But it was not perceived, and it seems indeed not even yet to be generally recognised, that the system which replaced it, and is only now beginning to pass away, involved another and more subtle tyranny, the more potent because not seemingly harsh.

Parents no longer whipped their children even when grown up, or put them in seclusion, or exercised physical force upon them after they had passed childhood.

They felt that that would not be in harmony with the social customs of a world in which ancient feudal notions were dead.

But they merely replaced the external compulsion by an internal compulsion which was much more effective.

It was based on the moral assumption of claims and duties which were rarely formulated because parents found it quite easy and pleasant to avoid formulating them, and children, on the rare occasions when they formulated them, usually felt a sense of guilt in challenging their validity.