities in those houses where no servants at all are kept, and the occupants may all be absent at their work during the middle of the day. Lastly, it may safely be said that when money or food is obtained by false pretences, the victims are more often than not persons of small means. Crime on a large scale is possible only for the few, while the vast majority must adopt as their motto the rule of ' small profits and quick returns.' In fact, the propertied classes can fairly well protect them¬selves against all but the more enterprising criminals, and at all events suffer far less than the poor do ; if the comparative defencelessness of the latter against the professional thieves and swindlers were more fully realised by the public, it is

416
possible that there would be less sympathy with the convicted criminal, and consequently less crime to record in these Statistics."
SECTION 3.
The last words in this paragraph merge into the third contention, i.e. " that the sentimental attitude of the general public towards crime and the criminal must, to some extent at all events, be blamed for the increase." On this point Mr. Simpson writes as follows :—
" If then the warfare against crime has been waged with less success during the first years of the present century than it was in the years preceding it, we are driven to ask the cause to which this can be attributed. No intelligent person who has studied the subject can have failed to notice the marked growth since 1898 of a strong sentiment of com¬passion for the criminal. Mitigations of prison discipline, the Probation of Offenders Act, and the establishment of the Borstal system for young delinquents are among the amend¬ments of our penal system which have been the outcome of this sentiment. These, it may with considerable confidence be hoped, will in the long run help to diminish the total amount of crime. It is very much to the public interest that an offender against the law should be enabled to retain his self-respect during the term of imprisonment that his offence may bring upon him, and should be encouraged at the end of it to do his best to retrieve his character. Excessive rigour towards law-breakers who are not yet habituals ' has un¬doubtedly in the past augmented the ranks of the habitual criminals, and the main object of the amendments which have been effected during the last 10 years in our penal system has been to facilitate an offender's return to the path of honesty and to make the punishment imposed on him an aid rather than a hindrance in his way. But public sentiment, or at any

417
rate the sentiment that finds public expression, has gone far beyond this.
"In the magazines and newspapers that are ordinarily re-garded as reflecting public opinion, articles on crime and punishment are commoner than they ever were, and the senti¬ment that is expressed towards the criminal is almost universally compassionate and often sympathetic to an extent that no previous generation has shown. From some of the expressions used it might almost seem that the reading public is on the side of the criminal as against the law, and is ready to accept without corroboration anything he may say to im¬pugn the administration of justice. Tales that would be unhesitatingly rejected if they were told by a beggar in the street appear, when urged from the dock as an excuse for theft, to be received with much readier credulity. One illustration may be given. In the summer of this year a man of 28 was charged with trespassing on railway premises. He pleaded that he was gathering flowers to lay on his father's grave. As his father had been dead some five or six years, and he was found in the company of two known poachers and a lurcher dog, he could scarcely have expected his excuse to be taken seriously by the Bench, who, in fact, imposed a penalty of 6s. 6d., to include the costs, or in default to go to prison for seven days in the Second Division : a fortnight was allowed him in which to pay the fine. But the story was presumably meant for a wider audience, and was eagerly taken up by reporters wearied with the dull records of the police cohrts. It was repeated with various embellishments and perversions of fact in the press of this country, and finally appeared in an American newspaper in the following form :—
" PLUCKED FLOWERS FOR FATHER'S GRAVE AND
II-YEAR-OLD BOY IS JAILED.
"‘ Because the T . . . Magistrates imposed a prison sentence upon an 11-year-old boy, whose offence was venturing upon the South Eastern railroad right of way 2 B

418
here, to pluck flowers for his father's grave, the entire Bench will have to do some explaining to the Secretary of State for Home Affairs. . . .
"' The boy protested that being too poor to get a floral tribute for his father's grave, he thought there would be no harm in taking wild flowers from an uncultivated plot. The Bench, however, pointed out with great severity that the rising generation of Englishmen must be taught respect for the rights of others. The boy was fined $1.55 and costs amounting to $7.5o, which he could not pay. He would have been sent to prison had not generous persons paid the fine.'
" Such glaring perversions of the truth as the above would scarcely be given wide currency in the press if it were not supposed that the first impulse of a considerable proportion of the public is to side with the law-breaker in his conflict against the law and to believe in his allegations of the harsh¬ness with which the law is enforced against him, however improbable they may be; and there is a good deal of evidence that such a predisposition is actually becoming commoner than it was. Now of all influences for the repression of crime the most potent is exercised not by the courts, nor the police, nor the prison authorities, but by public opinion. The belief that a good character is the best asset for getting on in the world is a powerful incentive to honesty. In many cases the fear of incurring censure and spoiling his chances of a liveli¬hood has done more to keep a man honest when he is tempted to do a dishonest act than any fear of what the law can do to him. Apart from religious or purely ethical motives there is nothing that supplies so strong a motive for honesty as the general sense of the community.
"A community that no longer resented crime, and had learned to feel nothing but compassion for the criminal, would in time inevitably find itself faced by a flood of criminality against which police and prison authorities would struggle

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in vain. And though we are far at present from any such catastrophe, it is permissible to suggest that the steady in-crease of crime during the last 10 years is largely due to a general relaxation in Public sentiment with regard to it. There is at all events ground for fearing that reprobation of crime and resentment against the criminal are at present factors of diminishing strength in the primary function of civilisation--the safeguarding of persons and property and the enforcement of the law ; and that the increase in the number of indictable offences, as shown in the Judicial Statistics for the last 10 years, is not a mere passing phenomenon such as has often been noticed in the Statistics for previous years, but the symptom of a real and increasing danger to the public welfare."
These, then, are the measured words of one who has opportunities for observation upon an extended scale. It is surely to the advantage of the public that they should be widely considered.
We now turn to some observations of the Chief Constable of Liverpool. It is fully recognised both by Mr. Dunning and the compiler of this paper that the conditions obtaining in Liverpool are somewhat exceptional. Nevertheless, it is felt that the follow¬ing passages are of general interest rather than local.
Referring to Mr. Dunning's Reports for 1909 and 191o, we And that in support of Sections and 2 he quotes largely from Mr. Simpson's In-troduction. His own words in this connection, how¬ever, are worth consideration :—

