30 H 
 
ALBERT R. MANN 
 LIBRARY 
 
 New York State Colleges 
 
 OF 
 
 Agriculture and Home Economics 
 
 Cornell University 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 LB3014.K18 
 That bad boy, and other stories; °''^°^ 
 
 3 1924 013 370 659 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013370659 
 
^t-^^^^-wU.^ '^5.^;:^^^ 
 
 TEACHERS' HELPS. 
 
 No. 2 
 
 .LB 3^ 
 
 /</r 
 
 THAT BAD BOY 
 
 and Other Stories; 
 OR 
 
 low to Manage a School. 
 
 y jJi^^y^ayqHyg'taHy ^^ ;yajli;y5^ S^ >y y Ig T«retWu%S Ig^^^fc^.^^^ %j^plp^CCwf 
 
 By T. C. KARNS, 
 
 I Late Professor of Philosophy and Pedagogics in 
 the tlQivsrsity of Tennessee. 
 
 ? QrJ^V'^KJp^^JTcV^V^^l^icV^? ^V^T^T^V ^v^^^3^ff^3^D ^v^S^S^B ^i^3^3^SC!^S^'d^E*S. ^ClCH 
 
 Published Monthly $1.50 a Year. 
 Sing;le Numbers 15c 
 Double Number 25c 
 
 CLAUDE J. BELL, Publisher. 
 
 NASHVILLE, TENN. 
 
Teachers' 
 Helps. 
 
 Opening 
 Exercises 
 for Schools. 
 
 BY T. E. SANDERS. 
 
 Do you want to interest and inspire your pu- 
 pils? "Opening Exercises for Schools," by 
 Supt. T. E. Sanders, contains Songs, Stories, 
 Recitations, Memory Gems, etc. It will prevent 
 tardiness. It will give tone to tlie whole day's 
 work. It will relieve the general exercises of 
 their monotony and the teacher from the worry 
 of finding something to give for opening of school. 
 Its use will teach lessons of patriotism, duty, 
 love, respect, gratitude and devotion. It con- 
 tains material for a nine month term. 
 
 The book is a gem. You will be pleased with it. 
 Fine paper, beautiful print. Only 25 cents 
 postpaid. 
 
 Claude J. Bell, Publisher, 
 
 NASHVILLE, TENN. 
 
AND OTHER STORIES; 
 
 OR 
 
 HOW TO MANAGE A SCHOOL. 
 
 T. C. KARNS, 
 
 Late Professor of Philosophy and Pedagogies in th^ 
 University of Tennessee. 
 
 CLAUDE c). BELL, Publisher, 
 
 NASHVILIvE, TENN. 
 
 1901. 
 
COPYRIGHT APPLIED FOR 
 T. C. KARN^, 1901. 
 
TO 
 THE COMMON SCHOOt TEACHER, 
 UPON WHOM THE HOPE OF HU- 
 IIANITY RESTS, IS THIS LITTLE 
 BOOK DEDICATED. * * * 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To govern a school successfully is absolutely essential 
 to the teacher's success. This little book is offered as a 
 help in the attainment of this end. It is not proposed as 
 a full treatise on school management, but the author 
 hopes it may be suggestive and helpful to young teach- 
 ers. If it leads to the further reading of works in the 
 same line, and to the visiting of schools, and conference 
 with most successful teachers, its publication will not 
 have been in vain. 
 
Introduction. 
 
 Teachers are plain, usually a plodding sort of people. 
 They are not noted for their convivial habits or their fond- 
 ness for good fellowship. We rarely hear of such an or- 
 {janization as a teachers' social club. A pedagogical gath- 
 ering from which anj^thing like ' 'Tales of a Wayside Inn' ' 
 could go forth would seem especially odd. And yet, I 
 may be pardoned for partially lifting the veil from a sto- 
 ry-telling assembly of teachers which, once upon a time, 
 held a series of impromptu meetings. It was during the 
 session of a teachers' institute, or summer school, and 
 the place for the gathering was a quaint old village ho- 
 tel. 
 
 These pedagogues had come from widely different sec- 
 tions of the countr}^ and were possessed of a rich fund of 
 experience. They represented all grades of the profes- 
 sion. In the cool summer evenings after the day's work 
 was done, they assembled informall}- on the broad piazza 
 of the hotel, and, in turns, told stories of their bad boys, 
 and, perchance, of their good girls. Coming after the 
 regular program of lectures on philosophical pedagogy, 
 nothing seemed more appropriate and instructive. The 
 whole discussion turned on cases of discipline and man- 
 agement. The stories and the remarks which succeeded 
 each, I have attempted to reproduce in the chapters 
 which follow. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Story of Robert. 
 
 The first slory was told 1d>- a prominent teacher of long 
 experience. We shall know him as Mr. Broome. He 
 spoke, in substance, as follows: 
 
 "I have taught mainly in cities, and I have had much 
 experience with bad boys. I believe there are more of 
 them in the city than in the countr}-. One case, in par- 
 ticular, I shall never forget. I had charge of a private 
 academy. It was a boys' school and most of my students 
 were the sons of well-to-do and culti\ated people. The 
 boys were generally a noble set of fellows. And yet 
 some of them showed a remarkable perversitj', when it 
 came to perpetrating mischief of a petty, but very vexa- 
 tious, character. 
 
 • "One of the boys, whom I shall call Robert, gave me 
 a great deal of trouble. His mother was a widow and 
 wealthy. As is usual in such cases, she had spoiled her 
 son by indulgence. She had allowed him to fall in with 
 undesirable associates from whom the boy learned to be 
 idle and self-willed. Naturalh- he had good impulses, 
 but allowed his desire for amusement to absorb all his 
 thoughts. He delighted to tease animals and play tricks 
 upon other boj-s in the neighborhood. He had given all 
 his teachers much trouble with \'arious forms of mis- 
 chief. 
 
 "After he entered my school, these traits soon mani- 
 fested themselves. He still thought much of mischief 
 and little of study. This led him into antagonism with 
 the management of the school. I caught him in many of 
 
—7— 
 
 his tricks and had to reprimand him severely. Yet he 
 was so slj' that, in many cases, he escaped detection. 
 
 "One day I was called out of the room for a moment. 
 When I returned, all the boys were coughing violently 
 with their ej'es in a lachrymose state which betokened 
 something serious. I was m3-self not long in perceiving 
 a pungency in the air of the room which made breathing 
 unpleasant. Many students were sneezing, and, as is al- 
 waj's the case, certain boys were seized with paroxysms, 
 which were e\'identl\- not wholly involuntar}'. 
 
 " 'What is the matter?' said I. 
 
 " 'Pepper on the stove, Professor,' replied several of 
 the bo}-s. 
 
 "Of course there was no use to ask who put it there, 
 for nobod},' would ha^-e told. B}- a glance over the room 
 I saw at once that Robert was the guilty person. He 
 was an adept in assuming an air of innocence, but this 
 time he overdid it and betrayed himself. 
 
 "At my direction the windows were opened, the stove 
 was brushed off, and the boys soon had the room clear. 
 I thought it best to say nothing further about the matter 
 at that time. So we proceeded with the regular work. 
 
 "At intervals, during the rest of the day, I thought 
 the matter over and determined on a line of action. At 
 the close of school, I asked Robert to remain in his seat 
 for a few momefrts. When we were alone, I charged 
 hiin with putting the pepper on the stove as before relat- 
 ed. He had too much manhood to tell a lie and finally 
 owned up. 
 
 " 'Robert, what do you suppose I ought to do with 
 )-ou?' said I. 'Don't 3-ou think this has been going on 
 long enough? You know I have had a great deal of 
 
— 8— 
 
 trouble with you. I am told it has been the same with 
 your former teachers. You are now a large boy, and it 
 seems to me that your conduct cannot be longer endured. 
 Much as I regret it, I have decided that I must whip 
 you.' 
 
 "At this he bristled up and showed a rebellious spirit, 
 saying, 'No teacher can whip me.' 
 
 "I kept perfectly cool. 'Well, Robert,' said I, 'that 
 is all right. I should take no pleasure in whipping you. 
 I only have a duty to perform. Since you object, I shall 
 not whip you. There will be no contest between us. I 
 have tried very hard to get along with you and have fail- 
 ed. The only course left me is to send you home to 
 stay.' 
 
 "I quietly sat down to write a note to Robert's mother. 
 He sat still and did some thinking, as I expected him to 
 do. The turn of affairs had startled him. When I was 
 through with writing the note, I read it to him. It con- 
 tained a pleasant allusion to some of his good traits, after 
 narrating the circumstances of his expulsion. I had ex- 
 pressed to his mother my great sorrow for the necessity of 
 this action. I then handed Robert the note and said: 
 
 " 'Please take this note to your mother. In hearing it 
 read, you noticed that it explains all. I am very sorry, 
 Robert, but I see no other way. I wish I did. You 
 may go now. Good-bye.' 
 
 ' 'The boy picked up his books and started for the door. 
 There he hesitated and stopped. He turned around and 
 said: 'Mr. Broome, I'm not going to take this note to 
 my mother.' He was still hoping for a conflict. 
 
 ■' 'Very well, Robert,' said I. 'You may leave it, and 
 I will send it by a special messenger, or b}- mail. I 
 
—9— 
 
 thought you might like to be present when it was re- 
 ceived and ofEer some explanation or excuse.' 
 
 "He looked puzzled for a moment, and then passed 
 out the door. He had been gone scarceh- a minute 
 when he burst into the room again, crying and beg- 
 ging piteously: 
 
 " 'O, Professor Broome, I can't go home this way! It 
 would kill mj^ mother! Please whip me and let me stay! 
 Please whip me ! ' 
 
 "This was a happy moment for the teacher. It was 
 just what I had hoped for. 
 
 " 'No; Robert,' I replied, 'I shall not whip you now! 
 That would give me more punishment than it would give 
 you. You now show such a noble spirit that nothing 
 could induce me to think of whipping you. Even more 
 — your mother shall know nothing of this. If you only 
 act right for the future, all will be well.' 
 
 ' 'The light broke in upon his consciousness, and Rob- 
 ert was standing in a new relation to the world around 
 him. He had expected punishment and abuse — an eye 
 for an eye and a tooth for a tooth — but found only kind- 
 ness instead! All his props for resistance had been 
 knocked from under him, and true manhood at last as- 
 serted itself. He could not keep it down. 
 
 "I said again, 'Robert, you may go, and God bless 
 you.' 
 
 "He passed out, but in a moment stuck his head back 
 through the door, and, in a choking voice, mumbled out, 
 'Much obliged to j'oul' 
 
 "He remained in school for three years, but I never 
 had anv more trouble with Robert." 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 Discussion of Robert's Case. 
 
 At the end of Mr. Broome's story, nearly every teach- 
 er present had some comment to make, or some question 
 to ask. With few exceptions, there was unanimous ap- 
 proval of his course with Robert. 
 
 One self-important young pedagogue thought he would 
 have "put the bud to the young gentleman," as he ex- 
 pressed it, and conquered him on the spot. This met 
 with a strong murmur of dissent. 
 
 "That was the plan in my early day," said a silver- 
 haired veteran, "but it will not pay, boys. It caused 
 endless trouble and generally resulted in crippling, or 
 breaking up, the school. When I was a child at school, 
 the teacher tried to flog one of 'the big boys' for some 
 tri^^al offense. The fellow resisted and the teacher beat 
 him black and blue with his fist and then pitched him out 
 of the door. The father and two big brothers came to 
 the school-house next day with hickory clubs to whip the 
 teacher in turn. A determined look of the latter, and 
 the fear that he was armed, caused them to desist, but 
 warrants were taken out for the whole crowd and before 
 that teacher was through with it he had paid out one 
 hundred and fifty dollars. The neighborhood was torn 
 in factions and the school went down." 
 
 A young lady with a gentle voice spoke next. "As 
 Drummondsays, %ove is the greatest thing in the world.' 
 
— II — 
 
 To begin with, I don't recognize the bad Isoy as such. 
 When I enter 1113' school-room on the first day of the 
 term, I treat all pupils as if I expected nothing but good 
 conduct. I saj' little, or nothing, about it, but I proceed 
 on that basis. At the same time, I try to know who the 
 bad boy is, and by no means do I neglect him. So far as 
 possible, I remove the last vestige of school-room antag- 
 onism between pupil and teacher. That antagonism is 
 what makes the trouble. The bad boj^ will not treat you 
 ill in his mother's parlor, or in any relation, before you as- 
 sume the attitude of teacher. Why then, should this un- 
 natural strife between teacher and pupil be.gin as soon as 
 school opens? It is mainl}- because of the attitude of the 
 teacher towards the pupils. The latter are not approach- 
 ed as the\' are elsewhere. Tlie>- should be treated with 
 equal respect and consideration in school, as well as out 
 of it. Their personality- and natural rights should be 
 recognized just as carefulh*. I think the teacher should 
 even ask the pupils pardon for unintentional wrong done 
 him. Courtes}' prompts courtesy in return. Justice gen- 
 erates justice. Antagonism also begets antagonism and 
 force begets force. Lay all such aside at once. I do not 
 mean that the teacher should show weakness. The pu- 
 pils must, always feel that there is a reserve power in the 
 teacher which will be wielded justly, if the occasion 
 should demand it." 
 
 "That is all as true as gospel," exclaimed a city super- 
 intendent "I want that lady in my schools next year. 
 The }'oung teacher needs to learn at once that it is not 
 the strongest muscle that succeeds best with the bad boy. 
 The gentlest, most demure Jittle woman in the school- 
 room sometimes leads him like a lamb. Those who have 
 
— 12 — 
 
 read 'The Evolution of Dodd' will recall an instance." 
 
 A teacher of some age and experience, and of quiet de- 
 meanor, then spoke. "If there is anything that may be 
 called a terror to the teacher," said he, "I think it is 
 the bad boy. And yet I believe there are teachers who 
 enjoy a tussle with him. They like to try their mettle 
 on him and show their prowess in taming the animal, 
 just as a cowboy takes delight from breaking in a buck- 
 ing broncho. UnfortunatelJ^ I never was of that class. 
 The bad bo}^ haunted my consciousness at early morn and 
 dewy eve; of course, with intervals of more or less length. 
 And yet, though coming up, as it were, through great 
 tribulation, I believe I maj' claim that I managed to get 
 along fairly well, e^-en with the bad boy. The fact that 
 we are distrustful of our powers sometimes causes us to 
 be more careful and strive more diligently for success." 
 
