to read and write short passages. Wadia showed a strong readiness to learn. But only a few minutes of the lesson had passed before she grew restless and went back to asking about the Easter eggs,

which her mother gave her to understand she had no hope of obtaining. She met this refusal by throwing herself on the floor, weeping and clamoring; and, with the familiar naiveté of childhood, she threatened her mother with soiling her dress, so as to cause her the trouble of changing it for her. So Mrs. Hoffman proposed to her mother that she be shut in her room for half an hour.

And here, madam, we interrupt the telling of the story of Wadia's stubbornness, so that Mrs. Hoffman may give you some general advice, on the assumption that you doubtless need it in raising your own children:

1 - A child repeats an act for which he has been rewarded.

2 - Not rewarding a child for a given behavior tends to extinguish that behavior.

3 - The child's freedom must be defined, and he must be encouraged to keep within it.

4 - The most important reward a child can be given, besides food and toys, is to give him special attention and to open the way for him to act big parts in playlets and games.

In Mrs. Hoffman's opinion, the ideal way to punish a child is to shut him in an isolated place where he does not feel his parents' love and has no means of attracting the attention of others. She continues her advice by urging you, madam, not to resort to slapping the child, and here she gives you conclusive arguments setting forth her theory, in the hope of convincing you:

1 - When a child is slapped, he receives a fuller share of pain than he is supposed to receive as punishment.

2 - When a child is slapped, he utters violent words at his punisher, the like of which he would be ashamed to utter in his normal state.

3 - When a mother's anger mounts, she threatens the child with a punishment she does not carry out once she has calmed down from her fury.

4 - As a result of the reaction the child shows because of his bodily pain, his punishment is doubled.

5 - However great the hardness in a mother's heart, a breath of moth-erhood is bound to blow upon her, and she regrets her injustice to her child and finds herself obliged to submit to his will thereafter, to atone for what has passed.

And now, madam, let us resume our talk of Wadia. At Mrs. Hoffman's request, Mrs. Evelyn shut her daughter in her room against her will. No member of the family was permitted to intercede for her until her fuss should stop;

and when she had accepted her punishment, she was allowed to come out. Mrs. Hoffman then took her by the hand and read her a little story, everyone marveling at Wadia's good behavior.

Suppertime came, and Wadia set about changing her dress; and when Mrs. Hoffman suggested she put on the suitable dress, she refused it. The expert answered her, with all tact, that her grandmother would love to see her in a dress she had given her—and this stratagem met with Wadia's approval.

With stratagems such as these, parents can win their child's com-pliance. Would that they resorted to deliberation instead of to folly and to fraying their nerves, which profits them nothing.