About: Bits About Home Matters by Helen Hunt Jackson

BITS ABOUT HOME MATTERS

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BITS ABOUT HOME MATTERS.

ByH. H.,

Author of "Verses" and "Bits of Travel."

1873

Contents.

The Inhumanities of Parents Corporal PunishmentThe Inhumanities of Parents Needless DenialsThe Inhumanities of Parents RudenessBreaking the WillThe Reign of ArchelausThe Awkward AgeA Day with a Courteous MotherChildren in Nova ScotiaThe Republic of the FamilyThe Ready to HaltsThe Descendants of Nabal"Boys not allowed"Half an Hour in a Railway StationA Genius for AffectionRainy DaysFriends of the PrisonersA Companion for the WinterChoice of ColorsThe Apostle of BeautyEnglish Lodging HousesWet the ClayThe King's FriendLearning to speakPrivate TyrantsMarginThe Fine Art of SmilingDeath bed RepentanceThe Correlation of Moral ForcesA Simple Bill of Fare for a Christmas DinnerChildren's PartiesAfter supper TalkHysteria in LiteratureJog TrotThe Joyless AmericanSpiritual TeethingGlass HousesThe Old Clothes Monger in JournalismThe Country Landlord's SideThe Good Staff of PleasureWanted a Home

Bits of Talk.

The Inhumanities of Parents Corporal Punishment.

Not long ago a Presbyterian minister in Western New York whipped histhree year old boy to death, for refusing to say his prayers. The littlefingers were broken; the tender flesh was bruised and actually mangled;strong men wept when they looked on the body; and the reverend murderer,after having been set free on bail, was glad to return and take refugewithin the walls of his prison, to escape summary punishment at the handsof an outraged community. At the bare mention of such cruelty, every heartgrew sick and faint; men and women were dumb with horror: only tears and ahot demand for instant retaliation availed.

The question whether, after all, that baby martyr were not fortunate amonghis fellows, would, no doubt, be met by resentful astonishment. But it isa question which may well be asked, may well be pondered. Heart rending asit is to think for an instant of the agonies which the poor child musthave borne for some hours after his infant brain was too bewildered byterror and pain to understand what was required of him, it still cannotfail to occur to deeper reflection that the torture was short and small incomparison with what the next ten years might have held for him if he hadlived. To earn entrance on the spiritual life by the briefest possibleexperience of the physical, is always "greater gain;" but how emphaticallyis it so when the conditions of life upon earth are sure to beunfavorable!

If it were possible in any way to get a statistical summing up and atangible presentation of the amount of physical pain inflicted by parentson children under twelve years of age, the most callous hearted would besurprised and shocked. If it were possible to add to this estimate anaccurate and scientific demonstration of the extent to which such pain, byweakening the nervous system and exhausting its capacity to resistdisease, diminishes children's chances for life, the world would standaghast.

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