 Another teacher A-ery wisely thought that it would 
 take perfection of management to succeed with all cases, 
 and have no trouble at all. "No teacher," said he, "can 
 forestall and avoid all friction. Everj^ teacher has his 
 limitations, and so does everj' plan and every theory, 
 though the lack of success is more apt to be the teacher's 
 fault. Some teachers give little study to difficult cases. 
 Others have long cultivated such a hostile [attitude to- 
 wards their pupils that their very presence arouses, in 
 every bad boj% a spirit of antagonism. Before the first 
 day of school closes, the enemy is in hostile array. The 
 battle is then fought to a finish, and the result, in some 
 form, is generally against the teacher. Brute force may 
 conquer, but at the expense of much heart-ache, loss of 
 friends, pnd a weakened school." 
 
 "Mr. Broome, I should take you and the other ad- 
 
—13— 
 
 vocates of your method, to be disciples of Count Tolstoi, 
 the great Russian philosopher and author." 
 
 All eyes were turned in the direction whence these 
 words came. They were spoken by a man of unobtrusive 
 dress and demeanor. His appearance betokened culture, a 
 good situation, and a living salary. Inquiry revealed the 
 fact that that he was a professor of pedagogy in one of 
 the leading universities. 
 
 "Tolstoi," continued the professor, "has radical ideas 
 regarding war, strife, and all forms of 'resistance to evil,' 
 as he calls it . He interprets Christ' s words literally where 
 the latter says, 'and unto him that smiteth thee on the 
 one cheek offer also the other.' The Count would car- 
 ry this principle into all the relations of life. He thinks 
 that all antagonism is fed and strengthened by counter 
 antagonism. He would point to the consideration with 
 which the Quakers are treated while practicing this poli- 
 cy of non-resistance. He thinks that no man is so vile 
 as to abuse and despoil a fellow creature whose princi- 
 ples will not allow the use of violence in defending him- 
 self. It is his opinion, further, that all war and blood- 
 shed would soon be things of the past, if nations would 
 ceasje to build warships and organize armies, and instead 
 would propose arbitration and a compromise, based on 
 the rules of justice. As the world goes, such views are 
 considered very radical and impracticable, and they may 
 not be full)- applicable to the case of Robert now under 
 discussion, for children in school are to be considered 
 under guidance and direction and not capable of deciding 
 their own action in every case that comes up. And yet, 
 if the teacher will avoid antagonism as such, and respect 
 the rights and individuality of his pupils fully, he will 
 
—14— 
 
 rarely ever fail to find all his difficulties removed. 
 
 Tolstoi, of course, does not mean to inculcate a supine, 
 negative policy of action. He would make right and jus- 
 tice, and good will positive forces in societ}' as the teacher 
 should do in the management of his school. The human 
 race has so long given rein to its bad passions that Tolstoi' s 
 policy is not generally understood and appreciated. Yet, 
 if we honestly accept the teachings of the Christian re- 
 ligion we must expect society to reach this perfection be- 
 fore the millennium comes when righteousness shall cover 
 the earth as the waters cover the sea." 
 
 The professor's words made a profound impression, 
 and, as nobody seemed inclined to add anything more, 
 the assembly, for that evening, soon dissolved. 
 
CHAPTER ni. 
 
 The Story of Richard. 
 
 The next evening the hotel piazza was crowded. This 
 series of impromptu gatherings bid fair to rival even the 
 regular day exercises. By a sort of tacit agreement, a 
 prominent professor acted as cliairman, or rather spokes- 
 man, for the assembly. He cast a searching eye over 
 the crowd and called upon Mr. Hartley, a well-known 
 county superintendent of schools, to relate his experience 
 with bad boys. The superintendent then entertained 
 the assembly with the following narrative: 
 
 "Before coming into my present position, I was, for 
 several years, a teacher in the district schools. I remem- 
 ber my first school as if it were yesterday. I was bare- 
 ly' nineteen years old, and undertook the work with trep- 
 idation and some feelings of uncertainty as to the out- 
 come. The neighborhood was rough, and the last teach- 
 er had been run off by the bad boys, encouraged by their 
 equally bad parents. 
 
 "To begin with, I must make a confession which I fear 
 will not cause me to be so popular with this assembly as 
 was Mr. Broome, who told us the story of Robert. I did 
 some whipping! Did I? Yes, I did! Whether or not 
 it was best, I shall leave you to judge, when I have fin- 
 ished my story. 
 
 "The pupils of the school had been spoiled by previous 
 teachers who allowed themselves to be overawed by both 
 
 15 
 
— 16— 
 
 pupils and parents. Discipline was very lax. Pupils 
 obeyed or not ■ as they pleased. They strolled into the 
 school-room anj-where from fifteen to twenty minutes af- 
 ter the bell had called them in from recess. I determin- 
 ed at once that I would have order and obedience or I 
 would know the reason why. 
 
 "One day during the first week, a vicious boy began 
 some disorder back in the room. At that time I was 
 hearing a recitation, and I asked the boy to come for- 
 ward and take the front seat. I intended to keep him 
 quiet in this way until I could get time to examine 
 into his case. 
 
 "The boy paid no attention to my request and did not 
 move. I went back, and, taking him by the arm, request- 
 ed him to come out. Still he made no effort to comply. 
 
 " 'Richard,' said I, T shall whip you, if j'ou do not 
 obey me.' 
 
 "Then he reached over and held onto a desk across 
 the narrow aisle. I saw that I must either back down 
 before the school, and thus destroy the authority of my 
 position, or be as good as my word and give Richard a 
 good dressing. 
 
 "I went back to a closet and secured a good switch. 
 As I came forward again, I said, 'Richard, this is pain- 
 ful, but I must be obeyed.' 
 
 "He remained immovable, and I began with some well- 
 directed blows across his shoulders. As if shocked by 
 surprise, the boy dropped flat upon the floor. In a mo- 
 ment he was upon his feet and walked promptly to the 
 front seat. 
 
 "Richard never gave me anj' more trouble. My deci- 
 sive action seemed to conquer him, and, in conquering 
 
—17— 
 
 him, I conquered his family. In the case of former 
 leathers the family had sided with their unrul},- children 
 and\ helped to break up the school. The community 
 stood by me, and so did Richard and his people when 
 they recognized my open, determined spirit. My action 
 worlted liked a charm upon the school. I had no more 
 disoider or disobedience. 
 
 "Ehad a more extensive history of a bad boy to relate, 
 but, While Richard's case is fresh in your minds, I will 
 wait nere a short time for questions and comment." 
 
 "I \hope," said a gentleman on the outskirt of the 
 crowd, "that I may not be consid«red either contradict- 
 ory or 'vacillating when I say that I endorse the action of 
 both Mr. Broome and Mr. Hartly. Our mode of manag- 
 ing a school must vary with our individualities. No two 
 teachers can be successful in exactly the same way. 
 There is a popular idea that anj- given case of discipline 
 should be treated in a fixed way and in no other. This 
 is a great fallacy. Of course certain fundamental princi- 
 ples must not be departed from, but many roads lead to 
 the same objective point. Mr. Broome was right in that 
 skillful maneuvering of Robert's case which forced the 
 boy back upon his own manhood and self-respect. Mr. 
 Hartley was also right in asserting the majesty of law 
 and obedience when this principle had been habituallj' 
 broken down and trampled under foot." 
 
 "Some teachers may say," added another speaker, 
 "that Mr. Hartley should have trusted to moral suasion 
 without a resort to force. That is all right in the prop- 
 er place, but some natures are so debased that moral sua- 
 sion will not reach them. Only the thunders of violat- 
 ed law will awaken them to a sense of their responsibili- 
 
— 18— 
 
 ty. In a critical case it would be too long to wait for 
 the training up of the offender's conscience to a degree 
 of susceptibility where moral suasion would do its work. 
 Then why should it be expected that a school can be 
 governed by moral suasion any more than a State. Its 
 subjects are less mature and less qualified to obey than 
 are the citizens of the State." 
 
 As this gentleman sat down, a j'oung teacher took his 
 place and continued. "I desire to say to this assembly 
 that I am deriving much benefit from these informal dis- 
 cussions. Theory is good, but it must be supplemented 
 by intelligent experience. In the case under considera- 
 tion I have learned the necessity for dignified and self- 
 possessed action on the part of any teacher. A hesitat- 
 ing, truckling spirit is out of place in the school room. 
 The teacher must know the right and dare to maintain 
 it. When he does this from an unselfish motive he al- 
 ways commands respect." 
 
 An elderly lady thought that no school could be .suc- 
 cessful without law and order. To enforce these there 
 must be efficient administration, and in all administra- 
 tion of law there must be punishment. A law without pen- 
 alty for its infringement would be an anomaly and a nullity. 
 This is true in case [of civil law, and it must be true 
 with any law. It is invariably true in natural law. Na- 
 ture always visits a penalty for a violation of her law. If 
 you stick your finger in the fire, you must suffer. Na- 
 ture is even pitiless enough to refuse you a new finger, 
 if you burn the old one off. We learn to obey Nature's 
 laws because we know her penalties are administered 
 without fear or favor. 
 
 And yet this does not teach us to be cruel and unsym- 
 
—19— 
 
 patlietic. Mother Nature is, after all, a tender nurse to 
 her children, when they are obedient. No one is more 
 so. But she has no sympathy for disobedience. It is 
 onl>' when her erring ones return in contrition to her arms 
 that she receives them again into favor. Then only does 
 she heal up their wounds. Still she always leaves a scar 
 as a future warning. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 The Story of Amos. 
 
 At the next meeting Mr. Hartley was by unanimous 
 consent requested to continue his narrative in regard to 
 his experience in dealing with bad boys. He readily as- 
 sented and proceeded as follows: 
 
 "For my next school I went into an adjoining county. 
 I taught at a place called Shady Grove. It was in a mod- 
 el community and I had no trouble. Without intending 
 self -commendation, I may say that I gained a reputation 
 for conducting a well-ordered school, and my services 
 were in demand. 
 
 "The teacher in an adjoining district had trouble with 
 bad boys and had to give up his school. At the close of 
 my term, the directors engaged me to go over and finish 
 out the other school, known as Bald Knob. 
 
 "It was the old story with my predecessor. He was a 
 good-hearted man, but he had been indulgent and lack- 
 ing in that force of character which commands respect 
 and obedience. One of his students had especially set 
 his authority at defiance. The boy's name was Amos. 
 He was about fourteen years old and did pretty much as 
 he pleased. When the teacher could bear with him no 
 longer he ran him out of the house, and Amos would 
 jump over fence and bark back at him like a dog. 
 
 "When I took charge of the school, Amos walked in, 
 the first nioruing, as large as life, eYi4wtly enjoying, by 
 
— 2t — 
 
 anticipation, the good time he was going to have. He 
 supposed all teachers were alike, for hitherto he had ex- 
 perienced no trouble in acting as he pleased. 
 
 "I soon made it convenient to have a little talk with 
 Amos .and let him know that I had heard of him and oth- 
 er companions of his in the school. I told him further 
 that I was disposed to help him and I wanted him to help 
 me in return. He was careful about committing himself 
 and said but little. 
 
 "I soon had need for a pencil and sent Amos with 
 some money to bu>' it at the country store, a quarter of a 
 mile away. He returned with the pencil promptly and 
 seemed to enjoy the distinction of his office. I needed a 
 nail driven into the wall and it somehow came in the 
 waj- to call upon Amos to officiate again. 
 
 "Before many days had passed, Amos was my most 
 obedient factotum and assistant. The new relation 
 which he sustained to his teacher completely disqualified 
 him for mischief. He seemed to have no time, or oppor- 
 tunity, for concocting his old-time tricks. His mind re- 
 fused to do service in that direction any more. He even 
 began to effect something in the way of books and study. 
 
 "Things ran along in this channel for some time, and 
 I became quite hopeful. Later on I noticed Amos wear- 
 ing an air of suspicion, as if he felt sometimes that he 
 was being outwitted, and that things were not just as he 
 would have them after all. 
 
 "Finally the 'old Adam' reasserted itself, and Amos 
 fell from his high estate. How it was that he should 
 have relapsed, I am not fully prepared to say. I sus- 
 pect the novelty of his situation was not sufficiently last- 
 ing to continue the repression of his old nature. Perhaps, 
 
— 22 — 
 
 I also became careless, and somewhat relaxed m^- efforts 
 before his new habits became sufficiently fixed to be per- 
 manent. At an}' rate, unpleasant as the confession may be, 
 I am compelled to state the fact that Amos went into bank- 
 ruptcy as to character, and ceased to be my assistant and 
 trusted coadjutor. You see I cannot sacrifice truth for 
 the sake of a beautiful story. 
 
 "One day Amos quarreled with his deskmate, and 
 muttered his maledictions audibly to the great disorder 
 and disgrace of the school. At once I said, 'Go, Amos, 
 and get me a switch!' He went, but I saw him no 
 more that da}-. 
 
 ' 'The next morning Amos sent me a verj^ long switch 
 with an explanation that it took so much time to procure 
 it that he could not get back. I went to his desk, and, 
 getting his books, put them upon my table. 
 
 "The day following Amos returned and went to his 
 desk. He looked for his books, and, not finding them, 
 sat still in his seat. I called a class in spelling, and Amos 
 came up and took his place in the class. When it would 
 have been his turn to spell, I skipped him and put the 
 word to the next pupil below. I completely ignored him 
 even in numbering down the class at the close of the les- 
 son. 
 
 "As I sent the other pupils dut to recess, I called 
 Amos to the front and detained him. When we were 
 alone, I talked with him kindly and went o\-er his case 
 fully. I showed him that I had done all I could for him 
 as I had promised at the beginning of the term, but that 
 while he did well for awhile, he had, at last, utterly fail- 
 ed on his part. 'There is nothing more to do,' said I, 
 'but to take your books and go home. Here they are. 
 
—23— 
 
 Amos. This probably closes your life at school, for you 
 cannot come back. I do this for your good and for the 
 good of the school.' 
 
 "Amos did not move, and I saw that he was deeply ag- 
 itated. 
 
 " 'You may go,' I said. 
 
 "Then the tears began to fall and he broke down com- 
 pletely. 
 
