st, and now
unceasingly wonder how any body can like teaching. I know multitudes of
persons to whom the above description will exactly apply.

I once heard a teacher who had been very successful, even in large
schools, say that he could hear two classes recite, mend pens, and watch
his school all at the same time, and that without any distraction of
mind or any unusual fatigue. Of course the recitations in such a case
must be from memory. There are very few minds, however, which can thus
perform triple or quadruple work, and probably none which can safely be
tasked so severely. For my part, I can do but one thing at a time; and I
have no question that the true policy for all is to learn not _to do
every thing at once_, but so to classify and arrange their work that
_they shall have but one thing at once to do_. Instead of vainly
attempting to attend simultaneously to a dozen things, they should so
plan their work that only _one_ will demand attention.

Let us, then, examine the various particulars above mentioned in
succession, and see how each can be disposed of, so as not to be a
constant source of interruption and derangement.

1. _Whispering_ and _leaving seats_. In regard to this subject there
are very different methods now in practice in different schools. In
some, especially in very small schools, the teacher allows the pupils to
act according to their own discretion. They whisper and leave their
seats whenever they think it necessary. This plan may possibly be
admissible in a very small school, that is, in one of ten or twelve
pupils. I am convinced, however, that it is a very bad plan even here.
No vigilant watch which it is possible for any teacher to exert will
prevent a vast amount of mere talk entirely foreign to the business of
the school. I tried this plan very thoroughly, with high ideas of the
dependence which might be placed upon conscience and a sense of duty, if
these principles are properly brought out to action in an effort to
sustain the system. I was told by distinguished teachers that it would
not be found to answer. But predictions of failure in such cases only
prompt to greater exertions, and I persevered. But I was forced at last
to give up the point, and adopt another plan. My pupils would make
resolutions enough; they understood their duty well enough. They were
allowed to leave their seats and whisper to their companions whenever,
_in their honest judgment, it was necessary for the prose