The boys are silent, looking to one another.

Teacher.  Did he hear any recitation immediately after school began?

Boys (faintly, and with hesitation).  No, sir.

Teacher.  How long was it before he began to hear lessons?

Several boys simultaneously.  “About half an hour.”  “A little while.”  “Quarter of an hour.”

“What did he do at this time?”

“Set copies,” “Looked over sums,” and various other answers are perhaps given.

The teacher makes a memorandum of this, and then inquires,

“And what lesson came after this?”

“Geography.”

“All the boys in this school who studied Geography may rise.”

A considerable number rise.

“Did you all recite together?”

“No, sir.”

“There are two classes, then?”

“Yes. sir.”  “Yes, sir.”  “More than two.”

“All who belong to the class that recites first in the morning may remain standing; the rest may sit.”

The boys obey, and eight or ten of them remain standing.  The teacher calls upon one of them to produce his book, and assigns them a lesson in regular course.  He then requests some one of the number to write out, in the course of the day, a list of the class, and to bring it with him to the recitation the next morning.

“Are there any other scholars in the school who think it would be well for them to join this class?”

In answer to this question probably some new scholars might rise, or some hitherto belonging to other classes, who might be of suitable age and qualifications to be transferred.  If these individuals should appear to be of the proper standing and character, they might at once be joined to the class in question, and directed to take the same lesson.

In the same manner, the other classes would pass in review before the teacher, and he would obtain a memorandum of the usual order of exercises, and in a short time set all his pupils at work preparing for the lessons of the next day.  He would be much aided in this by the previous knowledge which he would have obtained by private conversation, as recommended under a former head.  Some individual cases would require a little special attention, such as new scholars, small children, and others; but he would be able, before a great while, to look around him and see his whole school busy with the work he had assigned them, and his own time, for the rest of the morning, in a great degree at his own command.

I ought to say, however, that it is not probable that he would long continue these arrangements unaltered.  In hearing the different classes recite, he would watch for opportunities for combining them, or discontinuing those where the number was small; he would alter the times of recitation, and group individual scholars into classes, so as to bring the school, in a very short time, into a condition corresponding more nearly with his own views.  All this can be done very easily and pleasantly when the wheels are once in motion; for a school is like a ship in one respect—­most easily steered in the right direction when under sail.