and put it in its place, and what would be the result?
Why, not a single paper, probably, could he get, from one end of the
week to the other. But let him, on the other hand, when a boy comes to
him to ask some question, the answer to which many in the school would
equally wish to hear, say to the inquirer,

"Will you be so good as to write that question, and put it on my desk,
and then, at the regular time, I will answer it to all the school."

When he reads it, let him state that it was written at his request, and
give the other boys permission to leave their proposals or questions on
his desk in the same way. In a few days he will have another, and thus
the plan may be gently and gradually introduced.

So with officers. They should be appointed among the scholars only _as
fast as they are actually needed_, and the plan should thus be
cautiously carried only so far as it proves good on trial. Be always
cautious about innovations and changes. Make no rash experiments on a
large scale, but always test your principle in the small way, and then,
if it proves good, gradually extend its operation as circumstances seem
to require.

By thus cautiously and slowly introducing plans, founded on the
systematic principles here brought to view, a very considerable degree
of quiet, and order, and regularity may be introduced into the largest
and most miscellaneous schools. And this order and quiet are absolutely
necessary to enable the teacher to find that interest and enjoyment in
his work which were exhibited in the last chapter; the pleasure of
_directing and controlling mind_, and doing it, not by useless and
anxious complaints, or stern threats and painful punishments, but by
regarding the scene of labor in its true light, as a community of
intellectual and moral beings, and governing it by moral and
intellectual power. It is, in fact, the pleasure of exercising _power_.
I do not mean arbitrary, personal authority, but the power to produce,
by successful but quiet contrivance, extensive and happy results; the
pleasure of calmly considering every difficulty, and, without irritation
or anger, devising the proper moral means to remedy the moral evil; and
then the interest and pleasure of witnessing its effects.

CHAPTER III.

INSTRUCTION.

[Illustration]

We come now to consider the subject of Instruction.

There are three kinds of human knowledge which stand strikingly distinct
from all the rest. They lie at th