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" On the general question whether the state of the streets is worse than it was some few years ago one has to rely to a great extent upon personal observation, and impressions have to be discounted by changed circumstances. The spread of places of amusement over a larger area has spread the evening crowd which provides the market, and with it the sellers and buyers engaged in this traffic, but more than one circumstance during the year has impressed upon my mind the suspicion that we have gone back rather than forward during the year.
"That peculiarly despicable offence of men living on the proceeds of prostitution is on the increase; the prosecutions rose from 21 to 36, and among them were many of the worst form, namely those in which the offender was the lawful husband of the unfortunate woman.
"Immorality, outside its limited aspect which comes within the legitimate limits of this report, is, I fear, on the increase."
SECTION 2.
In regard to his second point, " that the poor suffer most from the increase of crime," Mr. Dunning again quotes Mr. Simpson's words. He also says :—
" Poverty leads to petty larceny and other crime involving but small values, and examination of the crime of Liverpool reveals an enormous proportion of petty larceny and of offences against property with violence, house-breaking and the like, where the loss is serious only through the poor cir¬cumstances of the unfortunate victims, persons such as are described in one extract from Mr. Simpson's Introduction, such as were described in my Report for 1907.
"But again, apart from these main causes of crime, poverty, drink, betting, there are special forms of temptation of fairly general application—amusement, for instance, enters more and more into the daily life of us all. One is glad to see increased opportunities of fairly rational entertainment,

422
but they mean increased expenditure, which in its turn means increased temptation to those who have not the legitimate means of satisfying it.
" There has been so much change in the regulation of places of amusement that there are no reliable grounds of com¬parison, but I have no hesitation in saying that the number of places of public entertainment in Liverpool has doubled in number since 1895, while the system of two houses a night has almost doubled the capacity of the Variety theatres, the weekly number of performances having increased from eight
to fifteen. This increase of licensed places and of their
accommodation, together with the invention of new forms of entertainment like roller skating, now on the decline, mean an enormous increase of expenditure and of temptation, especially to juvenile adults who spend their evenings utterly untrammelled by parental control.
" The electric picture halls, which provide on the whole a sensible entertainment of some educative value, cater largely at their day performances for children, and the details of many of the petty larcenies brought home to children suggest that the motive for many of them is to be found in the desire for amusement."
SECTION 3.
Endeavouring to trace some causes for the un-
satisfactory state of affairs prevailing in our midst, Mr. Dunning inquires :—
" But apart from juvenile crime are we going the right way about finding a cure for crime generally, or is not humanitarianism unfettered by common sense fostering crime, by extending the output of the individual criminal, and in other ways cultivating the criminal classes ? "
"Again, is the humanitarian in his attitude towards the
criminal actuated by a real wish to better mankind generally,

423
or by a mere desire to escape from what is personally un-pleasant?
" I find it hard to express what I mean, but here it is pretty nearly in a passage from a sensational novel :—
"` It would be madness to expect a civilised country to revert to the barbarism of an age in which death was the penalty for every other crime, and I will not insult your intelligence by denying that such a return to the bad days was ever suggested by me, but there has come into exist¬ence a spurious form of humanitarianism, the exponents of which have, it would appear, lost their sense of propor¬tion, and have promoted the fear of pain to a religion—who have forgotten that the age of reason is not yet, and that men who are animal in all but human semblance share the animal's obedience to corrective discipline, share, too, his blind fear of death—and are amenable to methods that threaten his comfort or his life.' He flung out his hand toward the judge—'You, my lord,' he cried,' can you order the flogging of a brute who has half killed one of his fellows without incurring the bleating wrath of men and women who put everything before physical pain—honour, Patriotism, justice! Can you sentence a man to death for a cruel murder without a thousand shrieking products of our time rushing hither and thither like ants striving to secure his release ? Without a chorus of pity—that was unexcited by the mangled victim of his ferocity? Killing, deliberate wolfish killing by man, say they in effect, is the act of God : but the legal punishment of death is murder.' "
In the 1910 Report we read :—
"When the Prevention of Crimes Act 1908 was introduced to the House of Commons, the statement that the object of dealing with crime was the protection of the community was greeted with cries of No.' This illustrates the attitude of the sentimentalist, who regards amelioration of the lot of the offender as the principal aim of penal reform. But mere re-

424
laxation of punishment has never done good to either the offender or the community; on the contrary, it has robbed the fear of detection of its value as a deterrent. A Recorder recently called attention to the increasing number of persons who deliberately commit offences for the purpose of going to prison, which treats them better than the workhouse does.
"Recent reforms of penal treatment, the substitution of the industrial school and reformatory for the prison, the Borstal system as an extension of that substitution, and the probationary care of offenders, are to be valued, not because they aim at benefit to the offender, but because through that benefit they aim at the protection of the community. They aim at curing the offender, and so preventing recurrence of offences.
"But there comes a time with some offenders when cure is impossible, and other means must be taken to protect the paramount interests of the community. The failure to recognise the existence of such persons is one of the reasons of our still retaining some of our faith in the system of suiting the treatment to the crime, and not to the criminal. We have begun at one end by devising better treatment for the first and casual offender, for whom there is some hope of reform, but unwillingness to recognise the nasty fact of the habitual offender, for whom there is no hope of reform, stands in the way of doing something really sensible to protect the community from him."
And speaking of juvenile misbehaviour :—
" Attention has in previous years been called to the growing carelessness of parents about the welfare of their children, to which this growing amount of criminality is due, and to the question whether the teaching of common honesty would not be more useful than some of the items of the elementary school curriculum. It is, however, the criminality and the crime, rather than their causes, which are more properly the subject

