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  ...children are very common among us, and such men and women, too. How are they to be governed?" said St. Clare.
"I'm sure it's more than I can say," said Miss Ophelia.
"Or I either," said St. Clare. "The horrid cruelties and outrages that once and a while find their way into the papers,--such cases as Prue's, for example,--what do they come from? In many cases, it is a gradual hardening process on both sides,--the owner growing more and more cruel, as the servant more and more callous. Whipping and abuse are like laudanum: you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.   I saw this very early when I became an owner; and I resolved never to begin, because I did not know when I should stop,--and I resolved, at least, to protect my own moral nature. The consequence is, that my servants act like spoiled children; but I think that better than for us both to be brutalized together. You have talked a great deal about our responsibilities in educating, Cousin. I really wanted you to _try_ with one child, who is a specimen of thousands among us."
"It is your...   Stowe, Harriet Beecher

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