Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1879-11-15
SchOOl-Master's Conquest

a rule, the master should substitute his
own voluntary sacrificial chastisement
for that pupils punishment; and this
regulation almost Christianizcd his
school.
"Onc day." Mr.. Alcott said, l called
up before me pupil who had violated
an important rule. All the school was
looking OH, and knew the rule and the
penalty. Iput tho ruler into the offend
cr's hand; extended my own hand; l
told him to strike. Instantly | saw
struggle begin in his face. A new light
sprang up in his countcnaDce. A new
set of shuttlcs seemed to be weaving O
new nature within him. J kept my
hand extended and the school was in
tears. The boy struck once and burst
into tears. He seemed to be in a bath
of fire, which was giving him q nature.
He seemed transformed by the idea that
| should suffer chastisement in place OF
his punishment, and ever after. was the
most docile pupil in tho school, though
he had been the rudest."
Now this is very affecting and reason
able and striking. No one can read the
incident and very readily forget it; and
it contains lesson that every school
teacher can certainly read with profit
The incident came to the knowledge OF
Willis X. Stoddard, who for some years
past has been teaching district school
in Flint river township, in Iowa. lie
read this extract from one Of Joseph
Cooks lectures, and never forgot the
great moral it conveyed.
Young Mr.. stoddard had some few
pretty hard boys in school. They were
big and noisy and turbulent. lie had
reasoned with them, he had expostnlated,
he had begged and wcpt. He had whip
pod them until his arms ached, and the
directors had threatened to dismiss him
for unnecessary severity and absolute
cruelty, and tho boys grew worse and
worse every day. But when he was at
his wits end, and seriously thinking Of
running away and losing all his back
salary, ratherthan stay at school another
day, he read this incident, and it gave
his troubled mind new light He treas
ured it up, and thought it might help
him.
He had treasured it up probably half a
day when, one bright June afternoon,
Samuel johnson, the biggest and strong
est and worst of all the big, bad boys,
| violated all the rules Of the school, one
after the other, as fast as he could think
of them, and wound up by tearing seven
leaves out of his geography. These he
crammed into his mouth, and, wlten he
had chewed them into pulp, he took the
"wad" into his hand and propelled the
whole mass with great violence into the
ears of Ellis Haskell, who although also
big and bad-a little bad-was not pos
scsscd of sufficient presence Of mind tt
look calm and unconscious under this
avalanche, merely because the eye of his
teacher was upon him, and he according.
ly signiied his very natural dislnay and
establishment by universal howl
Mr.. Stoddard called Samuel Johnson
up his desk, and, more calmly than was
his custom under such circumstances,
told him to 60 out and bring switch
Tho pupils noticed there was something
unusually gentle in the teachers manner
and it struck Samuel Johnson very forci
bly, that it was certainly very much Out
of the ordinary method Of procedure for
the culprit to be accorded the privilege o.
cutting his own switch. But he was moi
the boy who would fail to appreciate
and make the best use of his privileges
and opportunities. So he did not idly
waste his time, but presently returned
with a very peaceful looking switch i'll
deed-a switch apparently far gone il
the last stages Of cOnsumption-tll sick
est switch
"Now," said Mr.. Stoddard, with a gen
tic, compassionate intonation, Strike
mcw
Samuel johnson, who had already be-
gun to unbutton his own jacket, opened
his mouth wide, and the whole schoO
stared in speechless amazement. Mr.
Stoddard calmly repeated his order. liz
thought he could see the "new set o.
shutters beginning to work." "Som'
One," he said-and q woman could moi
have spoken more tenderly--"sonle ono
must suffer for the infracton of the rules
l do not punish and of you for any pleas
ure it gives mo to sec you suffer, l dc
it because justice demands it. Some
one must be punished, and l will sui
fer chastisement in your stead" Tht
teacher saw "new light sprungiup" il
Samuel Johnson's countenancf. The
boy looked at his teacher and then a
his switch. The teacher could ''seo s
struggle begin in his face" Presently
tho tears sprang to Samuel Johnson''
eyes, and he said, in voice suffused will
anxiety, "Hadn't l better go out and get
a bigger switch"
The teacher softly told him he. nigh,
do so if he wished, and Samuel johnson
went out and was gone ten minutes-tel
long, anxious, quiet wondering minutes
When he returned, the school smiled
He carried in his hand u switch tina
looked like a Russian Peace Commits
sioner. He had cut it out of an Osag.