zing.
Indeed, I could not moralize on this theme if I tried. I don't know
any one who can, though the world is full of people who constantly try
to. They all fail. The mystery is as great now as it was in the days
when Eve happened to walk up to the tree where the serpent and the
apples happened to be together. One should take off his hat when he
speaks seriously of these things. They are stupendous!

Nor should you blame Mr. Bright too much for doing as he did. Hear the
story out before you pass judgment. He was only a man. You are under
the same condemnation, my self-contained critic!

I will admit without argument, however, that the machine would never
have slid down a banister in pursuit of a fleeing pupil. Never! It
never concerns itself enough about the doings of any individual pupil
to follow him an inch for any cause whatever. The machine would have
sat still and let the boy run. Then it would have suspended him the
next morning and expelled him a few days later. The machine always has
regular ways of doing things. It has all the rules for its movements
set down in a book.

But Mr. Bright was very anxious about "Dodd" Weaver. When he came to
reflect, he was glad that he had not met him while in pursuit of him.
Yet the question remained, what should be done when they did meet? He
thought about this, deep down in his soul, all the rest of the morning.
When noon came he was as much as ever at a loss how to proceed. One of
the worst features of the case, as he thought about it, was this:
"Dodd" had been going to school to him now a year and a half, and he
had begun to think that he had a permanent hold upon the boy. But here
it was again, back in the same old notch, and as bad as ever. It does
take so long to make anything permanent in the way of character! You
have found it so yourself, haven't you, beloved? In your own case, I
mean.

But on his way home to dinner Mr. Bright saw Mrs. Weaver out in the
yard, and remembering how much a mother may sometimes do for her son,
he went over and took her into counsel on the case. The machine would
not have done this either.

It is a rule of the mill not to consult with parents. If parents wish
consultation, let them talk to a stack of examination papers, or a
record-book. This will soon cure them of their desire to consult.

Mrs. Weaver heard Mr. Bright's statement with tear-filled eyes. She
had seen "Dodd" improve in every line of his life,