the
improvement in this branch.

To guard against these evils, a regular and well-considered system
should be adopted for the distribution of pens and stationary, and when
adopted it should be strictly and steadily adhered to.

3. Answering questions about studies. A teacher who does not adopt some
system in regard to this subject will be always at the mercy of his
scholars. One boy will want to know how to parse a word, another where
the lesson is, another to have a sum explained, and a fourth will wish
to show his work to see if it is right. The teacher does not like to
discourage such inquiries. Each one, as it comes up, seems necessary;
each one, too, is answered in a moment; but the endless number and the
continual repetition of them consume his time and exhaust his patience.

There is another view of the subject which ought to be taken. Perhaps it
would not be far from the truth to estimate the average number of
scholars in the schools in our country at fifty. At any rate, this will
be near enough for our present purpose. There are three hours in each
session, according to the usual arrangement, making one hundred and
eighty minutes, which, divided among fifty, give about three minutes and
a half to each individual. If the reader has, in his own school, a
greater or a less number, he can easily correct the above calculation,
so as to adapt it to his own case, and ascertain the portion which may
justly be appropriated to each pupil. It will probably vary from two to
four minutes. Now a period of four minutes slips away very fast while a
man is looking over perplexing figures on a slate, and if he exceeds
that time at all in individual attention to any one scholar, he is doing
injustice to his other pupils. I do not mean that a man is to confine
himself rigidly to the principle suggested by this calculation of
cautiously appropriating no more time to any one of his pupils than such
a calculation would assign to each, but simply that this is a point
which should be kept in view, and should have a very strong influence in
deciding how far it is right to devote attention exclusively to
individuals. It seems to me that it shows very clearly that one ought
to teach his pupils, as much as possible, _in masses_, and as little as
possible by private attention to individual cases.

The following directions will help the teacher to carry these principles
into effect. When you assign a lesson, glance over it yourself, and