so far forth at the expense of some more conscientious
competitor? And, after all, when you deceive a teacher into the belief
that you are studying when you are not, that you know a thing when you
do not know it, that you wrote a composition, or executed a drawing,
which was done by some one else,--whom do you cheat but yourself? You
may deceive the teacher, but the loss is yours.

6. If there could be such a thing as an innocent crime, I would say it
was that of talking in school. There can hardly be named a more signal
instance of an act so perfectly innocent in itself, becoming so
seriously blame-worthy purely and solely by circumstances. I believe I
express the common opinion of all who have had any experience in the
matter, when I say that three fourths of all the intentional disorder,
and at least nine tenths of all the actual interruptions to study, grow
out of the practice of unlicensed talking. And yet this is the very last
thing which young persons will admit into their serious, practical
convictions as being an evil and a wrong. They may admit that they get
bad marks by it; that it brings them into trouble; but that it is really
an evil, meriting the strictures with which the teacher visits it, is
more than they believe. What deceives them is this. They call to mind
the events of a particular hour. There was during that hour, according
to their recollection, a general attention to study, and no special
disorder; perhaps some three or four of the pupils noted for talking.
This talking, too, may have been about the lesson, or at all events was
not such as to distract very perceptibly the current of instruction.
Hence the inference that a moderate amount of talking, such as that was,
is perfectly consistent with decorum and progress.

So it is. But what is to secure this moderate amount? What right have
you to talk that is not enjoyed by your neighbor? If one may talk, so
may all; if one does it, unchecked, so will all, as you very well know.
How is the teacher to know whether you are talking about the lesson, or
about the last cricket-match?

This is a perfectly plain question, and I press you to an answer. There
is no practical medium between unlimited license to talk--against which
you would yourself be the first to protest--and an entire prohibition. I
put it to your conscience, whether you do not believe, were this rule
strictly and in good faith observed, that the interests of the school,
and your own in