 " 'Can't you whip me, Mr. Hartley?' he sobbed. 'I 
 don't want to go home.' 
 
 " 'No,' said I, 'I do not want to whip you. I should 
 rather not do that.' 
 
 " 'Yes, but you must,' said he. 'I want to stay in 
 school. Please whip me!' 
 
 "I turned the case over rapidly in mj- mind and then 
 decided to comply with his request. I would try to save 
 him from ruin and give him one more chance for an edu- 
 cation. I considered that the effect upon the school and 
 even upon Amos himself would be better, if he made some 
 atonement for his ver\- bad conduct. So I whipped him. 
 
 "Amos .was all right for the rest of the term, but, in 
 respect for the truth, I am sorry I must say that I had 
 to expel him the following year. If Amos ever became 
 a minister of the gospel, or a man of much worth of any 
 kind, I have failed to hear of it." 
 
 "Good!" exclaimed a number of teachers as Mr. Hart- 
 ley closed his remarks. 
 
 "That was frankly told," said a lady. "I think I can 
 now go back to my school and teach with more confi- 
 dence, for I find another whose experience does not come 
 out according to the books. I wonder if there are still oth- 
 ers here who would acknowledge the necessity of extract- 
 
—24— 
 
 ng comfort from daily contact with the imperfect?' ' 
 
 A forest of hands went up. Then the lady bowed and 
 sat down with a radiant face. 
 
 An old teacher begged to ask Mr. Hartley a question. 
 "Do you really believe," said he, "that a pupil's case is 
 ever so hopeless that he should be sent adrift by expul- 
 sion?" 
 
 Mr. Hartley arose, and for a moment seemed to hesi- 
 tate for a replJ^ At last he said, "May I answer by ask- 
 ing a question in return? Does the State ever give over a 
 citizen as past redemption? Further, does Nature ever 
 visit death upon those of her children who have violated 
 her law? And does the' Great Creator ever abandon a 
 creature to his own wicked devices? To all these ques- 
 tions, I think most people will answer aiBrmatively. 
 There are some who would deny, at least, in part. 
 
 "I confess that the gentleman's question is of the grav- 
 est import. It would be a fearful responsibility to sacri- 
 fice a boy who could be saved. And yet, we must not 
 conclude that every boy who is expelled from school goes 
 to destruction. Many of them are thus awakened to the 
 necessit}^ of reform, and, after all, make good citizens. 
 
 "Expulsion is often a necessity for the sake of the rest 
 of the school. I have seen vicious boys who had, as little 
 right to be in the school as a hyena or the small-pox. It 
 is not only a question of saving the vicious boy, but of 
 saving others as well." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 How Bad Boys are Made. 
 
 It was thought best to devote one evening to a special 
 consideration of the process by which bad boys are made. 
 The chairman called upon Professor Campbell to put the 
 ball in motion. He was a man of commanding appear- 
 ance and pleasant address, and, on being introduced, 
 spoke to this effect: 
 
 "While I believe in heredity, 'original sin,' and all 
 that sort of thing, I also believe that the bad boy is made 
 as well as that he is born. Constitutional tendencies no 
 doubt exist in every human being that comes into the 
 world. In some the good tendencies are more numerous, 
 and, if favored by environment, they will dominate the 
 life of the individual. In others evil tendencies are in the 
 ascendant, and, unless counteracted, will drag down the 
 individual's life. Scientists tell us that the evil tenden- 
 cies inherited in human nature, and 'original sin' are 
 much the same, and in this particular it is easy for the- 
 ology and science to agree. 
 
 ' 'We know further that boys who are naturally vicious 
 are often made more so by parental discipline. Those 
 parents who are most apt to transmit evil tendencies to 
 their offspring are also the ones whose discipline has an 
 evil effect upon their children. It is not necessary to 
 present proof of this fact. Our own observation teaches 
 us all that what I say is true. 
 
 25 
 
— 26— 
 
 "It would be too tedious to enumerate all the various 
 features of government which have an evil effect upon 
 the character of the j'oung. The absence of affection 
 and all the kindlier feelings in uncultured and depraved 
 parents counts for much. To cuff, and beat, and drive 
 children is to brutalize them. If most of the hard cases 
 who make their appearance in our schools could lay open 
 clearly to us their past experience we should, no doubt, 
 be astonished to see a barren desert in the realm of 
 the affections. That any human being could grow up 
 with so little of human lo^-e and sympath}' and not be 
 bad would seem almost unaccountable. 
 
 "If the truth were fully known, the children of many 
 well-to-do and even wealthy families receive little of that 
 considerate attention and sympathy which effect so much 
 in building up true nobility of character. Men of affairs 
 are so engrossed with their business that they neglect 
 their sons during the plastic period of life, and leave the 
 bad influence of ill-chosen associates to get in its deadly 
 work. Mothers, burdened with the cares of society and 
 the new club life, leave the character of their tender 
 daughters to be formed b>- e\'il-minded and ignorant 
 nurses and inefficient and unsympathetic governesses. 
 How can we wonder at the results? 
 
 "On the other hand, what have we seen? In one of 
 the best and most cultured families I have ever known, 
 the parents were the daily companions and confidants of 
 their children. The little girls were provided by the 
 mother with dolls, toy furniture, and all that kindergar- 
 ten sort of materials that such children delight to possess.. 
 The older daughter had her camera and became expert 
 in amateur photography to the great joy of herself and 
 
—27— 
 
 her young friends who shared in the fruit of her art. 
 
 "The father saw that his sons had dogs, and all kinds of 
 suitable tools for working in wood and developing mechan- 
 ical talents and skill. As thej' grew old enough, they 
 owned guns and hunting bags. 
 
 "Best of all, the parents were companions to their chil- 
 dren and participated in all their joys and sorrows. They 
 gave suggestions and encouraged them in play and work. 
 They showed them how to do this and how to do that, in the 
 line of some pleasure, or in acquiring some desirable or use- 
 ful art, whether in domestic affairs or in pure culture. 
 Stud}' and even work, whether of hand or brain were made 
 agreeable and desirable, if not positively pleasant. The 
 mother taught the daughters taste in furniture and house- 
 hold decoration. The father was the sympathetic com- 
 panion of his boys in fishing, and hunting, and boating, 
 even to the extent of camping in the woods and exempli- 
 fying the life and character of that prince of foresters and 
 hunters— Daniel Boone. Would you as a teacher think 
 it possible that any other than good and noble boys and 
 girls should enter your school from this family? 
 
 "And now what of the teacher's share in producing our 
 ever-present crop of bad boys? That many teachers are 
 partners in crime with the bad boy's parents cannot' be 
 denied. Thej' also lack sympathy with child nature and 
 have no appreciation of their duty towards those who 
 have been committed to their charge. 
 
 "When I was a young teacher, I took a school in a 
 county adjoining the one in which I was born. The 
 teacher who had preceded me was very unwise in his 
 management. He treated his pupils hanshly and whip- 
 ped a number of boys without just cause. 
 
-2S- 
 
 "*I*liis aroused autag-onism and resentment, and final- 
 ly the big bo5's decided that the)- would club their forces 
 and thrash the teacher in turn. Such is the natural re- 
 sult of that kind of injustice. The boys were, of course, 
 greatly in the wrong, but the teacher had by his conduct 
 brought on the unpleasant state of affairs. The outcome 
 did not result just as the boys had planned for the teach- 
 er learning of their intentions showed the white flag and 
 decamped, being virtually driven away by his own Stu- 
 dents. 
 
 "Another of my predecessors had been found drUnkin 
 the school room and the session came to a suddeti close.' 
 Thus you readily see that my task in that school could 
 not, in the nature of the case, be very promising. I had 
 to encounter nearly a score of strapping big boys who 
 were from fifteen to twenty years of age. The commu- 
 nity was rough and uncultured and the boys, judging 
 from the past, naturally expected that in due time they 
 would run the school. 
 
 "I entered upon my duties with some trepidation, but 
 was determined not to back down. I made few rules, 
 but gave all pupils to understand that they miist do their 
 duty and conform to the ordinary standard of right con- 
 duct. I have always found that a multiplicity of rules 
 hampers the teacher arid ties his hands at a time when he 
 has greatest need for independent action. 
 
 "On the third day of the term, I saw unmistakable 
 signs of rebellion. Three of the "big boys" before men- 
 tioned acted very badly and I almost knew that they were 
 prepared to resent my correction. I kept perfectly cool 
 and passed the matter over in the best way I could at the 
 time. 
 
—29— 
 
 "This occurred early in the afternoon and during the 
 rest of the da}' I kept the three boys separate so that 
 there could be no conference between them. I made no 
 remarks before the school about the affair and said very 
 little to the boys themselves. During recess I managed 
 to have them doing some work and allowed only one of 
 them to leave the room at a time. 
 
 "A little before closing time for that day, I sent a boy 
 out to procure a switch. He returned with a formidable 
 rod about ten feet long. This I placed in a conspicuous 
 place upon the stage, but said nothing as to my purpose. 
 
 "I have always noticed that silence as to one's pur- 
 pose in a critical situation has a subduing effect upon both 
 animals and human beings. A fierce dog will not bite 
 you so long as you maintain perfect composure and 
 stare him in the e3'e, especially if you hold out your 
 hat to him. Your action is unaccountable and bewilders 
 him. If you had turned to run he would ha^'e bitten you 
 at once. 
 
 "In the rear of the school-room was a blackboard 
 which extended across the entire end of the room. At 
 the close of school I managed to have the three boys 
 working at this blackboard while I stood on the platform 
 near them. As the other pupils were being dismissed, I 
 asked these bo3's to remain. 
 
 "After the other pupils were gone and an unusual qui- 
 et had fallen upon the room, I bade the boys to take sep- 
 arate seats near the stove, at the same time managing to 
 prevent any communication among them. I then talked 
 to them quietly, but seriously, about their conduct and 
 tried to show them that I earnesth' desired their welfare 
 and had nothing else in view in all my dealings with 
 
—30— 
 
 them. At this the youngest of the three broke down and 
 began to shed tears, while one of the other two showed 
 symptoms of a decidedly serious state of mind. 
 
 "By a skillful maneuvering of their case, I soon 
 brought the boys to terms by peaceful diplomacy and 
 they promised to behave in the future and help me in 
 controlling the other boys. I then dismissed them. Af- 
 ter they were gone I broke the switch into bits and toss- 
 ed them out the window. 
 
 "The next morning- the boys returned to school in a 
 peaceful and obedient state of mind. The rest of the 
 school were mystified as to what had really taken place. 
 I preserved my policy of silence and said nothing about 
 the affair. This had its effect. Some of the other boys 
 also, having discovered the fragments of the switch, came 
 to the conclusion that the offenders had been severely 
 dealt with. This became the general feeling in the 
 school, and I had no more trouble. After that the of- 
 fenders themselves were always respectful and obedient. 
 Some of my best friends to-day were pupils in that school. 
 One of the boys became a member of the State I^egisla- 
 ture, another the sheriff of that county, and still another 
 is now attorney for Oklahoma City. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Pupil's Side. 
 
 It was Saturday evening, and everybody felt more or 
 less restful and kindly disposed in mind, possibly on ac- 
 count of the approaching Sabbath. So, for a change, the 
 spokesman of the assembly proposed that they should 
 take up the pupil's side of this great question of discip- 
 line. 
 
 "We often forget," said the speaker, "that there is 
 any other point of view than that of the teacher. In 
 fact, I doubt whether some teachers hav^e ever dreamed 
 that there is another wa>- of looking at the subject. 
 What do j'ou all think? May we not, as teachers, often 
 act in a narrow-minded and tyrannical way, simply be- 
 cause we do not think of the children as having feelings 
 and rights and personality? Give us your views, Mr. 
 Broome." 
 
 "I think }-ou state the ca.se correctly," said the latter. 
 "This is a phase of our work which needs decidedh- 
 more attention. Teachers often fail to consider the ca- 
 pacity and endurance of pupils. They pile up work up- 
 on them till life becomes a veritable burden. 
 
 "I went aboard a street car in one of our cities. It 
 was four o'clock, and school was out. When I took my 
 seat I noticed a .sweet little girl, with flaxen hair, who 
 sat beside me. She had a large strap full of books on 
 the seat between us. In her lap was a tablet, and she 
 
—32— 
 
 held a big geography open before her. As the car jolted 
 along the little creature tried to write oil her task for the 
 morrow. She got no inspiration from her surroundings. 
 She saw nothing of happy faces in the merry crowds that 
 passed. She beheld only her work. And such work as 
 it was! Copying what were to her, then at least, the 
 meaningless words of the text-book. Scrawling, scrub- 
 bing, drudging by the order of a thoughtless, exacting 
 teacher. 
 
 "When the child got home it would be the same. No 
 sunshine! No joy! No freedom! No time for games, 
 and stories, and interesting books; but all thoughts bent 
 upon the angry frown which must meet a failure to-mor- 
 row. A veritable slave, and yet so young, and so gentle, 
 and so innocent! 
 
 "It makes my blood boil to think of the heartless tyr- 
 anny of teachers who impose such tasks upon helpless 
 children. It is a slaughter of the innocents in a modern 
 but scarcely less cruel form. And for what? Echo an- 
 swers, 'For what?' Is it that the child may have more 
 knowledge? Scarcely, for her thoughts are only on 
 completing the task! Is it that she may improve in pen- 
 manship and composition? Scarcely, for the work is 
 done under circumstances where this would be impossi- 
 ble." 
 
 As Mr. Broome took his seat, an elderly teacher arose 
 and said: "So far as I have observed, it is mainly in 
 city schools and colleges that the heartless burden impos- 
 ers ph- their trade. The}- are a part of the machine that 
 can do nothing but grind and grind without ceasing. I 
 would by no means charge all city schools and college 
 
—33— 
 
 professors with this fault, for the guilty are, I am glad 
 to believe, in a decided minority. 
 
 "The conscientious boys and girls are the ones who 
 suffer. They feel that they must do these tasks in an 
 honest way, and they break down at it. The rest learn 
 to be unscrupulous and shirk and cheat. It is a common 
 practice where there is a task-master in college for the 
 students to pass down their written work from class to 
 class, year after year. This is only a glimpse of the ex- 
 tensive moral degeneration that the system produces." 
 
