ubject of order, before the whole school. I have not yet spoken of it."
He thanks the boy for the book he borrowed, and goes away. He makes a
memorandum of the subject, and the boy does not know that the condition
of his desk was noticed; perhaps he does not even know that there was
any thing amiss.

A day or two after, at a time regularly appropriated to such subjects,
he addresses the boys as follows:

"In our efforts to improve the school as much as possible, there is one
subject, which we must not forget. I mean the order of the desks."

The boys all begin to open their desk lids.

"You may stop a moment," says the teacher. "I shall give you all an
opportunity to examine your desks presently."

"I do not know what the condition of your desks is. I have not examined
them, and have not, in fact, seen the inside of more than one or two. As
I have not brought up this subject before, I presume that there are a
great many, which can be arranged better than they are. Will you all now
look into your desks, and see whether you consider them in good order.
Stop a moment however. Let me tell you what good order is. All those
things which are alike, should be arranged together. Books should be in
one place, papers in another, and thus every thing should be classified.
Again, every thing should be so placed that it can be taken out without
disturbing other _things_. There is another principle also, which I will
mention, the various articles should have _constant_ places,--that is,
they should not be changed from day to day. By this means, you soon
remember where every thing belongs, and you can put away your things
much more easily every night, than if you had every night to arrange
them in a new way. Now will you look into your desks, and tell me
whether they are, on these three principles, well arranged."

The boys of most schools, where this subject had not been regularly
attended to, would nearly all answer in the negative.

"I will allow you then, some time to-day, fifteen minutes to arrange
them, and I hope you will try to keep them in good order hereafter. A
few days hence, I shall examine them. If any of you wish for assistance
or advice from me, in putting them in order, I shall be happy to render
it."

By such a plan, which will occupy but little more time than the
irritating and useless scolding, which I supposed in the other case, how
much more will be accomplished. Such an address would, of itself,
probably