t you have with all the equality,
uniformity, and certainty, that you can command. As a general truth, it
may be said that the law is respected when these qualities are exhibited
in its administration; and, when these qualities are wanting, the spirit
of obedience is driven from the hearts and minds of the people.

But we are not to rely altogether, nor even chiefly, upon the visible
weapons of authority. Especially must the mind and heart of childhood
and youth be approached and quickened and strengthened by judicious
appeals to the sentiments of veneration and love, and to the principles
of the Christian faith. In this institution, one serious obstacle is
present; yet it may be overcome by energy, industry, and a spirit of
benevolence. I speak of the large number of inmates to be superintended
by one person. Men act in masses for the removal of general evils; but
the reformation of children must be individual, and to a great extent
dependent upon the agency, or at least upon the cooeperation, of the
subjects of it. It is not easy for the superintendent to make himself
acquainted with the persons and familiar with the lives of six hundred
boys; yet this knowledge is quite essential to the exercise of a
salutary influence over them. He may be aided by the subordinate
officers of the institution; and that aid, under any circumstances, he
will need: but, after all, his own influence and power for good will be
measured by the extent of his personal acquaintance with the inmates as
individuals. First, then, government is essential to this school; not a
reign of terror, but a government whose majesty, power, equality,
certainty, uniformity, and consequent justice, shall be experienced by
all alike; and, being experienced by all alike, will be respected,
reverenced, and obeyed.

And next the social, intellectual, and moral influences of the school
and the home should be combined and mingled, or else the visible forms
of government become a skeleton, merely indicating the figure,
structure, and outline, of the perfect body, but destitute of the vital
principle which alone could render it of any value to itself or to the
world.

This institution is not an end, but a means. The home itself is only a
preparatory school for life. This is a substitute for the home, but is
not, and never can be, its equal. It therefore follows that a boy should
be removed whenever a home can be secured, especially if his reformation
has been prev