 "The cruel exactions of teachers?" The question 
 came from a lady. "Yes; I am looking at them from the 
 student's point of view. I was once a student myself, 
 and in a large school in one of the New England States. 
 It was crowded with young men and young women, most 
 of them honorable, noble, and true. We were studying 
 to become teachers. Our instructors were thoughtful 
 and considerate men and women. All? No; oUe man 
 was a tyrant whom nobody loved. He set unreasonable 
 tasks and never had a kind word for anybody. No work 
 was ever good enough to earn his commendation. He 
 made no distinction as to motives. All students were 
 suspected, no matter what they did. 
 
 "It was examination time, at the end of the year. 
 Students were filing into their seats to be ready for the 
 ordeal. A fragile girl, with fevered cheeks, stepped to 
 the instructor's desk and said: 
 
 " 'Professor Britton, may I be excused? I am very ill. 
 I will try to do my work at a future time, if I may have 
 an opportunity.' 
 
 "The instructor did not consider. He had trained his 
 mind to take everything of that nature as a subterfuge. 
 
—34— 
 
 He did not look up from the sheet of paper where he was 
 finishing a Hst of examination questions. 
 
 " 'No one can be excused,' he repHed and wrote on. 
 If he had looked, his reply would have been different, at 
 least we hope so. 
 
 "The girl was nearly ready to sink to the floor. She 
 hesitated, then walked slowly to a rear seat. It was not 
 possible for her to remain. Her heart was beating like a 
 hammer, and her head was bursting with pain. She 
 quietly slipped through the crowded door and was gone. 
 
 "Fifteen minutes later Amy — for that was the girl's 
 name — was found in a delirium of fever at her boarding- 
 house. A doctor was called and he pronounced her con- 
 dition dangerous. A sedative was administered and the 
 patient slept for a short while. Then she awoke with a 
 startled cry: 
 
 " 'He wouldn't excuse me! Oh, I must go! Where is 
 my examination paper? I^et me go, or I shall be ex- 
 pelled.!' 
 
 "The nurse who watched by the bedside heard this sad 
 refrain through the silent hours of the long, long night. 
 At intervals, for three days, it never ceased. Then the 
 poor perturbed soul took its flight, and Amy was at rest 
 in a land where examinations and task-masters are known 
 no more." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 Securing the Favor of Parents. 
 
 The Institute had been running a week, and the im- 
 promptu meetings, oij the hotel piazza, had continued 
 the same length of time. Much interest had been 
 aroused in these meetings, and many teachers began to 
 look forward to them every evening with more interest 
 than to the regular lectures down in the academy build- 
 ing during the day. The discussions had become a regu- 
 lar topic of conversation in the various boarding-houses 
 and on the streets. So when the second Mondaj' even- 
 ing came, the piazza was crowded and some teachers 
 stood in the halls and doorways of the hotel. 
 
 In "calling the house to order," the leader touched up- 
 on the increase of interest and suggested that, since they 
 had, in some measure, been out among the people on the 
 previous Sunday, it might be well to take up the subject 
 of the teacher's best way to secure the favor and co-op- 
 eration of parents. He then ventured to call upon 
 Professor Hardwick to make the opening talk. The Pro- 
 fessor in his very charming manner consented. 
 
 "There is nothing more important to the teacher" said 
 he, "than the approval and co-operation of parents. 
 The children, of course, form their own opinions of the 
 teacher, but the attitude of the parent goes a long way 
 to modify that opinion. It is wrong for parents to speak 
 disparagingly of the teacher in the presence of their chil- 
 
 35 
 
-36- 
 
 dren, but many do it. Then there are various other ways 
 in which the parent makes himself felt. 
 
 ' 'The difference between teachers as to the respect and 
 love which they inspire among patrons as well as among 
 pupils is truly remarkable. There are teachers who nat- 
 urally make friends and there are others who just as nat- 
 urally make enemies. 
 
 ' 'I once knew a teacher who was fprever offending some- 
 body. If he made a talk in public, somebody would be 
 hurt, or would disapprove of what was said. I some- 
 times thought the man delighted in rubbing the hair the 
 wrong way, or enjoyed prodding people, just as certain 
 boys seem happiest when sticking sharp sticks into toads 
 to see them jump. 
 
 ' 'This teacher assumed the same attitude towards his 
 pupils. He would make sarcastic flings at them. If a 
 student failed often in recitation, this teacher seemed to 
 enjoy putting him upon the rack before the class simply 
 for the fun of seeing him wriggle. 
 
 "Again he would apparently make a great effort at re- 
 form and for some time things would run smoothly. 
 You would think he was learning to make people love 
 him after all. Vain illusion! The old nature soon reas- 
 serted itself and all prematurely constructed anticipations 
 of popular favor tumbled in ruins. I really believe some 
 teachers are born so, and can not possibly learn to do oth- 
 erwise." 
 
 There was a lady in the audience who had taught ma- 
 ny years in the country schools. She was reserved and 
 had not taken part in the discussions. Knowing her 
 good sense and wide experience, a number of the teach- 
 ers insisted upon hearing from her. With a willingness 
 
—37— 
 
 to oblige, Mrs. Arkwright came forward and said: 
 
 "It is true that I have taught mainly in the coun- 
 try schools, and I think I understand the country people, 
 though I do not suppose they are widely different from 
 other people. Human nature is simply human nature 
 wherever you find it. However, I will say for country 
 patrons that they either stand by the teacher or they do 
 not. and they make up their minds pretty soon. If they 
 decide to be your friend, you will know it. There is no 
 half-way neutrality about them. They speak out their 
 minds. 
 
 "Friendship for the teacher in the country schools 
 means something positive. The farmers' wives all open 
 their homes to you, and, even if you don't "board 
 round," you know there is a welcome place always wait- 
 ing for you. Many little courtesies, attentions, and fa- 
 vors, that city teachers never meet with, are bestowed 
 upon the teacher in the country school. 
 
 "The young teacher who goes to take charge of a coun- 
 try school must not forget that first impressions are last- 
 ing. Every child makes up its mind during the first day 
 and its opinion is reported at the supper table at home. 
 
 " 'Mamnja,' the girls say, 'Miss Scott is a lovely teacher. 
 She makes us toe the mark, but she knows what's right, 
 and she is good. We're all going to love her and no mis- 
 take. Why, don't you think that she had poor little Bud 
 Piper up saying over his lessons to her in no time. The 
 teacher last year couldn't get him to say a word for a 
 week. It wasn't a minute before Miss Scott had him so in- 
 terested that he forgot where he was and began telling her 
 about his dog right out, loud before all the school. The 
 lesson was about a dog, you know. And those bad boys! 
 
-38- 
 
 Miss Scott was so sweet and kind, that the}' just couldn't 
 get up heart to be mean. Shag Brock was as gentle as a 
 lamb.' 
 
 " 'Yes mamma,' spoke up one of the boys, 'as we came 
 home, Shag said we had a genuine lady for a teacher at 
 last and he was going to stand up for her. Nobody could 
 speak ill of Miss Scott when he was around. ' 
 
 "And so it went around the table, each speaking in 
 turn . Before bed-time that evening the teacher's reputa- 
 tion was fully made up and placed on record in the mind 
 of every member of the household. Yes, the first day of 
 school always tells the tale of the teacher's success or fail- 
 ure. 
 
 "May I give the obverse side of Miss Scott? I know a 
 teacher who was very different. He came from a distant 
 county and success was very necessary in his case. The 
 young man wss well educated. I'll not mention his 
 name. He had studied his profession. He had attended 
 the institute and was well posted. He was intelligent 
 and had every qualification but one. He lacked good 
 judgment — hard, horse sense, the farmers call it. 
 
 "This young teacher was progressive, and he thought 
 that nothing short of the ideal could be tolerated for a 
 moment. He failed to remember that "Rome was not 
 built in a day," and that a school can not be revolution- 
 ized in the twinkling of an eye. You have seen that un- 
 practical sort of people. They are to be found in all the 
 various walks of life. 
 
 "When this young man came to teach in the place of 
 which I speak, the word method of teaching children to 
 read was new in that section. The young man had pick- 
 ed up the method somewhere, and, theoretically, he was 
 
—sp- 
 all right. It was in practice that he failed. On the first 
 day of school, the small children brought their spelling- 
 books. 
 
 " 'Take these things home,' said the new teacher. 'It 
 wouldn't matter if you burned them up, for the day of the 
 spelling book is past. We'll take up reading at once and 
 learn to spell by writing the words as we go along. All we 
 need is reading mattef. I have a chart. Here it is!' And 
 he pointed to where the chart hung upon the wall. 'You 
 little children will read from this. You will not need any 
 books till you are ready for the first reader. ' 
 
 "This is only a small sample of the many reforms that 
 this teacher introduced the first day. The pupils were 
 astonished and perplexed. What they had been accus- 
 tomed to was very different. They eyed the teacher 
 with suspicion. And yet it was not so much the new- 
 ness of the teacher's methods that produced confusion and 
 antipathy as his way of introducing them. When the 
 children reported at home that evening, it was generally 
 voted, among the patrons, that there was a screw loose 
 somewhere in that teacher's mental machinery. 
 
 "Some of the parents did not send their children back 
 to school the next day. Before the end of the week a 
 third of the pupils had dropped out, and in a month there 
 were but few left. I think the school closed in three 
 months with five pupils in attendance. It had started 
 out with eighty. 
 
 "Now, my young friends, you must remember that 
 here was a teacher who was theoretically right in every 
 particular, What he lacked was tact, or, as I have called 
 it, common sense. If he had introduced his new methods 
 gradually, preparing the way for every step, he might 
 
— 40 — 
 
 have gained every point and carried pupils and parents 
 all with him. With all his attainments and high ideals, 
 he was wofully lacking in good judgment, and that lack 
 proved his undoing. A teacher possessed of this good 
 quality would have carried every point and become the 
 most popular man in all that country. 
 
CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 Some Extreme Cases. 
 
 In reporting these discussions, 1 shall not hereafter at- 
 tempt to give an account of all the meetings that took 
 place or to state the order of their occurrence . A selec- 
 tion of the best things said is deemed sufficient. 
 
 One evening a discussion of extreme cases came up. 
 Many examples of youthful depravity were narrated. I 
 am inclined to the view that many of them should be 
 classed only as exaggerated cases of pure mischief. A 
 majority of the teachers were of the same opinion. 
 
 One teacher said: "I had charge of the high school 
 department of the public schools in one of our large cities. 
 We had little trouble and I congratulated myself that I 
 was getting along finely. By the ^jway, this is the very 
 time when the teacher needs to look out for squalls. 
 
 "One day I was hearing a large class in rhetoric when 
 an old gray rat bounded across the room . Several of the 
 boys at once gave chase, and the girls screamed, of course. 
 For a minute all was uproar and supreme confusion. Final- 
 ly the rat was killed and order was restored. 
 
 "During the uproar, I noticed that one of my boys 
 looked embarrassed and acted in a suspicious manner. I 
 made some investigation and soon satisfied myself that 
 ae was responsible for the aged rodent's sudden ap- 
 pearance in the school room. At first, the boy, whose 
 name was Henry, was disposed to be sullen, but finally 
 
 41 
 
42 
 
 he owned up, when he saw there was nothing else to do. 
 
 "I could find no evidence of maliciousness in the act, 
 but I felt that such a flagrant breach of discipline could 
 not be passed over lightly. The good order and dignity 
 of the school demanded serious punishment. The act 
 could not have been other than premeditated, for the rat, 
 having been procured, was carefully concealed in a box 
 and slyly carried into the school room to be liberated at 
 the opportune moment. 
 
 "Evidently the extreme fondness for playing tricks 
 had crowded out, for the time, all other considerations 
 from the boy's mind. Yet, as I have already intimated, 
 I felt that such conduct must be given a decided rebuke. 
 So I suspended Henry from attendance upon the school 
 for the space of ten days. He acknowledged the justice 
 of his punishment, and, at the expiration of the time, re- 
 turned and took his place in school. I never had any 
 more trouble with Henry, for really he was not a vicious 
 boy." 
 
 The story of Henry was followed by another of less 
 fragrant character. Professor Elkins arose and said: 
 "Brethren, I know a case that can beat that. It did not 
 occur in my own school, but comes in a most authentica- 
 ted way, from a friend of mind who, in early life, went to 
 the frontier to teach, in one of our Southern States. 
 
 "The country was still in a crude condition, but many 
 well-to-do people had moved into the community, and 
 they desired a first-class school for their children. My 
 friend was just graduated from college and he desired to 
 make teaching his profession. So he accepted the offer 
 and was soon duly installed. 
 
 "There were in the school several boys approaching ma- 
 
43 
 
 turity — an age at which, we may usually expect the most 
 reckless conduct. And yet the boys were by no means 
 abandoned characters. Just how the breach of decorum, to 
 be related, ever originated, my friend could never tell. 
 The whole affair may have been unpremeditated. 
 
 "The school was in the country, and the school-house 
 stood in the edge of a wood. One bright fall morning, 
 the day's work was well advanced, when one of the large 
 boys came in late. He hung up his hat on a peg and 
 took his accustomed seat. 
 
 "A recitation was in progress and the teacher had not 
 observed the boy's entrance. Yet he was soon aware of a 
 commotion in the school room. He first noticed all the 
 children grasp their noses between their thumbs and first 
 fingers. Then he felt a stifling, choking sensation from 
 some most atrocious odor. 
 
 "It soon developed that the boy who had just arrived 
 was sitting alone. His deskmate had tumbled from the 
 opposite end of his seat and scrambled away in double- 
 quick time. Those sitting near also made a precipitate re- 
 treat to remote parts of the room. A number of the worst 
 boys began to snort like wild horses, and the greatest dis- 
 order prevailed. 
 
 " 'He's got a pole-cat, Mr. Blank,' shouted a red- 
 headed boy, on the back seat, to the bewildered teacher. 
 
 "The teacher's eyes flashed like fire as he made a 
 spring for the offender . In a moment he had him by the 
 nape of the neck, and by a supreme effort sent him whirl- 
 ing, out the door . There was no time for investigation 
 or board meetings. The case was so flagrant that de- 
 lay, even for a moment, wasoHt of the question, so my 
 frieu4 informed roe, 
 
—44— 
 
 "Nothing more was seen of the ejected member of the 
 school for that time. But little more work was done dur- 
 ing the day. The house had to be fumigated with burn- 
 ing tar. The desk in which the offender sat was rubbed 
 over with walnut leaves and pennyroyal, and backwoods 
 disinfectants of various kinds were distributed about the 
 room and over the furniture and walls. 
 
