itations he usually sat in the middle of the room, while
the scholars occupied the usual places at their desks, which were
arranged around the sides. In the recitation in Rhetoric, the teacher,
after a time, observed that one or two of the class seldom answered
appropriately the questions which came to them, but yet were always
ready with some kind of answer--generally an exact quotation of the
words of the book. Upon noticing these individuals more particularly, he
was convinced that their books were open before them in some concealed
situation. Another practice not uncommon in the class was that of
_prompting_ each other, either by whispers or writing. The teacher took
no notice publicly of these practices for some time, until, at the close
of an uncommonly good recitation, he remarked, "I think we have had a
fine recitation to-day. It is one of the most agreeable things that I
ever do to hear a lesson that is learned as well as this. Do you think
it would be possible for us to have as good an exercise every day?"
"Yes, sir," answered several, faintly. "Do you think it would be
reasonable for me to expect of every member of the class that she should
always be able to recite all her lessons without ever missing a single
question?" "No, sir," answered all. "I do not expect it," said the
teacher. "All I wish is that each of you should be faithful in your
efforts to prepare your lessons. I wish you to study from a sense of
duty, and for the sake of your own improvement. You know I do not punish
you for failures. I have no going up or down, no system of marking. Your
only reward, when you have made faithful preparation for a recitation,
is the feeling of satisfaction which you will always experience; and
when you have been negligent, your only punishment is a sort of uneasy
feeling of self-reproach. I do not expect you all to be invariably
prepared with every question of your lessons. Sometimes you will be
unavoidably prevented from studying them, and at other times, when you
have studied them very carefully, you may have forgotten, or you may
fail from some misapprehension of the meaning in some cases. Do not, in
such a case, feel troubled because you may not have appeared as well as
some individual who has not been half as faithful as yourself. If you
have done your duty, that is enough. On the other hand, you ought to
feel no better satisfied with yourselves when your lesson has not been
studied well, because you may have