of interest, but the teacher was skillful and did her best.  She soon had the attention of the class again and the lesson was moving along toward its most interesting part and the practical application.  But just at the most critical moment another interruption occurred; the secretary came in with the papers for the class and counted out the necessary supply while the class looked on.  It was impossible now to catch up the current of interest again, but the teacher tried.  Once more she was interrupted, however, this time by a note containing some announcement that had been overlooked in the opening exercises!

All such interruptions as these indicate mismanagement and a serious lack of foresight.  The fault is not wholly with the teacher, but also with the policy and organization of the school as a whole.  The remedy is for both officers and teachers to use the same business sense and ability in running the church school that they would apply to any other concern.  The collection can be taken at the beginning of the lesson period.  The papers and lesson material can be in the classroom or in the teacher’s hands before the class assembles, and not require distribution during the lesson period.  In short, all matters of routine can be so carefully foreseen and provided for that the class will be wholly free from all unnecessary distractions from such sources.

Mischief and disorder.—­An especially difficult kind of distraction to control is the tendency to restlessness, mischief, and misbehavior which prevails in certain classes or on the part of an occasional pupil.  Pupils sometimes feel that the teacher in the church school does not possess the same authority as that exercised by the public-school teacher, and so take advantage of this fact.  The first safeguard against disorder in the class is, of course, to secure the interest and loyalty of the members.  The ideal is for the children to be attentive, respectful, and well behaved, not because they are required to, but because their sense of duty and pride and their interest in the work leads them to this kind of conduct.  It is not possible, however, continuously to reach this ideal with all children.  There will be occasional cases of tendency to disorder, and the spirit of mischief will sometimes take possession of a class whose conduct is otherwise good.

Whenever it becomes necessary, the teacher should not hesitate to take a positive stand for order and quiet in the class.  All inattention is contagious.  A small center of disturbance can easily spread until it results in a whole storm of disorder.  Mischief grows through the power of suggestion, and a small beginning may soon involve a whole class.  There is no place for a spirit of irreverence and boisterousness in the church school, and the teacher must have for one of his first principles the maintenance of good conduct in his classroom.  No one can tell any teacher just how this is to be achieved in individual cases, but it must be done.  And the teacher who cannot win control over his class would better surrender it to another who has more of the quality of leadership or mastery in his make-up, for no worthy, lasting religious impressions can be given to noisy, boisterous, and inattentive children.