425
of this report. The strange thing about the discussion of juvenile crime is the tendency to blame the person who brings the crime to light, and accuse him of making a criminal of the child; but this is part of the sentimental attitude of so many people, who prefer to remain in ignorance of unpleasant facts."
It is of little use, however, to sum up a bad case if there is no hope of remedy. Fortunately it may be confidently acknowledged that there are marked indications that conditions can be, and will be, improved, especially if the efforts of reformers are backed by a healthy and well-informed public opinion.
The following passages from the Chief Con¬stable's Reports suggest possible lines of action, some definite, some more intangible but none the less effective :—
SECTION 4.
Speaking of habitual offenders, Mr. Dunning says :—
" Among the difficulties of administering the criminal law none are greater than those of finding treatment, 1 purposely do not say punishment, for the first offender and the habitual offender.
"Both these questions are the subject of constant dis¬cussion and experiment, both legislative and administrative, influenced to an undue extent by sentiment, by desire to hide the existence of real evils and to subordinate the interests of the community to those of the individual.

426
" These influences in many instances override the dictates of common sense, and, strange though it may appear, they more often prevail in the case of the habitual off enter than in that of the first offender. Both sentiment and common sense call for everything being done for the first offender, even at the expense of the community, but, when a person has been proved to have become a menace to society, surely the claims of society should override those of the individual.
" Take for instance the rules for the remission of sentence upon the test of good behaviour in prison; a person sentenced to less than three months' imprisonment gets no remission, but a person sentenced to not less than three months, whose offence and probably character may be taken to be worse, is indulged at the expense of the community without any regard to the probable result of his earlier restoration to liberty; for instance, a person sentenced to eleven separate terms of imprisonment of one month in a year would have to serve them all, whilst one who got eleven months in two fours and a three would not do more than about ten."
Mr. Dunning has a good deal more to say upon the question of preventive detention and other reme¬dial measures which it would be helpful to refer to did space permit It is, however, necessary to pass on to the question of juvenile offenders. In the 1910 Report there occurs a striking passage, which both indicates a useful mode of work for the prevention of juvenile crime, and which also bears out the contention first set forth in this paper, i.e. that the recorded experiences of such workers as the police might with the greatest advantage is closely studied by philanthropists and social workers.
Mr. Dunning says, speaking of the children :—

427
"So far for the 820 who came within reach of the magistrate, but more directly interesting to the police is their own action as set out in the figure, ' Cautioned by the police, x,006.' This embodies what I may call our private probation system, and covers the cases which are not serious enough for one reason or another to go before the magistrate.
"The caution to parent or child is sometimes given by the policeman who investigates the case, sometimes by the Superintendent. But every case is kept in mind, and when supervision, great or small, seems advisable it is given, while the inquiry made at the school draws the attention of the master or mistress to the child's needs. On this point I must emphasise the co-operation of the Education Depart-ment, and to the Director of Education I must convey our heartiest thanks for allowing us to work with his Depart-ment for the good of the child.
"Of the i,006 only 5 per cent., as compared with 7.9 per cent. last year, were in trouble again. This does not of course mean that 95 per cent. became little angels; probably another 25 per cent. did wrong without being found out, but even if 5o per cent. behaved themselves it would be satisfactory.
"Friendly relations are established with both child and parents to a much greater extent than they would be if appearance before the magistrate had introduced the child to something he did not understand and had caused the parent loss of work by appearance there; and I am inclined to think that words from the Superintendent, who is a more familiar feature of the child's life, have a more lasting effect than those of the magistrate who represents a more indefinite personality.
"In the course of all these duties, supervision of licensed street traders, treatment of juvenile offenders, probation work, and collection of parental contributions, duties which one and all require an intimate knowledge of the home,

428
the plain clothes police assigned to the duty paid 42,271 visits to homes. Not a single complaint has been made, and I firmly believe that these visits have a lasting effect, not only towards the particular object for which they are in-dividually paid, but in furthering that friendly relationship between police and people which should be the constant aim of the former. . . .
" There is enormous advance in all movements towards providing influences to replace or strengthen parental con-trol, to the decay of which juvenile delinquency is almost entirely due. Whether that influence is official, as is shown in the increasing control of the Education authority over personal behaviour both in and out of school, or unofficial, as is shown in the Boys' Brigades connected and unconnected with particular churches, the Boy Scouts, and so on, it all tends towards improvement, physical and mental. . . .
"Attract a boy by a uniform and some sort of equipment, whether it is the toy rifle of the Boys' Brigade or the leaping pole of the Boy Scout, and along with drill in its use he will readily imbibe instruction in many useful things, and above all in principles of discipline, of good manners and moral restraint, which, presented by themselves, would offer little or no attraction. Treat him like a man, drill him like a man, trust him like a man, set him marching about the country with his chest out and let him play at soldiers. Teach him how to render First Aid, and he will look for chances to show his skill. Teach him that it is a man's part to help the weak, to guide the blind man through traffic, for instance, and he will do it. Make him the modern knight-errant, and he will grow up into that man and be-come a useful healthy citizen."
Regarding the question of purity, among other passages are the following :-
"Public attention has now been drawn to the growth of impurity among the young, boys and girls, and to the

