of great charm of manner, and teachers of long experience, who govern well by moral suasion. Sometimes there are well-bred classes that can easily be controlled without force; but these exceptions afford no basis for the sickly sentimentalism that characterizes all corporal punishments in school as barbarous and brutal. Most teachers are averse to whipping; they often fail to inflict it when it is absolutely necessary for the good of the school. The traditional pedagogue, whose chief delight was in the ferule and ratan, is extinct. When all children are well governed at home, when all teachers are professionally trained, when all parents are reasonable, when hereditary tendencies are more in harmony with existing social conditions, corporal punishment in school may safely be abolished. When humanity becomes so highly developed that civil law imposes no severe penalties to hold lawless impulses in check, it will be easy for any teacher to govern any school by moral influences only.

At present, in school as in State, judicious severity is, in the end, the truest kindness. Fear of punishment and physical pain is the only check to the lawlessness of some children as well as of some men. The penalties of crime, which are awarded by the law of the State, are designed, not for the average law-abiding citizen, but for the exceptional savage; and corporal punishment in school is held as a terror only over the exceptional child. In his address before the London School Board, Huxley, with his characteristic pith, sets forth this practical philosophy as fol

lows:

"But your 'street Arabs' and other neglected poor children are rather worse and wilder than colts; for the reason that the horse-colt has only his animal instincts in

him, and his mother, the mare, has been always tender over him, and never came home drunk and kicked him in her life; while the man-colt is inspired by that very real devil, perverted manhood, and his mother may have done all that and more. So, on the whole, it may probably be even more expedient to begin your attempt to get at the higher nature of the child than at that of the colt from the physical side."

II. SELF-CONTROL.

Perhaps the most important object of school discipline is the formation of habits of self-control; but upon children whose impulses are strong and whose habits of selfcontrol are weak, the hand of power must be laid, to remind them of duty and compel them to do it.

The power to govern well is an essential quality of every successful teacher. When a new instructor takes charge of a school or a class, there is always a trial of strength between the ruler and the ruled; and woe be to that man or woman who falls a weak prey to young and merciless school tyrants: "A boy," says Plato, "is the most vicious of all wild beasts."

The young are the creatures of impulse, and children seek to gratify their impulses at once, without reflection, and without reference to their moral character. To counteract this tendency, the care and oversight of both parents and teachers are necessary. Get the child to pause-to take time to ask, "Is this right or wrong?"-in other words, to think. In all these cases, the old rule for curbing a bad temper is very good-" Count ten slowly before you speak or act." Teachers should strive to strengthen the child's will to do right. And it must be borne in mind that self-control is not learned in a fourteen

weeks' course, as some languages and sciences are supposed to be; but that it is acquired only by life-long ef forts, and by those alone who never give up. "Give selfcontrol," says Charles Buxton, "and you give the essence of all well-doing in mind, body, and estate. Morality, learning, thought, business, success-the master of himself can master these."

III. PUBLIC OPINION OF THE SCHOOL.

The public opinion of the school is an important element in discipline, and the teacher of tact will skilfully direct this power to the side of order and right-doing. Many a boy is influenced by the judgments of his fellows more than by the decisions of his teachers. There are in every school leaders in right- doing and ringleaders in wrong-doing; the teacher who can captivate one set and capture the other will secure good government. Few pupils can resist when they find themselves condemned by the common voice of their companions, whose censure they dread more than that of their superiors. A teacher can easily attach to himself the active, energetic, leading scholars by putting them into places of honor, trust, or duty; and, having done this, it is easy to secure their co-operation in establishing a wholesome and restraining school influence.

IV. EMULATION.

Emulation is a powerful agent in school; but it must be kept within bounds. Rank in class is important; but it is not everything. Prizes and gifts cannot be, and ought not to be, much used as stimulants in a public school. "The schoolmaster's means of reward," says Bain, "is chiefly confined to approbation or praise, a great and

flexible instrument, yet needing delicate manipulation." A system of ranking pupils according to percentage in recitations and written examinations has, no doubt, its advantages in stimulating pupils to study. But the wise teacher will check the spirit of reckless ambition in the wild race for promotion. In schools for girls, this spirit is often a great evil. Girls are more sensitive and more emotional than boys; and the emotions exhaust health faster than exertions of body or mind. With girls, the eagerness for success is so keen, the dread of failure is so acute, that they are easily injured by appeals to pride and ambition that might benefit boys.

ness.

V. SCHOOL DISCIPLINE.

In school discipline, much depends upon making pupils feel that rules and regulations are intended for their own good, not that they are made by the teacher for his own pleasure in exercising arbitrary power. Most pupils prefer order to disorder, firmness to weakness, law to lawlessHence calisthenics and military precision in marching are efficient aids in securing prompt obedience to commands. It is evident enough to pupils themselves that one object of discipline is to secure a sufficient degree of order, quietness, and regularity to enable them to pursue their studies and recite their lessons without interruption; but the higher aim of strict discipline is often lost sight of—namely, to train the will, and to incite scholars to put forth vigorous efforts for self-improvement and self-control.

Eternal vigilance is the price of order in the school

room.

The teacher must have an eye like a hawk to see what is going on, and a quick ear to detect noise.

"Dis

order," says Bain, "is the sure sequel of the teacher's failure in sight or hearing; but even with the senses good, there may be absent the watchful employment of them. This is, in itself, a natural incapacity for the work of teaching. A teacher must not merely be sensitive to incipient and masked disorder; he must read the result of his teaching in the pupil's eyes."

VI. OBSTINACY.

It is good policy to avoid driving strong-willed children into obstinacy. It is a sad mistake "to break a child's will" as the foundation of control over him. Respect the personality and individuality of every pupil. By a little patience and forbearance, you may bring to bear on the self-willed child the influence of kindness, sympathy, or reason. Set your own tact against the dull, brutish obstinacy of your pupil. A forced submission often ends in sullen doggedness or a smouldering fire of rebellion. The child must learn obedience; that is the first and greatest of lessons. From childhood to old age, all human beings must obey the laws of society and the laws of nature. With the impulsive and inexperienced child, real affection for the teacher will secure implicit obedience, and nothing else will.

VII. SCHOOL DESPOTISM.

The government of a school must be, in many respects, an absolute monarchy, and it will have all the vices of a despotism unless its ruler has a high sense of responsibility, and a knowledge of children based upon a careful study of the nature of body and of mind. The despotism ought to be a modification of patriarchal rule.

"It is in dealing with numbers," says Bain, "that the