he impropriety of having an invariable mode of
punishment. What should we think of a medical man who was to prescribe
for every constitution in the same manner? The first thing a skilful
physician does, is to ascertain the constitution of the patient, and
then he prescribes accordingly; and nothing is more necessary for
those who have charge of little children, than to ascertain their real
character. Raving done this, they will be able, should a child offend,
to apply some appropriate antidote.

To begin with rewards: to the monitors I have generally allowed one
penny a week each, as I found much difficulty in procuring monitors;
for, whatever honours were attached to the office, children of five
years old could not exactly comprehend them. They could much more
easily perceive the use of a penny; and as a proof how much they
valued the penny a week above all the honours that could be bestowed,
I always had a good supply of monitors after this remuneration was
adopted. Before this time, they used to say, "Please, sir, may I sit
down? I do not like to be a monitor." Perhaps I might prevail on some
to hold the office a little longer, by explaining to them what an
honourable office it was: but after all, I found that the penny a week
spoke more powerfully than I did, and the children would say to each
other, "I like to be a monitor now, for I had a penny last Saturday;
and master says, we are to have a penny every week; don't you wish you
were a monitor?" "Yes, I do; and master says, if I am a good boy, I
shall be a monitor by and bye, and then I shall have a penny." I think
they richly deserve it. Some kind of reward I consider necessary, but
what kind of reward, must, of course, rest entirely with the promoters
of the different schools.[A]

[Footnote A: In many of the infant schools I hull visited, I found the
spelling and reading very much neglected, that neither the monitors
nor children look at the lessons, but merely say them by rote; if the
monitors are punished for inattention they wish to give up the office,
because there is no reward attached to it; but if there is a reward
attached to it of any kind, the children have sense enough to see that
the thing is fairly balanced, for if they are rewarded for doing their
duty they see no injustice in being punished for neglecting it.]

Perhaps nothing would tend more to the order and efficient conducting
of an infant school, than the plan of giving rewards to the monito