ce and in causing it to grow into a habit. Every
problem that the boy solves by his own efforts, every obstacle that he
surmounts, every failure that he transforms into a success, and every
advance he makes towards mastery gives him a greater degree of
self-reliance, greater confidence in his powers, and greater courage to
persevere. It is the high privilege of the teacher to cause a boy to
believe in himself, to have confidence in his ability to win through. To
this end, she adds gradually to the difficulties of his work, always
keeping inside the limits of discouragement, and never fails to give
recognition to successful achievements. In this way the boy gains
self-reliance and so plumes himself for still loftier flights. Day after
day he moves upward and onward, until at length he exemplifies the
sentiment of Virgil, "They can because they think they can."

=This quality in practice.=--The self-reliance that becomes ingrained in
a boy's habits of life will not evaporate in the heat of the activities
and competition of the after-school life. On the contrary, it will be
reenforced and crystallized by the opportunities of business or
professional life, and, in calm reliance upon his own powers, he will
welcome competition as an opportunity to put himself to the test. He is
no weakling, for in school he made his independent way in spite of the
lions in his path, and so gained fiber and courage for the contests of
daily life. And because he has industry, thrift, perseverance, and
self-reliance the gates of success swing wide open and he enters into
the heritage which he himself has won.

=The sterling man.=--His career offers an emphatic negation to the
notion that obtains here and there to the effect that education makes a
boy weak and ineffective, robbing him of the quality of sterling
elemental manhood, and fitting him only for the dance-hall and inane
social functions. The man who is rightly trained has resources that
enable him to add dignity and character to social functions in that he
exhales power and bigness. People recognize in him a real man, capable,
alert, and potential, and gladly pay him the silent tribute that manhood
never fails to win. He can hold his own among the best, and only the
best appeal to him.

=Self-respect.=--And, just as he wins the respect of others, so he wins
the respect of himself, and so the triumvirate of virtues is complete.
Having achieved self-respect he disdains the cheap, the bi