429
necessity as far as girls are concerned for prevention rather than cure. This, strictly speaking, is outside the province of the police, touching as it does immorality which is not unlawful, and there is no further justification for emphasising it as has been done in former reports." . . .
"To combat this is a matter of education, which is all the more needed by reason of the decay of parental influence over both boys and girls at the most dangerous period of life. Among the temptations which weaken virtue there is one with which the law could deal, the flood of printed garbage which flows all round the young. As long as the printing and publication of filth is a legitimate source of profit they will increase; competition has done away with many old-fashioned ideas of what is and what is not legitimate, and in few departments of trade is this more conspicuous than in the trade in printed matter."
"Personally I am glad to see the increased use of the birch, as there are many boys for whom it is the best treat¬ment, and some offences to which it is peculiarly suitable, indecency for instance.
" When corporal punishment does seem necessary, it is better that it should be done by order of the court, and not left to the parent as a condition of discharge; in the former case, it is properly measured and can do no actual harm, while the solemnity of the circumstances adds to its effect; in the latter, it often takes an objectionable form : a blow of the fist or the use of a buckled strap which may inflict an injury, and, being inflicted in anger at the trouble which has been caused, breeds resentment and hatred.
"The free use of the birch, however, is not to be taken as an indication that the treatment of the children is severe ; I believe that our court realises as truly as any the idea of a Children's Court, especially in the care taken by the magis¬trate to make the parents realise their duty."

430
"The suggestion that street trading should be absolutely forbidden to girls has occupied the attention of the Watch Committee during the year, but a recommendation that no fresh licenses be issued to girls under i6 was not approved by the City Council.
"Upon this point I beg to repeat what appeared in the report for last year, that, if prohibition of trading meant removal from the street, the benefit of the change would be undoubted, but the one thing does not follow the other. . . . It is said that street trading offers peculiar dangers to the virtue of the girls ; the street certainly does offer those tempta¬tions, but I am inclined to think that the girl who goes into the street to trade, under the supervision and protection of the police, runs far less danger than the girl who goes into the streets and parks for amusement, which she seeks in the company of the other sex, under circumstances which in themselves constitute a danger to her virtue."
In view of these and other facts, in regard to bet-ting and drinking, for example, which have not been dealt with here, and of the serious deductions to be drawn from them, it surely behoves those who care for the future stability, honour, and welfare of their nation to investigate these matters for themselves, to draw their information from reliable and experi¬enced sources, and then to resolutely accept their indi-vidual responsibility in regard to the formation of a sound and vigorous public opinion which shall stimulate wise remedial measures.
N0TE.-Mr. Simpson's Introduction is to be obtained in the Criminal Statistics, 1909 (England and

431
Wales), Part I., sold by Messrs. Wyman and Sons, Limited, Fetter Lane, E.C. Price 1s. 10d. net.
Mr. Dunning's words are taken from the "Reports of the Police Establishment and State of Crime " (1909 and 1910), supplied by the Police Stores, Liver¬pool. Price Is. each net.

Essay No. 39.
The Formation of Character
THE BABY, THE CHILD, AND THE BOY
BY
The Rev. Ernest R. Hull, S.J.
(Editor of " The Examiner")
OUR first question with regard to our children should be : What sort of result do we want our training to produce; or, in other words, what sort of men do we want our children to become ? And the answer is as follows : We want our children to become excellent Christians, excellent gentlemen, and excellent all-round men. And since the basis on which all these qualities must rest in order to come to their proper effect is "character "; and again, since character means life dominated by principles, it follows that the great business of our training is, first, to lay before the child the best and noblest possible ideal such as we have already described; secondly, to get that ideal stamped into his mind in the concrete form of sound principles; and, thirdly, to establish so firmly in him the habit
N.B.—This essay is composed of extracts from the book " The Formation of Character," by the Rev. Ernest R. Hull, S.J.
2 C 433

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of acting according to those principles that they will last for the rest of his life.
What are the materials out of which we have to produce this result ?
What strikes us in the first place is the immense difference between the baby we have to begin with and the man we have to end with. The baby comes before us as a creature of instinct and impulse, scarcely differing in its vital manifestations from the pup, the kitten or the lamb. If intellect and rational will exist in the little thing, they are in an almost latent condition—so latent as to be unusable in the process of training. Out of this creature we have to make a man ; and the essential notion of a man is that intellect and will should dominate his life, while instinct and impulse, though by no means repressed, are subordinated to these higher powers as a horse is subordinated to its rider. How is this remarkable change to be brought about ?
FIVE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
The first part of our answer is an extremely simple one. The work of transformation from the baby to the man is one which fortunately goes on by itself. The condition of babyhood seems to last about two years. About the end of that time we begin to perceive distinct signs of mental life, though not of the highest order. A keen interest in things around is characteristic of this second

435
period, which we call childhood, and which may be said to extend from the age of two to seven. At about seven years a third stage is recognisable, marked by a power of reflection, self-restraint and responsibility which we call "the use of reason." This use of reason initiates the period of boyhood (corresponding more or less to "school-boyhood "). At about the age of fourteen the breaking of the voice marks the passage from boyhood to youth (the hobbledehoy or awkward stage, as it is usually called); and when after a few years the youth re-covers his self-possession (say, by the age of eighteen to twenty) we begin to call him a man.
The important point to realise is that all this development will happen by the process of nature, no matter whether we put the finger of training into the pie or not. Our business, therefore, is not to bring it about that these stages of development shall take place, nor yet to determine their rate of progress. For nature has arranged all according to its own proper measure, and resents, and even takes revenge on, any interference which the officious trainer is foolish enough to make. Forced attempts to hasten the process will result in unhealthy precocity, life-long debility, or premature death ; while undue retardation will issue either in imbecility or lawless revolt. Our business is not, therefore, to exercise mastery over the developments of nature, but to watch them and, when they occur, to encourage them

