Joseph was completely at a loss what to say.  He began to show evident marks of embarrassment and confusion.

“I know what it is for; it is to defend yourself against me with.  Is it not, boys?” said he, appealing to the others.

A faint “Yes, sir” or two was the reply.

“Well, now, Joseph, it will be a great deal better for us both to be friends than to be enemies.  You had better throw this club away, and save yourself from punishment by being a good boy.  Come, now,” said he, handing him back his club, “throw it over into the field as far as you can, and we will all forget that you ever made it.”

Joseph sat the picture of shame and confusion.  Better feelings were struggling for admission, and the case was decided by a broad-faced, good-natured-looking boy, who stood by his side, saying almost involuntarily,

“Better throw it, Joe.”

The club flew, end over end, into the field.  Joseph returned to his allegiance, and never attempted to rise in rebellion again.

The ways by which boys engage in open, intentional disobedience are, of course, greatly varied, and the exact treatment will depend upon the features of the individual case; but the frankness, the openness, the plain dealing, and the kind and friendly tone which it is the object of the foregoing illustrations to exhibit, should characterize all.

9.  We have already alluded to the importance of a delicate regard for the characters of the boys in all the measures of discipline adopted at the commencement of a school.  This is, in fact, of the highest importance at all times, and is peculiarly so at the outset.  A wound to the feelings is sometimes inflicted by a single transaction which produces a lasting injury to the character.  Children are very sensitive to ridicule or disgrace, and some are most acutely so.  A cutting reproof administered in public, or a punishment which exposes the individual to the gaze of others, will often burn far more deeply into the heart than the teacher imagines.

And it is often the cause of great and lasting injury, too.  By destroying the character of a pupil, you make him feel that he has nothing more to lose or gain, and destroy that kind of interest in his own moral condition which alone will allure him to virtuous conduct.  To expose children to public ridicule or contempt tends either to make them sullen and despondent, or else to arouse their resentment and to make them reckless and desperate.  Most persons remember through life some instances in their early childhood in which they were disgraced or ridiculed at school, and the permanence of the recollection is a test of the violence of the effect.