 "In telling me about it, my friend said: 'That was 
 the most outrageous case I ever met with. I think I 
 was never more angry in my life. Just how much of 
 malicious intent there was in the matter I never stopped 
 to inquire, and do not know to this day.' " 
 
 Another teacher spoke up: "Of course you have all 
 heard of the tricks of college students. They used to be 
 more common than they are now. They belong more or 
 less to the barbarism of the past. Modern thought and 
 culture, even among students, are against them. Yet 
 the late trouble at West Point Military Academy shows 
 how hard it is for that peculiar form of ruffianism, known 
 as hazing, to die out. ' ' 
 
 "All forms of college outlawry, it seems to me," said 
 Mr. Hartley, "had their origin in the dormitory system, 
 where large numbers of youths are herded together, so to 
 speak. The restraints of family influence and social en- 
 vironment are absent, and the spirit of mischief ranges at 
 will. I should never place a boy of mine in such envi- 
 ronment. It is responsible for the wrecked characters of 
 thousands of young men. 
 
 "Of course many of the college tricks are harmless. I 
 once knew a case of bell-ringing which I may be pardon- 
 ed for relating. 
 
 "Two students, on mischief bent, thought they would 
 
—45— 
 
 have a lot of good fun. So one of them pulled off his 
 shoes one night as the clock was nearly at ten. He then 
 slipped silently up the dark belfry stairs in the wake of 
 the bell-ringer. He hid in a dark corner while the ring- 
 er passed down and locked the belfry door. In half an 
 hour the latter would return to ring the last retiring bell. 
 In the meantime our hero in mischief climbed to the bell 
 and tied a strong cord to the bell-clapper. Then he threw 
 the ball of cord out of the belfry window to the ground 
 below. 
 
 "In due time the bell-ringer returned, and while he 
 was tolling 'lights out,' the other boy slipped out the 
 door and down the stairs to the ground below. His room- 
 mate was in their own room in the third story of a dormi- 
 tory building opposite. This boy let down a string from 
 the window to his coadjutor in mischief. The latter at 
 once tied his cord to the string and it was elevated to the 
 window above'. 
 
 "By this time, of course, lights were out. So nobody 
 saw what was going on. Both students retired to bed, 
 but not to sleep. One of them tied the cord aforesaid se- 
 curely to his big toe as he lay in bed . The cord passed 
 out through a small opening in the window, left apparently 
 for the sake of ventilation. As the foot of the bed stood 
 across one-half of the window the cord could not be seen. 
 
 "At midnight the college bell began to toll with rneas- 
 ured intervals. A half hour later, it was still tolling. 
 At one, two, and three o'clock it was still the same. As 
 one of the boys got tired he transferred the cord to the 
 other boy's big toe. 
 
 "Nobody in the vicinity could sle^p. The bellringer 
 roused himself, rubbed his eyes, and sallied forth but 
 
-46- 
 
 could find no explanation. Th^ bell was certainly be- 
 witched! Two or three of the most zealous professors 
 joined the bellringer in running down every possible clue. 
 They even visited the rooms of all the students, whom, 
 without exception, they found sleeping(?) soundly. 
 
 "The next day the bellringer was called before the fac- 
 ulty. It was said that he held the key to the belfry and 
 must know, if anybody had entered. He asserted with 
 much earnestness, and apparent sincerity, that he had 
 locked the door each time that night, and always hither- 
 to, and that it was impossible for anyone to have come in 
 by that route. 
 
 "After the usual quota of inquiries and surmises the 
 case was dismissed and to this day the tolling of that col- 
 lege bell is a deep mystery, except to the two young men 
 and their confidential friends. In later years one of the 
 mischief-makers has been in Congress and the other has 
 become a prominent newspaperman in California." 
 
 -Z<^t:Jy^ 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Some Extreme Cases. (Continued.) 
 Before the discussion mentioned in the last chapter was 
 finished, a great variety of stories and opinions was off- 
 ered. The entire subject of old-time pranks in school 
 and college was gone over — how the boys carried off gates, 
 exchanged business signs in a ridiculous way, and played 
 tricks on the president and professors. The old story 
 that must always come in was not forgotten — how the 
 professor came into his lecture-room one morning, and, 
 finding a goose secured in his platform chair, politely 
 bowed to the body of assembled students, and remarked 
 with great courtesy, 'Since I see you have a suitable in- 
 structor already installed, I beg pardon for intrusion and 
 will retire.' 
 
 The principal of a country academy told how his 'shack' 
 boys were always getting up some mischief of a broadly 
 farcial character. As for example, an old wether and 
 an antique gander were accustomed to browse in the vi- 
 cinity. The sheep belonged to the family of a young 
 belle of the place and the gander to the family of a smart 
 young man who was her admirer. One evening, when 
 the boys knew the j'oung gentleman was making a call, 
 they caught the sheep and tied the gander securely on 
 his back. When the pair were let loose, it is easy to im- 
 agine what happened. Observers on the road to the la- 
 dy's residence saw a ghost-like object moving with great 
 
 47 
 
velocity through the darkness, waving its white arms and 
 uttering piercing cries. The sheep had been a pet in ear- 
 ly life and never checked its wild flight till it fell exhaus- 
 ted in the parlor where the lovers were sitting. 
 
 "I don't think a little fun hurts any boy," said a re- 
 cent graduate from college who had donned the profes- 
 sor's garb. "What I hear condemned in this assembly 
 is nothing but college spirit. Instead of repressing it, 
 give us more of it. We don't want to make milk-sops of 
 young men. They have got to meet hard-scrabbling, 
 bumping realities in life. Put some stiffening into them 
 and let them be prepared for business. That'smy view." 
 "You doubtless believe in hazing then?" said an older 
 teacher back in the crowd. 
 
 "I do, most assuredly," replied the other. "It does a 
 boy good to have the conceit knocked out of him before 
 he gets too far from home." 
 
 ' 'But, suppose he has no conceit in him?' ' rejoined num- 
 ber two. A boy that has been properly brought up 
 knows his place in any sphere of life." 
 
 "That may be so in exceptional cases, but some boys 
 have not had the home training of which you speak. In 
 any event, I believe it does a boy good to be jolted up 
 early in life. It shakes a lot of sentiment out of him and 
 hardens him for what he must meet in his subsequent ca- 
 reer." 
 
 At this the elderly man was again upon his feet. 
 "Your doctrine may be all right for a prize-fighter's ap- 
 prentice. I catch your drift. You assume that success 
 in life is attained only through battling and knocking. 
 I know that many other people entertain similar views. 
 Your position has been popularized by the modern scien- 
 
tific doctrine of the survival of the fittest in which each 
 individual is supposed to be at constant war with his fel- 
 lows. That, I admit, has been the case with all the low- 
 er animals and even with man in his primitive and less 
 civilized condition, but when he enters the realm of en- 
 lightened intelligence the case is different." 
 
 "I don't see how you are going to make it different," 
 was the young professor's answer. The only difference 
 that I can see is in the form, or expression, of the strug- 
 gle. The highest intellectual effort still has its contest 
 for the mastery. This struggle may not manifest itself 
 in physical force, but still it is there. To succeed, an idea 
 must prevail over the minds of men, and it takes push, 
 discussion, exposition, and a warfare of contending ideas 
 to gain acceptance. Am I not right?" 
 
 "You are, in a sense. I am not contending for an al- 
 truistic negation of self. That would be an equally false 
 position. What I want is to see life elevated into the 
 higher forms of emulation. As civilization advances, we 
 should put the lower and baser forms of contention from 
 us. It is more brutal, and less desirable among civilized 
 men, to punch a fellow's nose and despoil him of his goods 
 than by good judgment and legitimate foresight to outwit 
 him in a trade. The hardening process that you first 
 spoke of appeals more to the animal side of our nature 
 and tends to develop the baser passions and to drag down 
 and destroy. We want to rise to the intellectual and the 
 spiritual plane as fast as possible, as indicated in your 
 second position. I^eave off your first and I may agree 
 with you." 
 
 At this juncture a lady arose. "This discussion is 
 very interesting to me," said she. "I see much truth 
 
— 50— 
 
 in both sides of the argument. Contention brings out 
 the truth. That strife is necessary, we see exemplified 
 in this discussion itself. And I can't see that the truth 
 could be made clearer, if our dogmatic friends came to 
 blows. The golden mean of strife and contention in its 
 higher forms is what we want. 
 
 "The advocates of football contend for its value as a 
 developer of the manly virtues in strenuous contest. 
 They say, 'It is rough we grant, but so is the battle of 
 life.' Now. as I see it, they put the case too strongly. 
 Very few young men find life a ph3rsical contest. A club, 
 or team, in which they were subjected to the severest in- 
 tellectual struggles would seem to me more appropriate 
 and beneficial. I grant you that a potato plant grown in 
 a dark cellar will always be sappy, weak, and worthless. 
 It needs to be placed out where it can battle with the el- 
 ements and gather strength and color by a natural and le- 
 gitimate appropriation of environing materials. Yes; I 
 believe in educational training which involves a strug- 
 gle for the mastery, but I believe in so adjusting it that 
 the good qualities in the individual will be developed., 
 rather tkan the bad." 
 
 "Where does the 'bad boy' come, in this discussion?" 
 asked the chairman. 
 
 "Everywhere," replied Mr. Broome. "All our forms 
 of discipline tend either to develop him or to repress him. 
 In our training- through some form of struggle for the- 
 mastery, we may wisely develop the nobler qualities of 
 soul, or unwisely develop the ignoble qualities. It all de- 
 pends upon our management of the case. Some boys are 
 born with superabundant motive power. They must be 
 put, at something where they can expend this power, and 
 
—51— 
 
 nothing suits them better than a struggle for the mastery. 
 If they can not get this struggle in a legitimate and help- 
 ful way, they will get it in an illegitimate and hurtful 
 way. These masterful boys must have enough of suit- 
 able work to do else they are like wild trains that run 
 away and destroy themselves. When the steam is up in 
 a boiler it must be allowed some vent or it will wreck its 
 engine. Its best and most profitable vent is work. Safe- 
 ty-valve escape is a poor makeshift, though it is much 
 better than none. Artiiicial struggles gotten up for the 
 training of youth are like safety-valves. They are an in- 
 ferior substitute. Genuine work is the true idea." 
 
 "I take issue there," rejoined the young professor. 
 "Your illustration is not fairly put. Play, or recreation , 
 is an indispensable element in the life of the young. 
 Froebel took advantage of the child's disposition to play 
 in order to make training agreeable. This is the foun- 
 dation of kindergarten work. In any event, 'AH work 
 and no play makes Jack a dull boy,' as the old adage 
 goes. 
 
 At this point the chairman observed that the talks bade 
 fair to become too discursive, and he thought it time to 
 bring the meeting to a close. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 Teachers and Parents Didn't Co-operate. 
 
 One evening the principal of a village school gave his 
 experience with a troublesome boy. As the boy in this 
 case was upheld by his parents, it may be helpful to give 
 some of the particulars. 
 
 The village contained a factory, and I have noticed that 
 manufacturing and mining towns are hard fields for the 
 teacher who is not well up on bad boys. However, the 
 principal in question was a good man who had risen from 
 the ranks and was well experienced in various kinds of 
 school work. As he said himself, he never lost sleep on 
 account of bad boys. In this he was wise. His constant 
 advancement to better positions showed that his work 
 was a success. 
 
 On the evening in question, this principal, Mr. Mur- 
 dock by name, spoke as follows: "When I went to take 
 charge of the Poultney school, I was advised to look out 
 for snags, a thing I never failed to do anywhere, for I 
 found out early in life that success does not come from 
 reclining "on ilowery beds of ease." 
 
 "Before entering upon my work, I learned that the 
 school board had previously beerl very unfortunate in the 
 selection of principals. The men chosen were generally 
 inefficient and had demoralized the school badly. The last 
 incumbent was a regular crank and an opium-eater who 
 had to be dismissed before his term was half out. 
 
 52 
 
—53— 
 
 "For a week or so after we opened, it was smooth sail- 
 ing, as is usual, but soon trouble developed in the third- 
 grade room. By the way, I want to ask all principals 
 present, if the third grade has not always given them 
 most trouble? I see by show of hands that you agree 
 with me." 
 
 "How do you account for that, Mr. Murdock?" inter- 
 rupted a principal in the assembly. 
 
 "It is this way, in my opinion," replied he. The 
 third grade contains most boys who are in the transition 
 stage from childhood to youth. This is especially true 
 where the less cultivated element in a community pre- 
 vails and the children are backward in their education. 
 These boys as children naturally yielded more readily to 
 direction and obedience. It is characteristic of children 
 for the will to be swayed by older minds. As youth ad- 
 vances, the mind begins to assume the independent atti- 
 tude of full development. And yet the boy has not 
 learned the lesson of self-respect which in future years is 
 to becoine a check upon his conduct. He is exactly at 
 the age where he has lost this virture of childhood and 
 has not acquired that which belongs to manhood. Hence 
 the greater amount of trouble that we have with boys in 
 the third grade. 
 
 "To resume my narrative, I said that trouble had be- 
 gun in the third grade in my school at Poultney. There 
 was in the room a rough, overgrown boy who took it in- 
 to his head to be disobedient and insolent to the teacher. 
 The teacher sent for me, and I went to her room. I set- 
 tled the trouble easily enough for the time, but conclud- 
 ed that it would be better to see the parents and have 
 their co-operation in case of a further outbreak. 
 
—54— 
 
 "That evening after school, I saw both the father and 
 the mother. I should advise teachers always to confer 
 with parents in troublesome cases. Be perfectly frank 
 and kindly disposed toward them and you will generally 
 secure their co-operation. It is true that I did not suc- 
 ceed in this case, but the reason will be explained further 
 on. As I stated, I saw both parents and apparently they 
 were ready to co-operate with me and the teacher in gov- 
 erning their boy. They both advised me to whip him, if 
 he did not behave. I had a vague impression that they 
 spoke grudgingly or with some lack of enthusiasm, but it 
 passed from my mind. 
 