436
and to direct them in the gentlest manner possible, by way of attraction from the front, and not by way of pressure from behind—or, in other words, to give natural development the best chance which cir-cumstances allow. Our attitude, in short, must not be that of a master, but of a servant, ministering patiently to nature in order that we may draw sweetly from it what we want.
But even a servant needs an intelligent grasp of the situation and an intelligent method, if his work is to be done well. The question therefore resolves itself into this : In what way are we to serve nature in its different stages, in order to bring out the desired result ? In the first place, everybody will recognise that the treatments proper for a baby and for a man are essentially different in kind. The training of an infant differs in little or nothing from the training of a dog. There are certain things which we want the animal to do, and certain other things which we want it not to do. When it does the one we reward it with a lump of sugar, and when it does the other we apply the whip. By a simple association of ideas the animal finds out by degrees that certain acts are bound up with painful, and certain other acts with pleasant consequences; and as this association is gradually stamped into the brain, it becomes an incentive (attractive or de¬terrent) to the doing or not doing of the deeds in question. The same treatment must be meted out

437
to the infant, regarded simply as such. With a man, on the contrary, our appeal is always to reason, intelligence, knowledge, conscience, the sense of free will and the power of self-control. And if in his case coercion is resorted to, this is not sup¬posed to be merely an appeal to instinct and impulse, but an enforcement of reason and a means of bringing the man to a better and more rational frame of mind.
Now these two methods, being essentially different in kind, are easily understood. We know how to deal with the baby and how to deal with the man ; but how are we to handle the intermediate stages between the baby and the man ?
THREE ORDERS OF FACULTIES
According to our philosophy, man consists of body and soul ; and the body is conjoined to the soul in such a way as to act as its functional in-strument—not a separate instrument like a saw or pickaxe, but a conjoined instrument, animated by the soul which pervades the body in all its parts. The soul is one, but possesses three kinds of powers, which we call vegetative, sensitive and rational, and which must be treated apart.
(1) The " vegetative" powers are those of assimi¬lation, secretion and excretion, and (as a consequence) bodily growth. Eating, sleeping and movement also belong to this category. They work by themselves,

438
as it were mechanically—just as in the plants—and without the necessity of mind to direct them. This is the department of the physical, and the basis of health and strength. The peculiarity of these faculties is that they come into existence in their complete activity from the very first moment, and are not, strictly speaking, proper material for train¬ing. The most we can do is to exercise external supervision so as to secure the best conditions for their healthy working. When we speak of the baby-stage of human existence we mean the period during which these faculties alone are in evidence —or perhaps more correctly, where the other and higher faculties are too immature for training, and so practically negligible. The result is, our treat¬ment of a baby, purely such, differs in no way from our treatment of a geranium, which we plant and water and manure, and submit to sunshine and shade, and which we prune and transplant according to certain rules learnt from experience—our object being to produce the healthiest, strongest and most beautiful geranium which our resources and the capabilities of the plant allow. Our earliest atten¬tions to the infant are much of the same nature. We must see him fed at the proper time and with the proper kind and amount of food, watch over the regularity of his natural functions, provide for the proper amount of fresh air and exercise, watch for symptoms of sickness and treat them accord-

439
ingly, and thus give the infant the best possible chance of growing up a sound, healthy and vigor-ous man.
(2) The next kind of faculties are the "sensitive." They comprise, first of all, the five functions of seeing, hearing, touch, taste and smell—and includ¬ing, of course, that kind of mental activity which underlies them. These faculties are not found in plants, but we share them in common with the animals. As soon as sense comes in, knowledge comes in also—knowledge, not of the higher or rational kind, but of the lower or sensitive kind. It consists in the perception of internal feelings and of external things. But the sensitive faculties in clude not only those of perception, but also those of feeling—of like and dislike, desire and pursuit of what is agreeable, disgust and fear and avoid¬ance of what is disagreeable—a kind of volition, though not yet of the highest or rational kind.
These sense functions are the characteristic of the period called childhood, and provide the first material for training. This does not mean that they come into existence with a jerk, for even in the earliest baby-stage they are present in some degree, thus theoretically affording scope for training.
(3) Last come the " rational " faculties, which consist of intellect and will. These are distinctively and exclusively human, and constitute a human being precisely as such. Intellectually, reason advances

440
beyond sense-perception by viewing single objects under the form of general or abstract ideas, as well as grasping such notions as cause, relation, etc. It also includes the power of using facts as a ground for inferences, or reasoning to other ideas. Ethically, reason consists in the faculty of will—of like and dislike, of desire and repugnance, resembling those of the "sensitive will," but working upon ideas in¬tellectually grasped and therefore in a higher plane. It also includes reflection or conflicting motives for action, their moral value, and freedom of choice between them. As soon as the rational faculties have reached a degree of development which is sufficient for their habitual use, the age of childhood is past and the period of boyhood has begun. We usually speak of the change as "the attainment of the use of reason." This "attainment of the use of reason," however, means rather the attainment of responsibility. This responsibility comprises three elements : (I) consciousness of free choice; (2) consciousness of right or wrong choice; and (3) consciousness of the duty of right choice--or, in other words, the ethical need as well as the power of self-control.
In this matter our rough and ready way of speak¬ing of the attainment of reason is apt to lead us astray. We think of it as something which comes at a certain time and by a rather sudden change; whereas it has really been coming on during the

441
whole of childhood, although attaining a full work¬able condition only by the age of seven. Hence the training of the rational faculties ought to begin with the first indications, without waiting for the fuller development which is characteristic of the b o y -s tag e .
THREE METHODS OF TREATMENT
We are now in a position to answer definitely the question regarding modifications of method. Suppose that the different stages came suddenly, and were strictly marked off from each other. We should then have three periods to deal with in turn, and three corresponding methods :
(1) In the baby-stage, when the vegetative facul¬ties alone are in operation, we should treat the infant as we should treat a plant.
(2) In the child-stage, when the sensitive facul-ties come into operation, we should treat the child as we should treat an animal.
(3) In the boy-stage, when the rational faculties are in evidence, we should treat the boy as an imperfectly developed man; but still as a man, be¬cause he possesses all the essentials which go to the making of man.
But, as a matter of fact, nature does not work in this water-tight compartment way. In the baby-stage, when the vegetable faculties are in full swing, the animal powers are passing through the first stages of development; and so the child-treatment

