the proper moment; not that he should be late, and have good excuses for it.  When you come to be men, tardiness will always be punished.  Excuses will not help the matter at all.  Suppose, hereafter, when you are about to take a journey, you reach the pier five minutes after the steamer has gone, what good will excuses do you?  There you are, left hopelessly behind, no matter if your excuses are the best in the world.  So in this school.  I want good punctuality and good recitations, not good excuses.  I hope every one will be prepared to-morrow.”

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It is not probable, however, that every one would be prepared the next day in such a case, but by acting steadily on these principles the number of delinquencies would be so much diminished that the very few which should be left could easily be examined in detail, and the remedies applied.

Simultaneous recitation, by which I mean the practice of addressing a question to all the class to be answered by all together, is a practice which has been for some years rapidly extending in our schools, and, if adopted with proper limits and restrictions, is attended with great advantage.  The teacher must guard against some dangers, however, which will be likely to attend it.

1.  Some will answer very eagerly, instantly after the question is completed.  They wish to show their superior readiness.  Let the teacher mention this, expose kindly the motive which leads to it, and tell them it is as irregular to answer before the rest as after them.

2.  Some will defer their answers until they can catch those of their comrades for a guide.  Let the teacher mention this fault, expose the motive which leads to it, and tell them that if they do not answer independently and at once, they had better not answer at all.

3.  Some will not answer at all.  The teacher can see by looking around the room who do not, for they can not counterfeit the proper motion of the lips with promptness and decision unless they know what the answer is to be.  He ought occasionally to say to such a one, “I perceive you do not answer,” and ask him questions individually.

4.  In some cases there is danger of confusion in the answers, from the fact that the question may be of such a nature that the answer is long, and may by different individuals be differently expressed.  This evil must be guarded against by so shaping the question as to admit of a reply in a single word.  In reading large numbers, for example, each figure may be called for by itself, or they may be given one after another, the pupils keeping exact time.  When it is desirable to ask a question to which the answer is necessarily long it may be addressed to an individual, or the whole class may write their replies, which may then be read in succession.