are now sitting among you in the gallery.”  At this crisis the little one burst into tears, on which the children said, “Please, sir, that’s one of them, for his face is so red, and he cries.”  I answered, “I am sorry it is so,” and called the culprit down with “Come here, my dear, and sit by the side of me until we examine into it.”  This was followed by the outcry, “Please, sir, we have found the other, he hangs his head down, and his face looks so white.”

This child was then called down in the same mild manner to sit on the other side of me.  I then told them, that they would find, when they became men and women, that in our courts of law, witnesses of what was done were called, and as the elder boy had seen the young one take the cherry, it was necessary and desireable to hear what he had to say.  On being desired to stand up, I therefore said, “Did you see him take the cherry?” To which he promptly replied, “Yes.”  The next inquiry was, “What did he do with it?” To this he was silent, on which the little one, not being able to contain himself, called out, “He took it from me, and ate it.”  All eyes were now turned to the big one, and all felt convinced that he was the most guilty, whilst the confidence of the little one increased by the prospect of having justice done him, as he previously feared that being accused by the elder one, he should be condemned without ceremony.

Finding that the elder one had no more to say, it only remained to hear the defence of the young one, who, sensible of having done what was wrong, said, in broken accents, “He told me to take it,—­he hit my hand,—­and he ate the cherry.”  To which it was necessary to give the admonition, That he never ought to do wrong, though required to do so by others; and that such a defence would avail him nothing were he a man.  Both the children were now exceedingly distressed, and hence this was the time to appeal to the rest, as to the measure of the punishment that was due.  The general opinion was, that the eldest should be punished, but no one mentioned that the young one should even have a pat on the hand; the next thing was to appeal to the higher faculties of the little culprit, who, seeing that he had thus far got off, required to be softened down in reference to the other, though he had betrayed him, while the best way of operating on the elder was a display of love on the part of the younger; he was therefore asked if he would forgive the other, and shake hands with him, which he immediately did, to the evident delight and satisfaction of all the children, while the countenance of the elder showed that he felt himself unworthy of the treatment he received.  I then inflicted the sentence which had been pronounced,—­two pats of the hand, which the girls asked might be soft ones, and sent him to his seat, while I concluded the whole with some appropriate exhortations.  It is pleasing to add that the elder proved one of the most useful monitors I ever had.[A]