442
must in some suitable way be combined with the baby-treatment. In the child-stage, when the animal activities are in full swing, the rational faculties are also undergoing the first stages of development; and therefore the child-policy has to be combined with the boy-policy. Lastly, in the boy-stage, when the rational faculties are supposed to dominate the character, much of the child will still survive; so that something of the child-treatment must still be retained in, combination with the man-treatment.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HABIT
*Having sketched out the various stages of deve¬lopment from the baby to the incipient man, our next step is to consider the means by which that development can best be directed in right lines. Harking back on our first definitions, we repeat
* It is to be regretted that limitation of space prevents the inclusion of Father Hull's chapter dealing with the training of observation, rational mind, rational will, and ethical sense, etc., but the following passage re the training of impulse is so important that it is quoted here as follows.—ED. : " It is now time to turn to the other half of the subject, namely, the projective faculty of im¬pulse or sense-volition, which is based on the sensations of pleasure and pain, and issues in desires and shrinkings, likes and dislikes for different objects observed or experienced. These impulses are so spontaneous that they hardly admit of positive training in the earlier years; but they do at least offer material for practising the beginnings of self-control. The child has to learn at once that there are some things which must be done, and, other things which must not be done, quite irrespective of likes or dislikes—as to take food and medicine, or to stay in the room or in the cot, not to pull

443
that the great object of our efforts in training is to form character, that character means life dominated by principles, and that principles are ethical truths firmly grasped and applied in practice. The firm grasping of these truths and their regular applica¬tion to conduct means nothing else than the formation of habits.
A habit is defined as a stable and permanent facility in performing acts. It is at the outset im-portant to realise that a habit, if it is to have moral worth, does not mean acting mechanically. A loco¬motive always behaves in the same way as soon as the steam is turned on or off, simply because it is so constructed and cannot help it. Similarly in life, men acquire a way of "acting in a groove," as we
the furniture about or play with the fire-irons, etc. But since the child cannot as yet exercise self-control on motives of reason, the whole matter resolves itself into this : ' Do what you are told, or you must be whipped.' Though there is a certain limit to physical force, it is essential to good training that, even in this early stage, the child should never score over its parents by getting its own way. One single instance of successful obstinacy threatens to ruin the whole work and the whole character—so significant are the first beginnings of revolt. But care should be taken that the thing in¬sisted on is reasonable, moderate and in some way necessary; and that the burden of submission should not be made too irksome and difficult, or the tests too frequent. And though the method of train¬ing used in the child-stage differs little or nothing from that adopted in the training of a dog, still parents should always bear in mind that this policy is temporary and transient. With the coming age of reason always in view, they should habitually look forward in that direction, and begin their appeal to the higher faculties as soon as these reveal themselves in the slightest degree."

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call it, without reflection or purpose, and in this respect they differ little from machines. A habit involves a like regularity of action under like cir-cumstances, but if ethical value is looked for it means something more. It means a facility in the will to say yes or no according to a certain standard of conduct dominating the mind; in other words, a facility in putting principles into practice—the principles being already there.
EARLY INCULCATION OF HABITS
The first question is, Flow soon can the inculca¬tion of habits begin ? The answer is : Make no delay, but begin at the very first possible moment, taking into account, however, the capacity of the subject at all stages of his existence, and adapting the means and methods accordingly.
In the baby-stage, as we have seen, the training 0f a human being differs in no way from that of a pup ; and all our influence must be exercised physically and from without. If the baby spits its sucking-teat out, put it in again, and keep putting it in till the infant takes its food. If it kicks and struggles, or scrambles out of its cot, put it back
again, and in the last resort tie it down till it learns to keep quiet, etc. etc. As soon as the child-stage
begins, the sense impulses have to be directed by an appeal to the sense perceptions. The child is told to do this or not to do that, and the command

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is enforced by a show of pleasure and displeasure, reward and punishment, and even where necessary by physical coercion of a more absolute kind. Much at this stage can be done to teach the child habits of cleanliness, refined and quiet behaviour, accom¬modation to the wishes of others, etc., and to pre¬vent the formation of the contrary habits such as slovenliness, rudeness, rowdiness, inconsiderateness, insolence, and the like. Much can also be done to ensure a moderate and pleasant use of the voice, upright and graceful carriage, accuracy and dis¬tinctness in speaking, etc. etc. Also the habit of respecting things as well as persons—using books and furniture gently, keeping toys and pictures neatly and in good condition, instead of recklessly destroying them or letting them lie about in dis¬order, etc. Pleasures can be linked with correspond¬ing duties; for example, if a romp is allowed, things must be put straight afterwards ; if a holiday is given to-day, lessons must be all the better done to-morrow, etc. Then there are the restraints of time and place—to get up and go to bed and to take meals at the right time, to keep in the nursery and not wander into the parlour without leave, to come indoors or to go out according to regulation, to leave the drawing-room without resistance when told. Finally, various forms of self-restraint, such as not to cry without reason, and then in moderation and only for a short time; not to shout at close

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when it occurs, does not amount to a temptation at all.
This instance illustrates the value of associating two ideas together when the result of the combina¬tion is good; for instance, where the idea of a bad action is linked with some other idea calculated to act as a deterrent. And, of course, the same advan¬tage will accrue when the idea of a good act is linked to another which will serve as an encourage¬ment to perform it.
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF HABIT
So far we have studied the psychological basis of habits, which consists in what is called the association of ideas. Let us now pass farther back and consider their physiological basis.
Modern investigations into the structure and functions of living organisms have shown us that the nervous system is made up of a vast compli-cated net-work of tiny threads, in each of which resides a pent-up force ready to issue in motion as soon as it is let loose by what is called a stimulus ; and the letting loose is accomplished more or less as the explosion of a cannon is brought about by the fall of a trigger. The nerve-threads are like electric wires along which the vital force passes from one part of the body to another; and when the force

