various members of it will have joined a greater or less number
of other classes, according to their age, or abilities, or progress in
study, so that all will or may have full employment for their time.

When you first enter the school, you will, for a day or two, be assigned
to but few classes, for your mind will be distracted by the excitement
of new scenes and pursuits, and the intellectual effort necessary for
_joining_ a class is greater than that requisite for _going on_ with it
after being once under way. After a few days you will come to me and
say, perhaps (for this is ordinarily the process),

"Mr. Abbott, I think I have time for some more studies."

"I will thank you to bring me your schedule," I say in reply, "so that I
can see what you have now to do."

By glancing my eye over the schedule in such a case, I see in a moment
what duties have been already assigned you, and from my general
schedule, containing all the studies of the school, I select what would
be most suitable for you after conferring with you about your past
pursuits, and your own wishes or those of your parents in regard to your
future course. Additions are thus made until your time is fully
occupied.

The manner of recitation in the classes is almost boundlessly varied.
The design is not to have you commit to memory what the book contains,
but to understand and digest it--to incorporate it fully into your own
mind, that it may come up in future life in such a form as you wish it
for use. Do not then, in ordinary cases, endeavor to fix _words_, but
_ideas_ in your minds. Conceive clearly--paint distinctly to your
imagination what is described--contemplate facts in all their bearings
and relations, and thus endeavor to exercise the judgment, and the
thinking and reasoning powers, rather than the mere memory, upon the
subjects which will come before you.

2. SECTIONS.

In describing the order of daily exercises, I alluded to the _sections_
which assemble in the last hour of the school. It is necessary that I
should fully describe the system of sections, as it constitutes a very
important part of the plan of the school.

Besides giving the scholars the necessary intellectual instruction,
there are, as I have already remarked, a great many other points which
must receive attention in order to promote their progress, and to secure
the regular operation and general welfare of the school. These various
points have something common in the