ly of their
own creation; and that as grave-stones mark the place where some one has
fallen, so every law is only a record of some previous wrong-doing. The
law "Thou shalt not kill" was not given till murder had been committed.
In other words, the wrong deed preceded the law against it, and perfect
obedience is the same as perfect freedom. No obedience except that which
we gain from the pupil's own convictions has real educational
significance.

Sec. 35. If there appears in the youth any decided deformity opposed to
the ideal which we would create in him, we should at once inquire into
its history and origin. The negative and positive are so closely
related, and depend so intimately on each other, in our being that what
appears to us to be negligence, rudeness, immorality, foolishness, or
oddity may arise from some real necessity of the pupil which in its
process of development has only taken a wrong direction.

Sec. 36. If it should appear, on such examination, that the wrong action
was the result of avoidable ignorance, of caprice, or willfulness on the
part of the pupil, this calls for a simple prohibition on the part of
the teacher, no reason being assigned. His authority must be sufficient
for the pupil without any reason. When the fault is repeated, and the
pupil is old enough to understand, then only should the grounds of the
prohibition be stated with it. This should, however, be done in few
words, and the educator must never allow himself to lose, in a doctrinal
lecture, the idea of discipline. If he do, the pupil will soon forget
that it was his own misbehavior which was the cause of all the remarks.
The statement of the reason must be honest, and must be presented to the
youth on the side most easy for him to appreciate. False reasons are not
only morally wrong, but they lead the mind astray. We also commit a
grave error when we try to unfold to the youth all the possible
consequences of his wrong act, for those possible consequences are too
far off to affect his mind. The long lecture wearies him, especially if
it be in a stereotyped form; and with teachers who are fault-finding,
and who like to hear themselves talk, this is apt to be the case. Still
more unfortunate would it be if we really should affect the lively
imagination of a sensitive youth by our description of the wretchedness
to which his wrong-doing, if persisted in, might lead him, for then the
conviction that he has already taken one step in