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reaches the end of a wire it results in a movement of the body in that part.
This "up the middle and down the sides " pro-cess—to borrow a term from the dancing saloon—is called "motor-reflex activity." Where sense or rational consciousness enters in, this is chiefly in a directive or restrictive way, rather than as the actual force producing the motion. In other words, the mind can switch on and switch off the con-nections, and thus allow the process to run its course, or stop it in the middle, or give it one out of two possible directions, etc. But whatever bodily motion there is in living beings is all achieved by this letting loose of pent-up forces in the nerve-system, and in no other way, as far as we know.*
Herein lies the explanation of what we call the "spontaneousness " of actions—how it is that the baby begins to breathe as soon as it is born, to cry almost immediately after ; how the eyelid closes when the eyeball is hurt ; how the hand goes up to pro¬tect the head as soon as it is threatened with a blow, etc.
VICES AND PASSIONS
Now let us see how these facts of physiology bear on the formation of habits in the young.
* Of course the mind can take a greater part in the process than is here depicted, and can itself provide the stimulus which sets the machinery in motion. At present we are merely considering the simpler cases.

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Motor-reflex activity may be called a habit implanted by nature ; for it fulfils the essential definition of habit, viz. a stable and permanent facility to act. In fact, the facility is so great that the difficulty lies not in acting, but rather in not acting, when the spontaneous forces of nature are once set to work. On the other hand, by a habit is usually meant something which is acquired by repeated acts ; whereas here the facility already exists before a single act is performed. Our business, therefore, in this matter is not so much to induce a habit as to control it; or, in other words, to create contrary habits of direction and restraint.
A little study will show that almost all the vices of which a man is capable—those, I mean, which involve any bodily action in their accomplishment—owe their execution to the presence of this motor-reflex activity. We speak of them as forces which "carry us away." The metaphor is just the right one. Any man who has analysed his state when under the influence, say, of anger, will find that a great volume of force is working its way through the body, creating a violent commotion in its organs, setting the tongue in rapid motion to say fierce words, and the hands to do fierce things. This panorama of passionate activity goes on as it were by itself, while the rational mind looks on like a spectator—disapproving, regretting, and even pro¬testing against it, but unless some sharp shake-up
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occurs, doing little to stop it till the storm is over. Deeds performed by passion without deliberate malice do not proceed from the initiative of the will, but from the loosing of the pent-up forces of motor-reflex activity. The will is responsible for them, indeed, but in a negative way—that is. by allowing them to go on uninterrupted instead of breaking in and turning off the current.
EXERCISE OF RESTRAINT
The work of training in regard to these forces is therefore, first, to prevent the motor-reflex activities from acquiring a greater facility than they already possess. For as with trains of mental association, so also is it with trains of spontaneous activity—they certainly gain in force and intensity with each re¬petition. And what is more—to use the previous metaphor—the more frequently the trigger which lets them loose falls, the more ready is it to fall in the future. Hence the vital importance of checking the very first exhibition of temper or any other vice in a child. For if indulged in with impunity once, it will be indulged all the more readily the second time, and so with increasing facility and intensity, till there is practically no checking it—and so the foundations of a violent character are firmly laid. On the other hand, a severe check administered the first time will not only call the attention of the child to the need of exercising self-restraint, but will

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(through the association of ideas) provide a counter-poise whenever the first beginnings of passion are felt. And if the check is repeated till it becomes vivid in the mind, it will go far to obviate the in¬dulgence altogether. It is always possible for a man to be of a passionate nature and yet to control it by the strength of the rational will.* But where the will is weak, this exercise of control is extremely unlikely to take place ; and even where it is strong the amount of effort required means so much waste of energy which might be directed to better uses. Now, no one would deliberately condemn a fellow-being to a needless struggle with his passions if it could be avoided. But those parents who fail to check the formation of passionate habits [and vacilla-
* The following passage re the training of the rational will is so important that it is quoted here as follows :-
" Of importance at this stage (i.e. childhood) is the training of the will. It is of the nature of the will to follow the under¬standing ; that is to say, an object must be known before it can be willed. Hence the foundation for all will-training lies first in the department of intellect or knowledge. We have already summed up the essence of the ethical use of reason ' under these three heads :—consciousness of free choice, of right and wrong choice, and of the duty of right choice. The sense of choice develops, we believe, as soon as the child finds itself confronted with the material for choice ; that is to say, as soon as it comes across two things both of which it would like to have, but of which it must perforce take the one and leave the other. The development of this faculty of choice can be judiciously helped by the following simple expedient :—Do not be too autocratic with your child. If it is the question of an apple or an orange, do not settle which it shall have, but put the alternative before the chid. Its motive of choice

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tion—ED.] in their children not only run the risk of turning them out criminals, but, short of that, impose a serious handicap on their future lives, by placing them under the necessity of a constant conflict with adverse forces which, with better training, would never have been arrayed against them.
But besides the violent passions there are other impulses which also belong to the sphere of motor-reflex activity, and which, while not violent in themselves, can by repeated indulgence grow into a habit leading to results more or less disastrous. Take, for instance, the spontaneous action of a baby in putting out its hands to take hold of anything which pleases its eye. It is an innocent action in itself. But if indulged indiscriminately and without
will be an incoherent one, dictated at first by mere beauty of colour. But that does not matter. If hesitation is shown, encour¬age it just long enough to let the child realise that it can make up its mind, but not long enough for vacillation. Put gentle pressure on to force the child to a prompt decision ; otherwise mischief will follow. We sometimes come across men who simply cannot make up their minds about anything. Due deliberation consists in weighing the alternatives, and the reasons at the back of each, in proportion to the importance of the issue at stake; but misproportioned deliberation is deplorable and ridiculous. Firmness and promptness in making up one's mind is one of the proper equipments of a well-formed character—as also is the habit of sticking to the choice once made. If you wish your child to acquire this characteristic of manliness, begin early in the way described :¬where the permission of choice is feasible, allow it ; insist on the choice being made promptly ; when choice has been once made, remove the object rejected ; and finally repress all harking back."

