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pencils, may rise.

"Have these boys done right or wrong?"

"Right;" "Wrong;" "Right," answered their companions, variously.

"Their motive was to help their class-mate out of his difficulties; that
is a good feeling, certainly."

"Yes, sir, right;" "Right."

"But I thought you promised me a moment ago," replied the teacher, "not
to do any thing unless I commanded it. Did I ask for pencils?"

A pause.

"I do not blame these boys at all in this case; still, it is better to
adhere rigidly to the principle of _exact obedience _ when numbers are
acting together. I thank them, therefore, for being so ready to assist
a companion, but they must put their pencils away, as they were taken
out without orders."

Now such a dialogue as this, if the teacher speaks in a good-humored,
though decided manner, would be universally well received in any school.
Whenever strictness of discipline is unpopular, it is rendered so simply
by the ill-humored and ill-judged means by which it is attempted to be
introduced. But all children will love strict discipline if it is
pleasantly, though firmly maintained. It is a great, though very
prevalent mistake, to imagine that boys and girls like a lax and
inefficient government, and dislike the pressure of steady control. What
they dislike is sour looks and irritating language, and they therefore
very naturally dislike every thing introduced or sustained by means of
them. If, however, exactness and precision in all the operations of a


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