an as this may succeed for a short time, and under very
favorable circumstances; and the circumstance which it is chiefly
important should be favorable is, that the man who is called to preside
over such an association should possess such talents of _generalship_
that he can really manage the institution _himself_, while the power is
_nominally_ and _apparently_ in the hands of the boys. Should this not
be the case, or should the teacher, from any cause, lose his personal
influence in the school, so that the institution should really be
surrendered into the hands of the pupils, things must be on a very
unstable footing. And, accordingly, where such a plan has been adopted,
it has, I believe, in every instance, been ultimately abandoned.

_Real self-government_ is an experiment sufficiently hazardous among
men, though Providence, in making a daily supply of food necessary for
every human being, has imposed a most powerful check upon the tendency
to anarchy and confusion. Let the populace of Paris or of London
materially interrupt the order and break in upon the arrangements of the
community, and in eight-and-forty hours nearly the whole of the mighty
mass will be in the hands of the devourer, hunger, and they will be soon
brought to submission. On the other hand, a month's anarchy and
confusion in a college or an academy would be delight to half the
students, or else times have greatly changed since I was within college
walls.

Although it is thus evident that the important concerns of a literary
institution can not be safely committed into the hands of the students,
very great benefits will result from calling upon them to act upon and
to decide questions relative to the school within such limits and under
such restrictions as are safe and proper. Such a practice will assist
the teacher very much if he manages it with any degree of dexterity; for
it will interest his pupils in the success of the school, and secure, to
a very considerable extent, their co-operation in the government of it.
It will teach them self-control and self-government, and will accustom
them to submit to the majority--that lesson which, of all others, it is
important for a republican to learn.

In endeavoring to interest the pupils of a school in the work of
co-operating with the teacher in its administration, no little dexterity
will be necessary at the outset. In all probability, the formal
announcement of this principle, and the endeavor to in