and thus lose a vast amount of labor. I have no doubt that there
are some in this class who are in the habit of _counting_, who have
ascertained that seven and eight, for instance, make fifteen, by
counting up from seven to fifteen _hundreds of times_. Now how much
better it would be to spend a little time in fixing the fact in the mind
once for all, and then, when you come to the case, seven and eight
are--say at once 'Fifteen,' instead of mumbling over and over again,
hundreds of times, 'Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen,
fourteen, fifteen.'

"The reason, then, that some of the class add so slowly, is not,
probably, because they want skill and rapidity of execution, but because
they work to a great disadvantage by working in the wrong way. I have
often been surprised at the dexterity and speed with which some scholars
can count with their fingers when adding, and yet they could not get
through the sum very quick--at least they would have done it in half the
time if the same effort had been made in traveling on a shorter road. We
will therefore study the addition table now, in the class, before we go
any farther."

21. TARDINESS.--When only a few scholars in a school are tardy, it may
be their fault; but if a great many are so, it is the fault of the
teacher or of the school. If a school is prosperous, and the children
are going on well and happily in their studies, they will like their
work in it; but we all come reluctantly to work which we are conscious
we are not successfully performing.

There may be two boys in a school, both good boys; one, may be going on
well in his classes, while the other, from the concurrence of some
accidental train of circumstances, may be behindhand in his work, or
wrongly classed, or so situated in other respects that his school duties
perplex and harass him day by day. Now how different will be the
feelings of these two boys in respect to coming to school. The one will
be eager and prompt to reach his place and commence his duties, while
the other will love much better to loiter in idleness and liberty in the
open air. Nor is he, under the circumstances of the case, to blame for
this preference. There is no one, old or young, who likes or can like to
do what he himself and all around him think that he does not do well. It
is true the teacher can not rely wholly on the interest which his
scholars take in their studies to make them punctual at school; but if
he finds