, 1884-03-04
'.SCHooL-KEBPING"

tN-s
room,This 50 filed with chalk
dust that breathing was difficult, so j forbade
the writing. One day, when l had been out
with the pupils in the yard, 1 came to the
school-room door and saw Master Tommy
Atkins alone In the room industriously writ
ing tho sentence do not write on the black
boards" ! quietly withdrew without the
boys ~notics, and when i next entered the
room was empty When school was called
the eyes of all were turned to the audacious
handwriting on the wall When quiet was
restored / said:
@who wrote that sentenceY' 5s a
There was no answer.
Now said !, atbe chances are that those
words were written by some one now in this
room. intend to find out who Is the Gull
prit The crime rs not a great one, but IL to
it is added persistent falsehood 1t will become
serious, in my eyes at least. Let tho pupil
who disobeyed have the manliness to stand
up and acknowledge his fault before the
school"
No one stood up. The boys looked at each
other, but no one moved. 20 --Amlc sl
"Wen, all that did not write that sentence
standn ,t,.-.ft s
Like one boy the whole school arose to Its
feet, Atkins among the rest 5H-
nert had each boy stand up separately,
Ait uhAtu nlDl Oil liz uOuOI Ii ne III HTtlbcu
the line. l shall never forget the look OF hon
est Indignation with which Thomas Atkins
denied all knowledge Of the writing. When
this examination was over there was a mo-
ment Of painful silence.
"Well, boys," l said, at Just amounts TO
this: II things remain as at present the inn
putation rests on the whole school. If any Of
you can suggest a remedy, shall be pleased
TO hear it."
There wal an Indignant mur1nur all over
the room, and one boy rose to his feet u 81.
IL think, Mr.. JONES'" he said, shat you are
wrong in blaming us all for that one has
done. II l had written on the board l would
have stood up and said so.p 7re.s .fa-.
II believe you" / answered
g Then why not believe us all" said several
voices at once. o. ~ III % Il4 ~,
II will DO glad to do 80 the moment you
me that the handwriting came there
in a similar manner to that at Belshazzar's
teast. None OF you believe that, 90, as l said
before, do any of you SOC a way out of the
woodsl"
Another boy rose to his feet, giggled a mo-
nent and sat down again. t-Ifuul1 SOD
The whole school laughed-boy nature eI-
lctly-the one moment serious, the text one
giggle.
"Come, John, what suggestion nave you to
offeri Don't be bashfuLn 400 g1i1 a
John rose again, looked half comically
around. and said, with suppressed mirth;
"When 1 went to school down east some
one broke a pane, and the master couldn't
find out who it was, so he began at one end
of the room and whipped every scholar in the
building.n i.h"
"weii, john L said, Al attended a similar
matinee myself once when / was young The
,lo, ha. tha ,,arit - toat,,Atnr tLn a,,1nrt,
yet I fancy the rest of the pupils might con-
slider it unfair" sia4Y9z ylrHo9 :ls AI
The first boy now stood up again baMas-
ter" he ventured ~hesitatingly. 1 think It. is
no more unfair than saying that tho imputa-
ton rested on us all merely because some boy
whom you cannot find out has told q he.r.gr.
"You are right" i said, and / was wrong
in saying so. Only one boy is guilty, and I
will never believe until his conduct convinces
me that there is another in this room who is
so cowardly and untruIhful." s,.
Irose and went quickly down the room,
seized Atkins by the collar and jerked him
into the centre Of the aisle and with q Wig
orous shove, sent him headlong forward to-
ward the platform with a speed that taxed
his agility to keep his feet. l whirled him
around facing the pupils and cried; % isHH-
Atkins, who wrote that sentence on the
WALTZ"
I'LL did, sir" @
"ot COURSE you did. Now Pm going to re-
verse Johns plan. / am going to concen-
trate on your shoulders the punishment that
the down east schoolmaster distributed over
the whole school. Go to my room, sirP sHg.
'Oh, Mr.. Jones, III never, never do 90
again"
~ know you won't Ok to my room" "'
L believe that logging, like everything
else, II done at all should be lone well. Il
don't believe, in a dress parade. ] scarcely
ever hadito whip a boy twice, on the same
principle that the lad said lightning didn't
strike twice In the same spot because it
didn't need to. When 1t became necessary
for a boy TO ave an interview with me in
my own room. he rarely forgot the circum-
stance. / always taught school in q some
what free and easy manner, I allowed
encouraged it, and 1 never laid any
claims - to- that infaliibility which
many teachers surround themselves with.
Boys are quick to detect humbug, and a
teacher never loses prestige with them by adj
hitting that he doesn't know everything.
Although the incident 1 hay alluded to con-
sumed the greater part OF a valuable fore
noon, / never thrashed another boy there,
and when l asked the pupils afterward who
did any particular thing, some one instantly
sprang to his feet and said:
al did, sir.H-u Nli4LlH
Although boys nave many noble qualities II
they are rightly brought out, yet 1 regret to
say that my experience OF them convinces me
that most boys are cruel and tyrannicaL.
Nothing delights a scholarAa big boy--so
much as to bully a teacher. 1t Ia thu height
OF a boys ambition. Haven't I done It hum
dreds OF times myself Next to that, the
domineering over small boys Is a source Of
deep and lasting delight. -
One January / took my place ina new
school, and l was panied to notice that the
smaller boys were mercilessly snow-balled by
the big lubbers who iorded it over both
school-room and ysrd- So well established
was this ~tyrannical rule that l, found
the poor little beggan were afraid
to answer 20 my 3 questions Z about the
mattesS even when privately put Con-
sequently,, although I like to encourage
manly sports, ! was forced 10 forbid
snow-baling entirely. As 1t was early in tho
session, and as the big boys had been In the
habit OF assisting in the government OF tho
school, and as their ideas on the subject Of
snow-balling were not in accord with mine,
and as it had not yet been settled who was to
run the school that year, I need hardly state
that the order was not obsyed.n Next noon L
went into the yard as soon as school was dis
missed and found a large pile of balls
heaped up like cannon-bans at a fort They
were most cruel missiles, having been dipped
In water at the forenoon intermission and
allowed to harden in the interim. / picked
one up intending to bring 1t In with me
and show the utter barbarity Of hinging such
bAllA .
III sENTTFTTTT T7T771 TTT IT T---7
Dr. Fr.-ieris Rect Ritters. nj