Ariadne's Errors

“….Madame, since you brought the matter up in your last missive, I should wish to remind you that it is no small thing to discipline a young woman in that stage when she has left girlhood behind but remains impressionable and full of half-understood impulses.

If it becomes necessary for you to do so, and sooner or later it may, anger will not serve your purpose. Nor should the matter become known to the entire household. Instead, take the young woman aside, close the door, and tell her of your decision simply and clearly. Preserve her dignity, and if she has a wise heart she will understand that she has earned her punishment and will accept the fact with grace and remorse. I am your oldest friend, and I can attest that no young woman will ever think you unjust, for it is not in your nature. Nor will your lovely Eleanor, though she may shed tears in the fresh realization that one can never hope to dodge consequences for one’s decisions.

None of this is to suggest that you should be less than severe with her. The saying goes that it is time to put aside childish things, and in this matter you must make the lesson a hard one to bear. One might almost say it should be of another order altogether, such that she must summon as yet unknown reserves of obedience to get through it. You know that I was often punished as a girl, but my dear mother never used a long, supple birch rod to stripe me until the day I was caught very nearly eloping with a handsome but heartless rapscallion. How could she not have made the lesson unforgettable, for she had seen me nearly fling myself from a moral precipice?