Such teaching should be given, as I have said, sooner or later, as the scholar’s disposition, gentle or turbulent, requires it.  The way of using it is unmistakable; but to omit no matter of importance in a difficult business let us take another example.

Your ill-tempered child destroys everything he touches.  Do not vex yourself; put anything he can spoil out of his reach.  He breaks the things he is using; do not be in a hurry to give him more; let him feel the want of them.  He breaks the windows of his room; let the wind blow upon him night and day, and do not be afraid of his catching cold; it is better to catch cold than to be reckless.  Never complain of the inconvenience he causes you, but let him feel it first.  At last you will have the windows mended without saying anything.  He breaks them again; then change your plan; tell him dryly and without anger, “The windows are mine, I took pains to have them put in, and I mean to keep them safe.”  Then you will shut him up in a dark place without a window.  At this unexpected proceeding he cries and howls; no one heeds.  Soon he gets tired and changes his tone; he laments and sighs; a servant appears, the rebel begs to be let out.  Without seeking any excuse for refusing, the servant merely says, “I, too, have windows to keep,” and goes away.  At last, when the child has been there several hours, long enough to get very tired of it, long enough to make an impression on his memory, some one suggests to him that he should offer to make terms with you, so that you may set him free and he will never break windows again.  That is just what he wants.  He will send and ask you to come and see him; you will come, he will suggest his plan, and you will agree to it at once, saying, “That is a very good idea; it will suit us both; why didn’t you think of it sooner?” Then without asking for any affirmation or confirmation of his promise, you will embrace him joyfully and take him back at once to his own room, considering this agreement as sacred as if he had confirmed it by a formal oath.  What idea do you think he will form from these proceedings, as to the fulfilment of a promise and its usefulness?  If I am not greatly mistaken, there is not a child upon earth, unless he is utterly spoilt already, who could resist this treatment, or one who would ever dream of breaking windows again on purpose.  Follow out the whole train of thought.  The naughty little fellow hardly thought when he was making a hole for his beans that he was hewing out a cell in which his own knowledge would soon imprison him. [Footnote:  Moreover if the duty of keeping his word were not established in the child’s mind by its own utility, the child’s growing consciousness would soon impress it on him as a law of conscience, as an innate principle, only requiring suitable experiences for its development.  This first outline is not sketched by man, it is engraved on the heart by the author of all justice.  Take away the primitive law of contract and the obligation imposed by contract and there is nothing left of human society but vanity and empty show.  He who only keeps his word because it is to his own profit is hardly more pledged than if he had given no promise at all.  This principle is of the utmost importance, and deserves to be thoroughly studied, for man is now beginning to be at war with himself.]