In society he was esteemed as a just and righteous man; in the church as one who lived near to heaven.

As for himself, he believed that severity toward his boy, and intolerance of all the weaknesses, errors, and wayward tendencies of childhood, were absolutely needed for the due correction of evil impulses.

Alas! that he, like too many of his class, permitted anger toward his children's faults to blind his better judgment, and to stifle the genuine appeals of nature.
Instead of tenderness, forbearance, and a loving effort to lead them in right paths, and make those paths pleasant to their feet, he sternly sought to force them in the way he wished them to go.

With what little success, in the case of Andrew, is already apparent.
Angry at the unjust punishment he had received, the boy remained alone in his room until summoned to dinner.
"He doesn't want anything to eat," said the servant, returning to the dining-room where the family were assembled at the table.
"Oh, very well," remarked the father, in a tone of indifference, "fasting will do him good." "Go up, Anna," said Mr.Howland to the servant "and tell him that I want him to come down." That word would have been effectual, for Andrew loved his mother; but Mr.Howland remarked instantly: "No, no! Let him, remain.

I never humor states of perverseness.