ve concluded to write a brief description of these
arrangements, by help of which you will, I hope, the sooner feel at home
in your new place of duty. That I may be more distinct and specific, I
shall class what I have to say under separate heads.

I. YOUR PERSONAL DUTY.

Your first anxiety as you come into the school-room, and take your seat
among the busy multitude, if you are conscientiously desirous of doing
your duty, will be, lest, ignorant as you are of the whole plan and of
all the regulations of the institution, you should inadvertently do what
will be considered wrong. I wish first, then, to put you at rest on this
score. There is but one rule of this school. That you can easily keep.

You will observe on one side of my desk a clock upon the wall, and not
far from it a piece of apparatus that is probably new to you. It is a
metallic plate, upon which are marked, in gilded letters, the words
"_Study Hours."_ This is upright, but it is so attached by its lower
edge to its support by means of a hinge that it can fall over from
above, and thus be in a _horizontal_ position; or it will rest in an
_inclined_ position--_half down,_ as it is called. It is drawn up and
let down by a cord passing over a pulley. When it passes either way, its
upper part touches a bell, which gives all in the room notice of its
motion.

Now when this "_Study Card"_ [5] as the scholars call it, is _up_, so
that the words "STUDY HOURS" are presented to the view of the school, it
is the signal for silence and study. THERE IS THEN TO BE NO
COMMUNICATION AND NO LEAVING OF SEATS EXCEPT AT THE DIRECTION OF
TEACHERS. When it is _half down,_ each scholar may leave her seat and
whisper, but she must do nothing which will disturb others. When it is
_down_, all the duties of school are suspended, and scholars are left
entirely to their liberty.

[Footnote 5: This apparatus has been previously described. See p. 47.]

As this is the only rule of the school, it deserves a little more full
explanation; for not only your progress in study, but your influence in
promoting the welfare of the school, and, consequently, your peace and
happiness while you are a member of it, will depend upon the strictness
with which you observe it.

Whenever, then, the study card goes up, and you hear the sound of its
little bell, immediately and instantaneously stop, whatever you are
saying. If you are away from your seat, go directly to it and there
remain, and