Let us, then, examine the various particulars above mentioned in succession, and see how each can be disposed of, so as not to be a constant source of interruption and derangement.

1. Whispering and leaving seats.  In regard to this subject there are very different methods now in practice in different schools.  In some, especially in very small schools, the teacher allows the pupils to act according to their own discretion.  They whisper and leave their seats whenever they think it necessary.  This plan may possibly be admissible in a very small school, that is, in one of ten or twelve pupils.  I am convinced, however, that it is a very bad plan even here.  No vigilant watch which it is possible for any teacher to exert will prevent a vast amount of mere talk entirely foreign to the business of the school.  I tried this plan very thoroughly, with high ideas of the dependence which might be placed upon conscience and a sense of duty, if these principles are properly brought out to action in an effort to sustain the system.  I was told by distinguished teachers that it would not be found to answer.  But predictions of failure in such cases only prompt to greater exertions, and I persevered.  But I was forced at last to give up the point, and adopt another plan.  My pupils would make resolutions enough; they understood their duty well enough.  They were allowed to leave their seats and whisper to their companions whenever, in their honest judgment, it was necessary for the prosecution of their studies.  I knew that it sometimes would be necessary, and I was desirous to adopt this plan to save myself the constant interruption of hearing and replying to requests.  But it would not do.  Whenever, from time to time, I called them to account, I found that a large majority, according to their own confession, were in the habit of holding daily and deliberate communication with each other on subjects entirely foreign to the business of the school.  A more experienced teacher would have predicted this result; but I had very high ideas of the power of cultivated conscience, and, in fact, still have.  But then, like most other persons who become possessed of a good idea, I could not be satisfied without carrying it to an extreme.

Still it is necessary, in ordinary schools, to give pupils sometimes the opportunity to whisper and leave seats.[1] Cases occur where this is unavoidable.  It can not, therefore, be forbidden altogether.  How, then, you will ask, can the teacher regulate this practice, so as to prevent the evils which will otherwise flow from it, without being continually interrupted by the request for permission?

[Footnote 1:  There are some large and peculiarly-organized schools in cities and large towns to which this remark may perhaps not apply.]