It is hard to see how this physical instrument of moral correction can be altogether dispensed with in the discipline of schoolboys. Their moral sense for the most part is all in the rough; it conforms to an esoteric code of its own, and it needs shaping, polishing, pointing, and directing into conformity with a standard of conduct which it instinctively recognizes but does not always succeed in attaining. Every schoolboy who is worth his salt knows that the words *video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor* are an epitome of his school life. His forefathers also know, even if he does not, that the *argumentum baculinum*, judiciously and opportunely applied, is a very salutary agency for teaching him to ensue the meliora and eschew the deteriora.
Caning from of the Times8
