MARTHA E. WARNER by Martha E. Warner

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 12, 1915

MARTHA E. WARNER

By Martha E. Warner

Front Porch Visits—No. 1

MARTHA E. WARNER

“OH, dear,” sighed Mrs. Bowen as she walked up my front steps one morning, and seated herself in a rocker, “I’m tempted to send Harold back to the ‘home.’ He does not appreciate a thing that is done for him. I know you will say I must not look for appreciation from a child; but really Harold keeps the whole house in an uproar. He cannot go by one of the other children without giving him a punch. They are not angels, and do not take it gracefully. I’m at my wit’s end to know what to do with him. Mother said that if you had Harold, you would “straighten him out.” Please tell me how you would go about it.”

“I don’t know about ‘straightening him out,’” I replied; “but I should endeavor to put a stop to that punching. One of my boys had the same habit. I talked with him, and tried to show him what it might lead to, but to no avail. One day while seeking for wisdom, something seemed to say, ‘Give him a pillow to punch.’ The next time John began to punch one of the other children, I called him to me, and told him that as he seemed determined to punch, he could punch a pillow for five minutes; and every time he punched the children after that, five minutes would be added.”

“John thought that would be great fun, and attacked the pillow vigorously; but five minutes was a long time, and the pillow did not cry, ‘Mother, John is punching me!’”

“The day came when John had to pommel that pillow for half an hour, and then there was no fun in it.

“When his time was up, he came to me, and said, ‘You may put that old pillow up in the attic, mother; I’ll not need it any more.’ And he did not.”

“That is an unusual way to punish a child,” remarked Mrs. Bowen, “but it seemed to work well in John’s case.”

Clintonville, Conn.