“What, you pull the cat’s tail! Then I’ll pull your nose, to see how you like it.” And give his nose a proper hard pinch.

Children must pull the cat’s tail a little. Children must steal the sugar sometimes. They must occasionally spoil just the things one doesn’t want them to spoil. And they must occasionally tell stories — tell a lie. Circumstances and life are such that we must all sometimes tell a lie: just as we wear trousers, because we don’t choose that everybody shall see our nakedness. Morality is a delicate act of adjustment on the soul’s part, not a rule or a prescription. Beyond a certain point the child shall not pull the cat’s tail, or steal the sugar, or spoil the furniture, or tell lies. But I’m afraid you can’t fix this certain