tion. Wait, therefore, before you make such changes,
till you have ascertained _actual character_, doing this, however,
without any unnecessary delay.

In such removals, too, it is well, in many cases, to keep the motive and
design of them as much as possible out of view; for by expressing
suspicion of a boy, you injure his character in his own opinion and in
that of others, and tend to make him reckless. Besides, if you remove a
boy from a companion whom he likes, avowedly to prevent his playing, you
offer him an inducement, if he is a bad boy, to continue to play in his
new position for the purpose of thwarting you, or from the influence of
resentment. It would be wrong, indeed, to use any subterfuge or
duplicity of any kind to conceal your object, but you are not bound to
explain it; and in the many changes which you will be compelled to make
in the course of the first week for various purposes, you may include
many of these without explaining particularly the design or intention of
any of them.

In some instances, however, you may frankly state the whole case without
danger, provided it is done in such a manner as not to make the boy feel
that his character is seriously injured in your estimation. It must
depend upon the tact and judgment of the teacher to determine upon the
particular course to be pursued in the several cases, though he ought to
keep these general principles in view in all.

In one instance, for example, he will see two boys together, James and
Joseph we will call them, exhibiting a tendency to play, and after
inquiring into their characters, he will find that they are
good-natured, pleasant boys, and that he had better be frank with them
on the subject. He calls one of them to his desk, and perhaps the
following dialogue ensues:

"James, I am making some changes in the seats, and thought of removing
you to another place. Have you any particular preference for that seat?"

The question is unexpected, and James hesitates. He wishes to sit next
to Joseph, but doubts whether it is quite prudent to avow it; so he
says, slowly and with hesitation,

"No, sir, I do not know that I have."

"If you have any reason, I wish you would tell me frankly, for I want
you to have such a seat as will be pleasant to you."

James does not know what to say. Encouraged, however, by the
good-humored tone and look which the master assumes, he says, timidly,

"Joseph and I thought we should like to sit together, i