 "A few days later, this same third-grade teacher sent 
 for me a second time. As I approached the room, she 
 was standing in the hall and apparently was very much 
 excited. 
 
 " 'Mr. Murdock, that boy has drawn a knife on me,' 
 she exclaimed and then turning away, burst into tears. 
 
 "I went into the room where I found the boy still in a 
 very rebellious attitude. However, I succeeded in giv- 
 ing him a good sound chastisement which seemed to set- 
 tle him for a moment. Then he muttered some threat of 
 what he would do, and I, at once, ordered him to pack 
 up his books and go home. 
 
 ' 'The boy's father understood it to be a case of suspen- 
 sion, and it was. So he took the matter before the school 
 board. I had heard in the meantime that both he and 
 the mother were upholding the boy in his outrageous con- 
 duct. I was summoned to appear before the board at a 
 certain hour. I went and found the father, the mother, 
 and the boy all present. 
 
 "Details of the charges preferred by the father were 
 
—55— 
 
 read to me by the secretary of the board. The boy had 
 reported that his offense was very trivial and that the 
 teacher had abused him very unreasonably, while I had 
 even beaten him with my iist. Much more of the same 
 kind was also included. 
 
 "I was then called upon for a statement in reply, 
 which I made in full, being very careful to be exact and 
 to give the boy full justice. The father was not satisfied 
 and desired that I be called upon for proof of my asser- 
 tions. 
 
 " 'Yes; Mr. Murdock,' said the chairman of the board, 
 'We want this matter settled in an uncontroverted man- 
 ner, so that there will be no question about it hereafter. 
 So, since the gentleman demands proof, I think it best 
 that we give it to him. We will allow you time to. call, 
 witnesses.' 
 
 "I turned to the boy who sat shame-faced near his fa- 
 ther. 'Ben,' said I, 'don't you know that you have been 
 lying about this matter and that what I have stated is the 
 truth?' 
 
 "I looked him straight in the eye and he wilted. 'Yes;' 
 he answered, 'what you told is the truth!' and he began 
 I to cry like a baby. 
 
 "I turned to the board: 'Mr. Chairman, you hear my 
 witness?' 
 
 " 'Yes; that will do, Mr. Murdock. We are perfectly 
 satisfied.' 
 
 " 'So am I,' said the "father as he began to lead his son- 
 with some vigor from the room. 
 
 "The mother followed. We soon heard the sounds of 
 conflict in the rear of the building and I knew that justice 
 was being meted out. 
 
-56- 
 
 "I wrote the father the next day, that after his correction 
 of the boy I had nothing further against him, and that, 
 if the boy would promise to obey, and his parents would 
 support the discipline of the school, he could return. 
 This was all made satisfactory and the boy came back to 
 school. 
 
 ' 'After a month he became insolent to the teacher again. 
 I learned that the mother had not kept her promise, and 
 I went to see her. She was evasive and "allowed" tjiat 
 "Benny" wasn't treated right. I gave the boy another 
 whipping. The following day he was still more insolent 
 and I sent him home to stay. 
 
 "As indicated in the course of my narrative, I was 
 finding out, from time to time, where the trouble in Ben's 
 case lay. When the whole truth came out afterwards, I 
 learned that my third-grade teadierhad, in accepting her 
 present position, supplanted a former teacher who was a 
 special friend of Ben's family. This circumstance had 
 rendered it impossible, so it seems, for Ben's father and 
 mother to do his present teacher justice. So they had 
 upheld their boy in his outrageous conduct, and that to 
 his own ruin. 
 
 "I discovered that a teacher in another grade was also 
 interested and had a finger in the pie. This showed me 
 the necessity of having every teacher in the school loyal 
 to the principal and to every other teacher associated 
 with her. Good discipline requires the hearty co-opera- 
 tion of parents with teachers and bf teachers with each 
 other. You may write that down as settled. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Some Little Annoyances. 
 
 It was thought desirable to give an evening to discuss 
 ing those little annoyances which give the young teacher 
 so much trouble. To successfully manage the "water- 
 bucket," the "going-out" nuisance, "crowding around 
 the stove" in winter and other such perplexities often 
 gives the district teacher more trouble than does the "bad 
 boy." The truth of this was generally recognized by the 
 assembly, and Mr. Saunders, who was well experienced 
 in the common schools, was called upon to open the dis- 
 cussion. In substance he said: 
 
 "I can give you my observation, or experience. You 
 will have to take it and make the best you can out of it. 
 I will not always guaranty that it will fit your case. I 
 hope, however, that it may be helpful. 
 
 "First, I will say that the teacher must not consider 
 any detail too insignificant for careful attention. Very 
 dignified teachers — educators, they would, doubtless, pre- 
 fer to call themselves — might say that the subject now 
 under consideration is unimportant, but don't you believe 
 it, teachers. Everything is important. The cents make 
 the dollars. A little leak destroys the dam. So, little 
 points of discipline make, or unmake, the school. 
 
 "The water-bucket? Yes; the water-bucket! I have 
 known it to become a veritable bugbear to the inefficient 
 country teacher and sometimes city teachers do not fare 
 
 57 
 
-58- 
 
 much better. 'May I get a drink?' 'May Abe Gentry 
 and I go to the spring?' All day long these questions as- 
 sault the ears of the weary teacher who fails to manage 
 details. 
 
 "What would I do about it? Why, abolish the water- 
 bucket, of course. You don't need to have the children go- 
 ing to the water-bucket in a constant stream and making 
 a slop of one whole end of the school-room. An excessive 
 'drink habit' may be acquired, even by children, with no 
 other beverage than common water, and very common at 
 that. Warm pond water would be a temptation during 
 study hours. And yet, let recess be announced and every 
 one of them will rush out of the house to play and romp 
 fifteen minutes or half an hour without ever thinking of 
 water. Did you ever know two boys, or two girls, to ask 
 permission to carrj- water from the spring during play 
 hours? I never did. Hence most of their zeal for water 
 is assumed and uncalled for. 
 
 "Now for a plan! Arrange to have plenty of water 
 within easy reach during play hours. I used to keep it 
 just back of the house — for boys on one side of the door, 
 and for girls on the other. Have plent}^ of buckets and 
 dippers so all may be easily served. If you have a jan- 
 itor, it should be his business to keep fresh water ready. 
 Otherwise you may need to send some of your boys to at- 
 tend to this matter before the time when the water will 
 be needed. 
 
 "Instruct all pupils to get water during the play hour 
 'and to do it at once. Then there need be no dela}' when 
 the bell rings to come in to studies. Necessity will soon 
 teach them to attend to this. A few may forget at first, 
 but their thirst will put them in mind, the next time. 
 
—59— 
 
 "If any pupils ask for water after they come in, you 
 may say, 'Yes; you have my permission to go out and get 
 water, but the time must be made up at study during play 
 hours.' Thus none will be required to suffer, and j^et, 
 you keep a check upon an abuse of the privilege. 
 
 "In my own experience, I found the above plan a suc- 
 cess. It removed all friction and annoyance. I did not 
 make it a disgrace for pupils to be kept in, to make up ex- 
 tra time, which they had lost in going out for water. 
 Yet, few would claim the privilege, if required to take 
 the time from play. 
 
 "The plan, of course, presupposes that the school day 
 is divided into four periods for study. And these periods 
 are not to extend over an hour-and-a-half each. 
 " There must also be sufficient intermediary time forget- 
 ting water. 
 
 ' ' If any of you should feel that your pupils suffer for 
 water during the warm season, you can amend the pro- 
 posed plan by taking five minutes in each of the study pe- 
 riods to pass the water-bucket around to such pupils as 
 may want to drink. This ought certainly to meet every 
 reasonable demand." 
 
 Another district teacher, Mrs. Ra5% said, "I have used 
 a similar plan to correct the "going out" nuisance. All 
 pupils are free to go, but they must make up the time 
 lost. So none are prevented from going, and yet the 
 privilege is not abused. It may be well, however, to ex- 
 ercise care in applying this rule to very small children. 
 They always need special attention on the part of the 
 teacher. 
 
 "I remember that the old teachers of my early school 
 days had some amusing devices to regulate the 'going out' 
 
— 6o — • 
 
 evil. One kind old pedagogue provided a little paddle on 
 one side of which he printed 'OUT,' and on the other side 
 he printed 'IN.' The paddle was hung upon a nail by 
 the door, and, when a pupil left the room, he turned to 
 the front the side which read 'OUT.' When he came back 
 he turned out the side which read 'IN.' Then another 
 pupil was at liberty to go. 
 
 ' 'This arrangement prevented more than one pupil's go- 
 ing out at a time, but did not always give the right pupil 
 a chance, since the one who got to the sign-board first 
 could go. Another teacher used a little hooked stick 
 which he hung upon a bracket. The pupil who 
 left the room was required to carry this stick with 
 him and replace it on the bracket when he returned. The 
 weak point with this device was that the stick was alwaj^s * 
 getting lost. 
 
 "The 'going out' evil will grow rapidlj' when not prop- 
 erly regulated by the teacher. I once passed a school- 
 house where a dozen or more children were wandering 
 about the grounds. At first, I thought it must be play- 
 time, but, on inquiring of a little girl, I found they had 
 simply 'gone out.' The teacher had no restriction. Such 
 looseness of discipline soon brings a reproach upon the 
 school. The patrons observe the condition of affairs in 
 passing the school-house as I did and the teacher's credit 
 in the neighborhood, for discipline, is soon gone. 
 
 "Some children seem to have a mania for leaving the 
 the room. If you will let them, they will go out from 
 three to five times in each quarter of a day. Others are 
 timid and do not go out at all, sometimes even when they 
 should go. If you require all to ask permission, this 
 alone may stop excessive indulgence. Unless the pupils 
 
— 6i— 
 
 discover that you are very weak in discipline, few will ask 
 to go out a second time. As a help to your memory, you 
 may also have each pupil write his name on the black- 
 board near the door, as he leaves the room. This will 
 serve as a check, since he will hesitate to put his name 
 down twice, and, if he does, he will be detected." 
 
 As Mrs. Ray closed, another teacher in the assembly 
 spoke about the "stove-huddling" nuisance as follows: 
 
 "In large cities where the school buildings have steam 
 h6at, of course the rooms are warm in every part. In 
 most country school-houses, such is not the case. The 
 children farthest from the stove are apt to suffer, in the 
 coldest weather. 
 
 ' ' In the old log houses of the backwoods when I was a 
 boy the conditions were still more primitive, though I sup- 
 pose few, or none, such yet remain. Sometimes a fire 
 was built up on the dirt floor in the middle of the room. 
 The smoke then escaped through an opening in the roof, 
 or in any way it-could. The pupils, few in number, sat 
 around the fire in the form of a square. The seats were 
 halves of the split trunks of trees. 
 
 ' 'The next step in advance was to build a stick-and- 
 clay chimney in one end of the room. It contained a 
 large open fire-place into which a whole wagon load of 
 wood could be piled at one time. In front of this the pu- 
 pils sat, and, in very cold weather, they sometimes stood 
 upon the hearth in front of the great roaring fire till they 
 got warm. When a boy's trousers had become quite hot, 
 a mischievous companion caught the trousers leg sudden- 
 ly on the opposite side and drew the scorching cloth tight 
 upon the skin. The effect may be imagined. There was, 
 besides, much crowding and pushing, all of which was 
 
—62— 
 
 productive of great disorder, and quite provoking to the 
 teacher. 
 
 "In modern school-houses in the country, the condi- 
 tions are very much improved. Some districts have el- 
 egant buildings. Yet, you may imagine places where the 
 poor teacher has troubles enough on a very cold day. 
 What I have already said is sufficient to show that the 
 stove problem is not so easy of solution as the inexperi- 
 enced teacher might suppose. Children will be contin- 
 ually wanting to go to the stove to warm. Others will 
 be too hot and will ask to sit further away. As in the 
 water -bucket case, pupils will soon learn to abuse their 
 privileges. Nor do I think the difficult j' so easilj' over- 
 come, especially in very cold weather. About all the 
 teacher can do is to keep up a hot fire and warm every 
 part of the room as well as possible. If the building is 
 not close and snug, ask the directors to make it so. 
 Then with a good stove and plenty- of fuel, you should be 
 able, to heat the room enough to make sitting within any 
 reasonable distance comfortable." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Some Little Annoyances, (Continued) . 
 
 The discussion recorded in the last chapter continued 
 at some length. A count}' superintendent of long expe- 
 rience gave much valuble information which he had pick- 
 ed up in visiting the schools under his charge. The sub- 
 stance of what he said was as follows: 
 
 "As it seems to me, the foundation of all these petty 
 annoj'ances is a lack of proper discipline on the part of 
 the teacher. A teacher who is weak in discipline ]|^ay ex- 
 pect them always. The pupils soon discover the teacher's 
 weak points and make their attacks accordingly. If the 
 teacher allows frequent interruptions, she may expect 
 them. If she gives up to repeated requests and finally 
 grants what she at first refused, the pupils have already 
 stormed the fort and will soon have things about as they 
 dlease . 
 
 "I tell you, teachers, you cannot govern a school, if you 
 are not master of the situation. You must not only 
 show no weak spot, but j-ou must possess an abundance 
 of reserve power. The pupils feel, at once, the influence 
 of a positive character and a strong will. Petty annoy- 
 ances do not come to teachers who possess these charac- 
 teristics. 
 
 ' 'This thing of allowing pupils to ask questions constant- 
 ly is absurd, to say the least of it. If allowed to continue 
 
 soon degenerates into nonsense and worse than non- 
 63 
 
-•64- 
 
 sense . I knew a teacher once who allowed the question nui- 
 sance such latitude that his pupils finally made him ridicu- 
 lous. In the midst of a recitation, a pert boy would put some 
 question entirely foreign to the matter in hand. Another 
 boy would follow it up and the whole time of the recita- 
 tion would be wasted. The teacher seemed to be a schol- 
 ar, but he was so simple-minded that he evidently did not 
 see that the boys were having a good time at his expense. 
 Any teacher worthy of the name ought to know what is 
 proper and profitable in the matter of asking questions. 
 I have seen a school utterly ruined by too frequent indu\ 
 gence in this habit. 
 
