ndoubtedly be informed when he is wrong.
He should be told what it is that he ought to have omitted, and that
he ought to have done. There should be no reserve in this. It will be
worthy of the highest censure, if on these points the instructor should
be mealy-mouthed, or hesitate to tell the pupil in the plainest terms,
of his faults, his bad habits, and the dangers that beset his onward and
honourable path.

But this may be best, and most beneficially done, and in a way most
suitable to the exigence, and to the party to be corrected, in a few
words. The rest is all an unwholsome tumour, the disease of speech, and
not the sound and healthful substance through which its circulation and
life are conveyed.

There is always danger of this excrescence of speech, where the speaker
is the umpire, and feels himself at liberty, unreproved, to say what he
pleases. He is charmed with the sound of his own voice. The periods flow
numerous from his tongue, and he gets on at his ease. There is in
all this an image of empire; and the human mind is ever prone to be
delighted in the exercise of unrestricted authority. The pupil in this
case stands before his instructor in an attitude humble, submissive, and
bowing to the admonition that is communicated to him. The speaker says
more than it was in his purpose to say; and he knows not how to arrest
himself in his triumphant career. He believes that he is in no danger of
excess, and recollects the old proverb that "words break no bones."

But a syllable more than is necessary and justly measured, is materially
of evil operation to ingenuous youth. The mind of such a youth is tender
and flexible, and easily swayed one way or the other. He believes almost
every thing that he is bid to believe; and the admonition that is given
him with all the symptoms of friendliness and sincerity he is prompt
to subscribe to. If this is wantonly aggravated to him, he feels the
oppression, and is galled with the injustice. He knows himself guiltless
of premeditated wrong. He has not yet learned that his condition is that
of a slave; and he feels a certain impatience at his being considered as
such, though he probably does not venture to express it. He shuts up the
sense of this despotism in his own bosom; and it is his first lesson of
independence and rebellion and original sin.

It is one of the grossest mistakes of which we can be guilty, if we
confound different offences and offenders together. The gre