o the contracting parties
are, and what each agrees to do. Why is the contract in writing? How many
copies of it are made? Who keep them, and why?

If you had a bill against the district, how would you proceed to get your
money? If the district refused or neglected to pay you, what could you do?
If some one owed the district and refused to pay, what could it do?

Who owns the school buildings and grounds? How was ownership obtained? If
it seemed best to erect a new schoolhouse in some other part of the
district, what could be done with the present buildings and grounds? Could
the district buy land for other than school purposes? Could it lend money
if it had any to spare? If the district had not money enough to erect its
buildings, what could it do? What are the corporate powers of a district?

_Questions for Debate._

_Resolved,_ That it is unfair to tax a bachelor to support a school.

_Resolved,_ That the town system is better than the district system.

CHAPTER II.

PRIMITIVE MODES OF ADMINISTERING JUSTICE.

Trial by Ordeal.--Boys settle some matters about which they cannot agree
by "tossing up a penny," or by "drawing cuts." In a game of ball they
determine "first innings" by "tossing the bat." Differences in a game of
marbles, they settle by guessing "odd or even," or by "trying it over to
prove it." In all these modes of adjustment there is an appeal to
_chance._ Probably behind these practices is the feeling that the boy who
ought to win will somehow guess right. This appealing to chance to settle
questions of fact is characteristic of society in its primitive state.
Modes of establishing justice similar in principle to these boy practices
prevail to this day among superstitious peoples. They have prevailed even
in Europe, not only among people of low mental power, but also among the
cultured Greeks. Among our own Saxon ancestors the following modes of
trial are known to have been used: A person accused of crime was required
to walk blindfolded and barefoot over a piece of ground on which hot
ploughshares lay at unequal distances, or to plunge his arm into hot
water. If in either case he escaped unhurt he was declared innocent. This
was called Trial by Ordeal. The theory was that Providence would protect
the innocent.

Trial by Battle.--Sometimes boys settle their disputes by _fighting_.
This, too, was one of the modes of adjudication prevalent in early times
among men. Trial by Battle was intr