 "I have also been in schools where the children used 
 this device to make the teacher think they were study- 
 ing very hard. Once, I remember, the teacher would say, 
 'Get your lessons, children,' and a regular stream of small 
 boys and girls began marching up to his desk with ques- 
 tions. They were studying the spelling lesson, or the 
 reading lesson, and the trick was to point at a certain 
 word on the page, and turn the book around in the teach- 
 er's face. He thus pronounced the words for each in turn. 
 After two or three journeys back and forth, the children 
 began to settle down and quiet was restored. Again the 
 teacher said, 'Study your lessons,' and the process was re- 
 peated. 
 
 "In this connection, I will relate an ancient anecdote 
 which speakers palm off as original. I was not a witness 
 to the affair, but a gentleman, who claims that he was, 
 relates it in this fashion: 
 
 " 'The teacher was hearing a small boy recite. It was 
 long ago, and methods in that school were primitive. 
 The pupil had been spelling 'on the book,' and 'off the 
 
-65- 
 
 book,' as it was termed. It was in the 'Old Hueback,' 
 so-called, and the lesson was at the page which begins with 
 'baker.' The little fellow was now trying to read the 
 lines printed under the columns of spelling and founded 
 upon them. The sentence was, 'I love the young lady 
 that shows me how to read.' 
 
 " 'The small reader's efforts were very labored, and, 
 while he drawled out one word after another, a stream of 
 pupils were coming up with their fingers pointing to 
 words in their lessons, that they desired the teacher should 
 pronounce. In his excruciating efforts, the boy had 
 reached the word 'lady' and could not make it out. 
 
 " 'Spell it!' roared the teacher, and, just as the boy 
 called the letters '1-a,' a little girl stuck her bo»k in the 
 teacher's face with her finger at a word. 
 
 " 'Block!' cried the teacher, in answer to the little girl. 
 
 " 'Block,' piped the small boy who was reciting and 
 naturally supposed that the teacher was prompting him. 
 
 "The teacher turned to the recitation without hearing 
 the mistake. 'Go on!' said he. 
 
 " 'd-j',' drawled the boy. 
 
 "Again a book covered the teacher's face, calling for 
 the pronunciation of a word. 'Head!' he called aloud to 
 the inquiring pupil. 
 
 " 'Head,' squeaked the small boy. 
 
 "Again, not having heard, the teacher turned to the 
 recitation. 'Think now of the meaning and appropriate- 
 ness of what you are reading and tell me what that spells,' 
 said he. 
 
 " 'Blockhead,' squeaked the urchin, 
 ' 'Right \ou are!' cried the teacher, with an evasive 
 manner and a flushed face. 'I never heard anything more 
 
—66— 
 
 appropriate. I knew you were a blockhead, but never 
 expected j^ou would acknowledge it. Go and get that les- 
 son over.' 
 
 " 'Unconsciously,' said the gentleman who related the 
 story, 'that boy stumbled onto a big truth which the 
 teacher was loth to acknowledge, for it was the latter who 
 was the blockhead, for not practicing a better system of 
 instruction.' " 
 
 "The way pupils come into the room after recess be- 
 comes a soiuce of wottx to man>- teachers. It is the 
 same old story here as elsewhere — inefficient government. 
 There can be no neutral ground in discipline. Remember 
 that, teachers. When your pupils are to come in after re- 
 cess, don't leave them to straggle in at their own good 
 pleasure. You should be on the ground and see that ev- 
 ery one is in line before they begin to march in. Of 
 course you must form lines and have system. Not to do 
 so is to court trouble. If left to themselves some insolent 
 boy will lag behind and give j'ou much worry in correct- 
 ing him. 
 
 "It is the same with regard to dismissing the school at 
 any time. If strict discipline is not maintained, great 
 disorder will result. In some of the old back-district 
 schools, I have known the boys to }-ell at the tops of their 
 voices when the teacher called out 'Dismissed!' Then 
 some of them would run up the log wall, like squirrels, 
 to put their books out of reach, while others made a rush 
 for the door. Often small children were crowded aside, 
 or trampled upon. Of course when it got too bad, the 
 teacher was forced to call a halt and subdue the most im- 
 petuous stampeders. But how much better to take a lit- 
 tle care, in the first place, and have the pupils march out 
 
-6^- 
 
 in orderlj' lines ! The slipshod and utterly inefficient ways 
 of some teachers are to me unaccountable. I confess that 
 they are a puzzling mystery. 
 
 "I fear that something like the above still exists in some 
 district schools. It may not be so bad, but I am sure an 
 improvement could be made. If pupils produce too much 
 noise and behave improperly in going out, it is your duty 
 to stop them and have them wait till the others are gone. 
 Then you may let them go. This generally has the right 
 effect. They are too anxious to get away to take any se- 
 rious risk of being detained. Of covirse you must see 
 that every child has its books, and wraps, and dinner- 
 bucket before the school is dismissed. You may have 
 monitors appointed to bring in all necessary articles. 
 
 "I have even known teachers to be careless in the seat- 
 ing of their pupils. They allow them to change seats 
 without permission or upon slight pretexts. Their pupils 
 leave their seats at will and go gadding about the room 
 on any sort of trifling errand. Such teachers need expect 
 nothing but worrj' and trouble. The wonder is that thej^ 
 are able to teach at all. 
 
 "If permitted to do so, pupils easily fall into a bad hab- 
 it of borrowing pencils, paper, books, and other materi- 
 als that ever3' child should keep in supply. I have seen 
 boj^s who would make no pretense of keeping paper, and, 
 whenever this article was suddenly needed, thej- would 
 not hesitate to call for five or six lea^-es out of a compan- 
 ion's tablet. Such impositions should not be tolerated. 
 Besides, the practice produces much disorder, for the 
 teacher is constantl>- annoyed with requests for permis- 
 sion to borrow these things. 
 
 "If the teacher requires one thing to be done in decen- 
 
—68— 
 
 cy and in order, this has its effect in the doing of other 
 things, and in the doing of all things. By requiring it in 
 all cases, correct order soon becomes a habit in the school 
 and then discipline should be very easy." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 Character Building. 
 
 The subject of character building was discussed at one 
 of the meetings. Some young teachers, at first, thought 
 this to be out of the line of school management, but, be- 
 fore the meeting closed, they saw their mistake. It was 
 made clear that one of the main objects of discipline is the 
 building of character. In fact, all education has for its 
 object the formation of moral character, according to some 
 of the very highest authority on educational doctrine. 
 Let any teacher who is interested in this line read the ed- 
 ucational philosophj' of Herbart, or the writings of his 
 leading representative in this country. Dr. De Garmo of 
 Cornell University. 
 
 But we must turn to the discussion and follow at least 
 a part of the argument. Professor Brewster, the pres- 
 ident of a prominent normal school, said: 
 
 "When we come to consider the true purpose of educa- 
 tion, everything else pales into insignificance before the 
 claim of soul development, or character building. The 
 claims of the body must, indeed, be met, but what would 
 the physical man be without the spiritual man? To speak 
 plainly, he would be only a beast. The bread-and-butter 
 side of education has its place, but to put it in the lead is 
 low and debasing. Material wealth without intellectual 
 wealth is mean and groveling. A human being who has 
 not been developed spiritually, or intellectually, is not 
 
 69 
 
— 70— 
 
 capable of enjoying even the material goods of life. Such 
 a one is one-sided and mentally dwarfed. It is only the 
 perfectly developed and all-round man that is prepared for 
 all the vicissitudes of life, and is able to make the best of 
 all his opportunities, and enjoy the full measure of exis- 
 tence." 
 
 "True," said a lady teacher from the schools of a lead- 
 ing city, ' 'but I fear a great many teachers, not to speak 
 of lay members in education, do not understand this sub- 
 ject of character building. When you begin to talk of 
 developing character, they thiilk at once of Scripture texts 
 and moral homilies. They are right, so far as they go, 
 but they do not go far enough. Their view of moral 
 character is very contracted. Some persons seem to make 
 morals the same as religion. While they are necessarih' 
 closely associated they are not synonymous. The per- 
 sons referred to associate moral character only with Sun- 
 day schools and church service. They do not see that it 
 must enter, as well, into the dail}- life of everyone. The 
 business man shows forth character in his daih" work. 
 So with the farmer, the lawyer, the trader, and others. 
 The child develops character in the way it studies and re- 
 cites. It ma}- acquire honesty and indiistry in the per- 
 formance of all its school duties, or it may learn to shirk 
 and cheat and deceive. Woe to the teacher who 'causes 
 one of these little ones to oifend' by even carelessly, or 
 negligently failing to de\'elop an honest and diligent spir- 
 it in the child. The teacher may so teach and discipline 
 her pupils as to lead them to use deception, to copy exer- 
 cises, to forge answers to problems, or to steal a glance at 
 the book while reciting. The teacher's whole system of 
 discipline may tend to tear down true character instead 
 
—71— 
 
 of building it up. How man>- of us have seen this in both 
 the school and the family? In many schools and families, 
 if any children are good, it is only because of innate ten- 
 dency, and in spite of the guidance, or discipline, which 
 is supposed to be put forth for their moral development. 
 Many of these blind guides are immoral themselves. 
 How then can they lead others into paths of right doing? 
 How can they build up, in others, sweet and beautiful 
 lives, when the>- themselves are full of unholy desires and 
 A\'icked impulses? ' ' 
 
 The principal of an academy said, "No human activit>' 
 is neutral as to moral quality. All conduct is either right 
 or wrong. It leads to good or it leads to evil. The idea 
 among some modern teachers that intellectual education 
 and moral education are to be divorced is an awful mis- 
 take. It is fraught with great evil and is responsible for 
 the great looseness and instability of public morals in the 
 present day. The corruption in political and oificial life, 
 and in positions of financial trust, can be traced largely to 
 defective moral training in our common schools. The 
 idea that moral training can be omitted from the child's 
 education is preposterous. One could hardly believe that 
 such a sentiment exists, did he not come across it fre- 
 quently in our modern educational practice. To set about 
 teaching old-fashioned morality seems to be taken by some 
 teachers as a little out of date, to say the least of it. 
 More is the pit>'. 
 
 "Keep in mind that moral training consists of .some- 
 thing more than good\-goody talks and moral lectures. 
 The child must be made to feel the moral force of ever)- 
 word and act and thought. It must be made to feel its 
 moral obligation towards its fellows, and towards society, 
 
—72— 
 
 and towards its Creator. All evil and ignoble passions 
 and feelings such as envy, and jealousy, and selfishness, 
 it must be taught to banish." 
 
 "How shall we carry your advice into practice?" in- 
 quired a young teacher. 
 
 "Begin by making right action a habit," said the 
 ^)eaker, "and continue in the same line. Of course the 
 child is first taught what is right action. Every time it 
 performs a right act, the easier it is to do right again. 
 By continuing to do right, such action finally becomes so 
 firmly grounded that to do right is easier than to do wrong. 
 ' 'The training of the will is the fundamental thing. In 
 its earlier life the child's will is naturally subject to that 
 of the parent, the teacher, and other superiors. As it 
 grows older it should be taught self-reliance and it must 
 finally become its own guide. How important then that 
 it shall be subject to the best moral influences, and pos- 
 sess a true knowledge of right, and enjoy the overpower- 
 ing direction of firmly established moral habits. 
 
 "I know a man who was brought up with such 
 strong antipathy to drinking saloons that in all his life he 
 naturally shunned them as he would a plague infected 
 house. He often said that he fully believed that this 
 strong impression so early fixed had saved him from be- 
 coming a drunkard. How important then that right 
 habits and sentiments shall be firmly implanted in early 
 life! 
 
 "The responsibility of the teacher in the matter of 
 forming the child's character is something fearful to con- 
 template. The parent's share is, of course, as great. 
 But after the child has passed from under the care of 
 teacher and parent its character may be said to have been 
 
fixed for life. It is well known, as already indicated, 
 that character is the result of habits and that habits are 
 fixed in childhood and youth. At least they rarely orig- 
 inate in mature life. Whatever we are at from twenty 
 to thirty years of age, we shall be, with few exceptions, 
 all the rest of our lives. After that we find it next to im- 
 possible to change our set ways of thinking and doing 
 things. The trouble is that we have no desire to do so. 
 Like soft plaster the plastic habits of early life soon be- 
 come hardened and fixed forever. All persons who have 
 attained to any degree of advanced age know how hard it 
 is to throw off a habit contracted in early life. It may 
 be so simple a thing as some slight inaccuracy of speech. 
 The impression of it on the tablets of the brain is so hard- 
 ened and fixed that the fault is ever reproducing itself, to 
 our chagrin, and when we are least expecting it. 
 
 "True it is that 'youth is the seed-time of life.' 'As 
 the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.' All these are 
 maxims as precious as gold; and in the rush and roar of 
 modern life and civilization we are apt to forget them, 
 and even to half-way think them out of date, or obsolete. 
 On such lines, it would be better to retrace our steps and 
 mark the old paths in order that we may again walk 
 therein." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Psychical Basis of Character. 
 
 At one of the meetings, the psychical basis of charac- 
 ter was up for discussion. The ablest talk was made by 
 a noted psychologist. Among other things he said: 
 
 "Psychology- as a stud}- has made great progress dur- 
 ing the last twenty-five j'ears. The metaphysical feature 
 of the subject has been, by degrees, laid aside and ps}- 
 chologj' may now be classed as a science. And 3'et it is 
 a science onl}' so far as the activities of the mind are con- 
 cerned. No one can tell what mind reall}- is now an)' 
 more than before. The connecting link between mind 
 and matter and the nature of consciousness still elude all 
 attempts at scientific explanation, and it is not probable 
 that they ever will come within the scope of scientific 
 comprehension . 
 
 "And 5'et much has been done in clearing up the whole 
 field of mental activities. The development of the intel- 
 lectual powers in children has been closel}' studied in its 
 application to education. It is the same with regard to 
 the development of habits and character. The science of 
 psychology is now the teacher's greatest support and no 
 one can hope to be a first class teacher, at this day, with- 
 out studying psychology in its relation to education . ' ' 
 
 'Please explain more defijiitel}'," said a middle-aged 
 teacher back in the crowd, "or 'give an illustration." 
 