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check, the habit thus formed will have an important
influence on future character. The child, on seeing
an object which looks nice, feels a natural wish to taste it. Instantly its motor-reflex activity is aroused. Out go the hands to grasp it, and a moment later into the mouth it goes. This is exactly what any small child would do; and unless the lesson is effectively inculcated : "You must not touch every¬thing you see," the spontaneous habit of letting the hands follow the eyes will soon culminate in pilfering lumps of sugar from the table, then after¬wards in stealing apples from Farmer Dobson's orchard, and later on, perhaps, in an almost irre¬sistible impulse to take money out of the cashbox whenever the chance occurs.
CONTROL OF THE BODY
In other words, one of the most important parts of training consists in inducing a habit of proper control over the "spontaneous " movements of the body. The application is universal. It covers all those movements which go to the make-up of proper deportment—graceful gait and carriage, repose of manner, the habit of sitting still, restraint of the eyes so as not to pry too curiously into things, or stare restlessly about or fixedly into people's faces, etc. etc. It is here worth while noting that the discipline thus practised with regard to things which are morally colourless will also play an important
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part in questions of moral conduct. For if a pro per power of self-control is made habitual even in small matters where no evil consequences would follow from want of it, the facility thus acquired will apply itself naturally where self-control is a moral duty and the neglect of it a sin.
The word "self-control " is the key of the situa¬tion. . . . And this is the result which habits are intended to secure—habits which, while allowing the natural energies of the body their healthy scope, control and direct them according to the sound dictates of the reason, so as to make them issue in that kind of action which is alone worthy of a man.


Essay No. 40.
An Appeal to British Boys
and Girls
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A MEMBER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE?
BY
Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C., K.G., 0.M., etc.
I SHOULD like to think that every boy and girl in this country realises that the Union Jack is the flag of the British Empire—whose children they are—the emblem of its greatness, and as such should be revered by all true Britons. And I should like also to think that every boy and girl has learnt that the red patches on the maps of the world in their schools mark those islands and countries far away from England which go to form that Empire. For without such knowledge it is not possible for boys and girls to understand what the flag ought to be to them—an incentive to so conduct themselves that, at all times and under all circumstances, they may prove themselves worthy of being members of the great Empire which the Union Jack represents.
This Empire has not come to us by accident. It has gained its high position amongst the nations of the world by the courage, enterprise and fortitude
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of our forefathers, and it is maintained by the noble, self-sacrificing lives of our women as well as by the energy, uprightness and fair dealing in their inter. course with other countries, of our men.
We can maintain this Empire in all its glory so long as our men and women possess and are actuated by the same self-sacrificing energy, courage and devotion to the flag as were those who bequeathed to us our great inheritance.
You who are boys and girls now will in a few years be grown men and women—the fathers and mothers of the next generation—citizens of this
Empire and sharers in its good or evil fortune.
What you have to remember is that it is now, while you are young, that you have to prepare yourselves to face the responsibilities as well as the advantages and the glory you have inherited.
First of all, let me appeal to you, the boys. If you wish to be worthy of the Empire you must learn what duty means—duty to your God, duty to the Empire, duty to your fellows. You must work hard and conscientiously, and the sooner you under¬stand this the better it will be for you in after life. I am all in favour of games. Played in a fair and manly spirit, and in moderation, they are of great value ; for to succeed in games you have to keep your body fit and well by the exercise of self-denial and self-restraint ; you have to overcome difficulties, and you must learn to accept defeats with

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boys. To you also character is the first essential, and character can only be fostered by the exercise of self-sacrifice. By self-sacrifice I do not mean unthinking, blind submission. I mean the conscious sacrifice of the lower to the higher self that is in each of you.
If you look upon amusement as the main object in life; if you take as your aim, not the highest, but the easiest ; if you despise duty as a drudgery, and refuse all obligations that require unselfish devotion ; if you are not pure in thought and deed, what will be the result ? You will be unfit to take your place in the ranks of true British women. You have a great part to play ; you have to help your men-folk, your sons and your brothers, in their struggles against tempta-tions, and you have to fit yourselves to teach the generation that comes after, in their turn, to fulfil the sacred duties of life.
The Union Jack, I have said, is the outward emblem of the British Empire. Our soldiers and our sailors salute it whenever they see it ; our regiments used to carry it into battle, and many a brave man has died to save it from falling into an enemy's hands. That emblem should, I repeat, be understood and reverenced by every one of us, man or woman, boy or girl.
Once when we were at war with Holland a British admiral found himself, with only two ships, face to face with the whole Dutch fleet. Before going into

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and girls are now practised in physical exercises and in drill. And I trust that, in a short time, every British boy will receive a certain amount of military training and be taught to use a rifle with skill. This training cannot begin too early in life. It is not necessary that every boy should enter the army or the navy ; but every able-bodied boy should certainly pre¬pare himself to be a useful citizen-soldier and to be able to help his country in her time of need. He should be taught that though war, if wanton and aggressive, is a bad and cruel thing, it is nevertheless a most sacred duty and imperative on every man—most of all imperative on Britons, the inheritors of so great an Empire and so glorious a past—to be able to defend in war, if necessary, that Empire, and to jealously guard every right and tradition we hold dear.

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