ring certain hours. I
gave them their choice, either always to ask permission when they wished
to speak, or to have a certain time allowed for the purpose, during
which free intercommunication might be allowed to all the school, with
the understanding, however, that, out of this time, no permission should
ever be asked or granted. They very wisely chose the latter plan, and
the Study Card was constructed and put up, to mark the times of free
communication and of silent study. The card was at first down every half
hour for one or two minutes. The scholars afterward thinking that their
intellectual habits would be improved and the welfare of the school
promoted by their having a longer time for uninterrupted study, of their
own accord, without any influence from me, proposed that the card should
be down only once an hour. This plan was adopted by them by vote. I wish
it to be understood that it was not _my_ plan, but _theirs_; and that I
am at any time willing to have the Study Card down once in half an hour,
whenever a majority of the scholars, voting by ballot, desire it.

You will find that this system of having a distinct time for whispering,
when all may whisper freely, all communication being entirely excluded
at other times, will at first give you some trouble. It will be hard for
you, if you are not accustomed to it, to learn conscientiously and
faithfully to comply. Besides, at first you will often need some little
information or desire to ask for an article which you might obtain in a
moment, but which you can not innocently ask for till the card is down,
and this might keep you waiting an hour. You will, however, after a few
such instances, soon learn to make your preparations beforehand, and if
you are a girl of enlarged views and elevated feelings, you will
good-humoredly acquiesce in suffering a little inconvenience yourself
for the sake of helping to preserve those _distinct_ and well _defined_
lines by which all boundaries must be marked in a large establishment,
if order and system are to be preserved at all.

Though at first you may experience a little inconvenience, you will soon
take pleasure in the scientific strictness of the plan. It will gratify
you to observe the profound stillness of the room where a hundred are
studying. You will take pleasure in observing the sudden transition from
the silence of study hours to the joyful sounds and the animating
activity of recess when the Study Card goes down