don't mention the word any
more. Five years ago the discipline problem in this school was more
serious than in any school in town. We couldn't handle it, not even with
a club. To-day the discipline looks after itself."

The disciplining of an undisciplined school may sound like an immensely
difficult task. Wrongly essayed it would be. Rightly directed it
becomes the merest child's play. The teachers have disciplined the
school--disciplined it through kindness--and here, again, the
inspiration may be traced to the Mothers' Club and the kindergarten, for
it was in the kindergarten that the first real attempt was made to bring
this school into closer relations with the home by home visiting. Little
by little the example told on the grade teachers, who went to see the
children when they were absent; nor was it long before a custom grew up
in the school, by virtue of which a teacher who wished to visit one
absent child, might pick her own time to make her visit. If perchance
the psychological moment was during school hours, she went then, while
another teacher or the principal took her place.

Among the many illustrations of the efficiency of this system one stands
out strongly. A boy had been away for a week, sick with rheumatism, when
his teacher decided to call and see him. She went hesitatingly, however,
for this boy had been rough and troublesome all through school, but
particularly to her. At last her mind was made up. She visited the boy
and came away radiant, overjoyed at the cordial reception he had given
her. Again she went, and the mother, opening the door with a glad face,
said:

"Come right in, Tom's been looking for you."

"Is he better?" the teacher asked.

"Yes, pretty much, but he said that he would get well right quick when
you came to see him again."

Does anyone wonder that the boy should feel so kindly over attentions to
which he was not accustomed? Is it strange that he should have come back
to school with a firm resolve to be decent to his teacher?

Discipline? There is no longer a problem of discipline. The teachers
are enthusiastic over the work, because they can see its results in the
changed homes and lives about them. The children engaged in occupations
which they enjoy and sensing the efforts of the school in their behalf,
discipline themselves by being frank and hearty in work or in play.

Mr. Voorhes is not surprised at this transformation. The plan on which
he staked his reputation wa