 "Well," continued the professor, "let us take the doc- 
 
 74 
 
—75— 
 
 trine of apperception which was so elaborated and cleared 
 up bj' Herbart. His doctrine is, that we obtain and ap- 
 preciate new ideas by what is already in the mind as much 
 as by the perception of the object itself. The perception 
 of a new flower, for example, is in the mind of the bot- 
 anist, very different from what it is in the mind of a flo- 
 rist. The former sees its structural form as regards some 
 class, and its relation to all that he has learned scientifi- 
 cally with regard to flowers and plants. The florist sees 
 it in respect to its commercial value based upon its pow- 
 er to please. An ignorant person wo-uld probably get lit- 
 tle idea at all from it. The idea of each individual is 
 moulded and colored by his individual knowledge and the 
 application which he is accustomed to make of this knowl- 
 edge. 
 
 "So the teacher, in assigning a lesson for study, pre- 
 pares the mind of the child by preliminary information 
 which assists in apperceiving, or comprehending, the 
 principles to be learned in the new lesson. 
 
 "liikewise in the formation of character, the child is 
 influenced by what is already in his mind, and the direc- 
 tion it has given to his thoughts. Under certain condi- 
 tions, or temptations as we usually say, the action of chil- 
 dren will differ according to what already in the mind is 
 bearing upon the point in question. 
 
 "Hence the necessity of good companions for the child, 
 who will not fill its mind with wrong sentiments. Hence, 
 also, the necessity of good books instead of bad books for 
 the same reason. Say what you please; it does make i 
 difference as to what the mind feeds upon, for this must 
 give tone to its constitution, and determine the impression 
 made by new knowledge and the character of the result- 
 
-76- 
 
 ing ideas. This is not an abtruse doctrine. It is what 
 everybody knows who thinks clearly. 
 
 "And yet there are persons who claim that the minds 
 even of the young may feed upon vicious materials with- 
 out receiving detriment. They even express no objec- 
 tion to a boy's "sowing his wild oats." I orice heard a 
 minister, in private conversation, excuse the wild conduct 
 of some students who were under his charge on the plea 
 of 3'outhful necessity. There are more people than we 
 generally suppose who are inclined to excuse the pecca- 
 dillos of youth under this same excuse of 'sowing wild 
 oats.' 
 
 "It is a great mistake; fellow teachers, to make any 
 such allowance. The doctrine of a conservation of ener- 
 gy, or a correlation of forces, applies in the science of 
 mind as well as in the science of matter. An immoral 
 action is the result of psychic action which leaves its rec- 
 ord in the cells of the brain and produces a tone in one's 
 mental activities which is permanent. This remains as a 
 governing factor in the character, and even in case of re- 
 form it is still a latent force which lies ready to betray its 
 subject in some unguarded moment of temptation. 
 
 "This may be illustrated by the old story of a father 
 who asked his son to drive a number of nails into a post. 
 He then asked the son to draw out the nails. The latter 
 did this. 'Now,' said the father, 'draw out the holes 
 which the nails made.' The son, of course, found it im- 
 possible to comply with this request. 'Neither, said the 
 fither, "can you eradicate the effect of a wrong deed. 
 You may be forgiven for it, but the nail-hole is always 
 there.' 
 
 "There is a physical basis for character as well as a 
 
psychical basis. Every impression made through the 
 sensory nerves which results in consciousness is recorded 
 in the brain, and every act of will comes from an order 
 recorded in the brain. All psychical activities, therefore, 
 have a material side as well as a spiritual side. This ma- 
 terial side it is that is always trying to drag the spiritual 
 nature down. It is especially so with those who have 
 once indulged in vice and have reformed. The old ten- 
 dencies built up in the nervous system are at war with 
 the new impulses for good. 'The spirit is willing but the 
 flesh is weak.' The Apostle Paul felt it when he ex- 
 claimed, 'I find then the law, that to me who would do 
 good, evil is present.' Even Paul could not escape the 
 abiding effect of past sins that had left their impress in 
 his physical nature. 
 
 "The reckless youth who thinks he will 'enjoy the pleas- 
 ures of sin for a season' has little idea of what chains he 
 is forging for himself. He intends, by and by, to reform, 
 but habit becomes so grounded in his nature that the 
 chances are against such action. His nature is changed 
 and his will is changed. The physical organs of mental 
 action have been hardened in lines of evil action and of- 
 fer almost insuperable barriers to change. Even when a 
 reform is effected, the fixed tendencies of action make 
 constant efforts to reassert themselves and only the most 
 constant watchfulness and the most heroic efforts can 
 prevent a relapse from rectitude. 
 
 "How important then to keep a clean record and to 
 build up from earliest life a set of tendencies that will al- 
 ways clamor for right action. We see the folly andth^p 
 danger of even the least indulgence in wrong. Everj' 
 teacher should fully appreciate this and seek to establish 
 the character of every pupil on a solid and impregnable 
 basis." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 General Observations on Discipline. 
 
 The reports alread5' made, of cases of discipline discuss- 
 ed b}' the club, are perhaps sufficient. The experience of 
 the various speakers is doubtless enough varied to meet 
 the demands of all 3'oung teachers who are seeking guid- 
 ance in their work. So I may close \vith a few observa- 
 tions on discipline in general. 
 
 It is a trite saying that poets are born and not made. 
 So it is with teachers. If onehasnot at least a rudiment- 
 ary talent for governing a .school, it is not probable that 
 such a talent can be acquired. Yet, when possessed even 
 in a small degree, it may be greath' improved. Everj' 
 teacher ma}- improve his ability to govern a school bj' 
 cultivating it and studying methods. He will gain much 
 by observing how other teachers go\-ern their schools. 
 He ma}' also get much by conference with teachers, and 
 lectures and discussions in teachers' clubs, or institutes. 
 
 In order to govern well, it is, first, necessary to com- 
 mand respect? The teacher must have character. The 
 children under the teacher's charge, and, in fact, ever>-- 
 bod}- must have conQdence in him. There must be a 
 bearing or manner which commands respect. W'e are all 
 conscious of this fact. We have seen examples of it all 
 our lives. 
 
 The teacher who would control others must, also, have 
 a loving heart. If children feel that you are unselfish, 
 
 78 
 
—79— 
 
 it gives you an additional power over them. Selfishness 
 begets selfishness and repels the outreaching sympathies 
 of child nature. It is, of counse, possible for the better 
 nature of a pupil to be so crushed out by a perverted life 
 that he is not open to good influences. And yet such ca- 
 ses must be rare, if tlie>' exist at all. There is mostlike- 
 1\- an open door to the better impulses of the most de- 
 praved heart, if only we have wisdom enough to reach it. 
 
 Self-poise and dignified bearing have much to do with 
 successfulh' governing a school. We are well aware that 
 these personal qualities make a deep impression in all the 
 associations of life. The man or woman who is always 
 well-balanced and makes no social blunder, commands 
 our lasting respect. The same quality in the teacher 
 gives her a strong influence over her pupils. The teach- 
 er who is boisterous, loud-voiced, and is easily made an- 
 gry, or impatient, will exert a poor influence over her 
 school. 
 
 To discipline a school well, it is necessary to under- 
 stand human nature thoroughly. Some persons are so 
 gifted in this respect that thej- can pla^- upon the human 
 heart as an organist plays upon the keys of his instrument. 
 When the^- desire to produce a certain effect — sound a 
 certain note — they touch a well-known key. They see 
 the connection between cause and effect in the realm of 
 mind the same as the scientist sees it in the realm of mat- 
 ter and force. The successful teacher recognizes the va- 
 rious differences in child nature and deals with each ac- 
 cording to the demands of its individualit}-. 
 
 To have a well-ordered school, the teacher must recog- 
 nize the rights of the pupils. She must feel that she is 
 dealing with little men and women. The further she can 
 
— So— 
 
 get from the nsual "school" attitude towards her pupils, 
 the better. This is an abnormal attitude which is respon- 
 sible for many of the teacher's troubles and difficulties. 
 
 It is better always to request than to command. None 
 of us like to feel obliged to act at the unsympathetic or- 
 der of another. A little reflection teaches us that the pu- 
 pil will always respond with greater alacrity to a kindly 
 spoken request. In fact a request may be so kindly put 
 that it is almost irresistible. What is gentler and yet 
 what is stronger than a kindly spoken word? 
 
 It is best, also, not to threaten, or even to speak o 
 what you will do, if you are not obeyed. The best dis- 
 ciplinarians never talk of obedience. They make no for- 
 mal lectures- on the beauty of good order and good con- 
 duct. ,A11 this is taken for granted, and to request chil- 
 dren to behave has a very weakening effect. The ques- 
 tion of behavior is never to be debated. 
 
 Of course a multiplicity of rules is bad. Many of your 
 rules will only serve to awaken a temptation to break 
 them. Children generally know what is right and what 
 is wrong. The general moral code covers most of their 
 conduct. Other requirements may be enjoined as their 
 necessity develops. Be careful not to require anything 
 without due consideration. It is unfortunate to have to 
 reverse a command. All rules should be just and neces- 
 sary and then they should be carried out without fail. 
 
 And yet there is such a thing as governing too much. 
 Consider the object of government. The primary object 
 is to enable the pupils to do best work. Disorder inter- 
 feres with work. Therefore have just such order as will 
 promote the best work. 
 
 Of course there is still another object in discipline. 
 
— 8i— 
 
 The virtue of proper obedience should be learned by 
 all in early life. It is necessary to good citizenship, and 
 in all the walks of life. The art of obedience is a neces- 
 sary part of every one's education. 
 
 To secure order, many teachers depend upon drill, or sys- 
 tem, in all movements, as for example in calling classes, 
 or in dismissing the school. This is absolutely necessary 
 in handling large bodies of pupils, as in city schools. There 
 such drill movements are just as necessary as they are in 
 an army. Otherwise there would be hopeless confusion. 
 This feature of discipline may be abused. Then the prin- 
 cipal of the school becomes a martinet and makes disci- 
 pline an o|)ject in itself and not a means. Thus individ- 
 uality is crushed out and the school becomes the ' 'ma- 
 chine" about which we hear so much. 
 
 Successful discipline demands a close attention to de- 
 tails. The time to stop the leak in a dyke is when it first 
 begins. It is the same with disorder in school. Some 
 teachers think a little looseness of conduct may be over- 
 looked, and almost before they are aware of it the con- 
 trol of the school has passed from their hands. Be just 
 as firm in your discipline on the first day as at any other 
 time, and vary at no time, if you aspire to a successful 
 management of your school. 
 
 Put no dependence upon competition for prizes. The 
 contest soon narrows down to a few pupils, and the rest 
 are not affected by the reward, unless it be unfavorably. 
 Prizes stir up criticism, jealousy, and charges of favorit- 
 ism. If you give rewards, make it possible for every pu- 
 pil to be worthy of them. It is better, though, to give 
 none at all. Pupils should be taught to do right for the 
 right's sake and not from any mercenary motive. 
 
—82— 
 
 Perhaps the best way of all to have a well-ordered 
 school is, to keep every pupil busy. This does not mean 
 that you are to give artificial and meaningless tasks. 
 That would be as bad as doing nothing. The work must 
 be in the legitimate line of their studies. It may be 
 some valuble collateral work like private reading, for in- 
 formation, in .suitable books. Study each child's individ- 
 ual bent of mind and adapt the work so far as po.ssible 
 to that. 
 
 To allow children to play in the school-room, is one 
 great source of disorder. They should be taught to hold 
 the school-room in respect, something as they do the 
 church. The reader may have noticed the great differ- 
 ence in the way people bear themselves in different church- 
 es. When the minister and leading members are silent, 
 and reverential, and respectful in the church, a solemn 
 stillness and holj^ awe seems to pervade the entire con- 
 gregation. So it may be, to a certain degree, with re- 
 gard to order in the school-room. Children should al- 
 ways be trained 'to feel that nothing boisterous, or un- 
 seeml}- must occur there. 
 
 And finally the teacher should not fail to create a spir- 
 it of pride in the school. Every pupil should feel that 
 the honor of the school rests, in great part, upon him. 
 He should recognize the fact, that bad conduct on his 
 part is, not only a personal disgrace, but a dishonor to 
 the school. In many waj's the teacher ma}' inculcate 
 this school spirit. The children may be assisted in dec- 
 orating the school- room, or in planting trees in the j-ard. 
 The latter may be made an occasion of much note. An 
 o rator maj- be chosen, and songs prepared, with other 
 
-83- 
 
 appropriate exercises. With proper management, the 
 pupils will al\va3's feel proud that they are members of 
 the school, and this counts for much both to them and 
 to the teacher. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction 5 
 
 I. Story of Robert 6 
 
 II. Discussion of Robert's Case 10 
 
 III. The Story of Richard 15 
 
 IV. The Story of Amos 20 
 
 V. How Bad Boys are Made 25 
 
 VI. The Pupil's Side 31 
 
 VII. Securing the Favor of Parents 35 
 
 VIII Some Extreme Cases 41 
 
 IX. Some Extreme Cases, continued 47 
 
 X. TeachersandParentsDidn't Co-operate 52 
 
 XL Some L,ittle Annoyances 57 
 
 XII. Some Little Annoyances, continued 63 
 
 XIII. Character Building 69 
 
 XIV. The Psychical Basis of Character 74 
 
 XV. General Observations on Discipline. • ■ • 78 
 
Great American Authors 
 
 BY PROFS. S. A. tINK and T. C. KARNS. 
 
 Children learn to love their country as they are taught 
 to love the men who have made its history and its liter- 
 ature. Southern children learn literature from the writ- 
 ings of the great authors of New England, and they are 
 filled with reverence for that section because they love 
 its great writers. 
 
 The South has produced some great writers, and our 
 children should be taught to love them as well as their 
 more fortunate brothers of other sections. Believing 
 that they will become better citizens and grander charac; 
 ters by studying both together, I have undertaken to 
 publish, in cheap form for school use, sketches of the 
 most noted Southern and Northern Authors alternating. 
 
 The first and second books contain sketches of Sidney 
 I^anier, and Longfellow, respectively, with a few of their 
 poems. These will be followed by Hayne, Hawthorne, 
 Poe and others. 
 
 The books will contain an average of 40 pages, writ- 
 ten especially for schools, well printed on good paper, 
 and in durable binding. 
 
 Single copies, 10 cents. In quantities of six or more, 
 the same or different numbers, only 6 cents a copy. 
 
 Stamps taken. 
 
 CLAUDE J. BELL, Publisher. 
 Nashville, Tenn. 
 
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