enable sensibility, and observation, and years of experience, to construct a system, whose general principles need not be reviewed, in every instance of application to every scholar? It is true that every scholar may afford new phenomena; and that the teacher who does not observe these as materials of thought, in private review of the principles on which he acts, thereby to enlarge them, or to rectify such small errors of application, as the wisest may fall into, omits the best means of perfecting himself and his art. Besides, a teacher never should forget that the mind he is directing, may be on a larger scale than his own; that its sensibilities may be deeper, tenderer, wider; that its imagination may be infinitely more rapid; that its intellectual power of proportioning and reasoning may be more powerful; and he should ever have the humility to feel himself at times in the place of the child, and the magnanimity to teach him how to defend himself against his own (i. e. the teacher's) influence. By such humility, he will also be in the best road towards that deeply felt self-reli ance, which is founded on sober self-estimation, although entirely removed from vanity.

Before dismissing the subject of Discipline, I will attempt, however, to explain Mr. Alcott's ideas upon punishment, rather more at large, than by the occasional hints on the subject, scattered up and down the Journal, since there are some mistakes prevalent concerning his views.

When he first began to teach school, he thought no punishment was desirable, and spent an immense deal of time, in reasoning. But, besides that this consumed a great deal of time that might have been better spent, he was convinced in the course of his observations, that the passions of the soul could not in all cases be met by an address to the understanding, and only were diverted, not conquered, by being reasoned with. What would excite feeling, he found must be brought to bear upon wrong feeling, when that actually existed; and to rouse sensibility when there was a deficiency.

Deeper observation of life, and of human nature, convinced him that the Ministry of Pain was God's great means of developing strength and elevation of character; and that children should early understand this, that they might

accept it as a moral blessing. He, therefore, introduced punishment by name and found that in theorising on the subject with his scholars, there was a general feeling of its desirableness and necessity; and he never failed in obtaining their consent to it as a general principle. On some occasions, there was to be corporeal punishment, to consist of one blow with the ferule upon the palm of the hand; more or less severe according to the age and necessities of the pupil. When this punishment was administered, it was always to be accompanied with conversation, -and given in the anti-room; though he made an exception once, when one of the oldest boys wantonly disobeyed, for the purpose of displaying to his companions his daring spirit, and needed the mortification of seeing himself punished before the rest. To the credit of the children, it must be granted, that they received this kind of punishment without deserting the general principle which they acknowledged at the beginning; and with constant acknowledgment of Mr. Alcott's justice and good will towards them. They considered it much less severe than to be sent into the anti-room when he was reading.

One morning, when he was opening Pilgrim's Progress to read, he said, that those who had whispered, or broken any rule since they came into school, might rise to be punished. They expected the punishment with the ferule; about a dozen rose. He told them to go into the antiroom, and stay there, while he was reading. They did so. The reading was very interesting, though it had been read before; for every new reading brings new associations, and peculiar conversation. Those in the anti-room, could hear the occasional bursts of feeling which the reading and conversation elicited. A lady, who was present, went out, just before the reading closed, and found those who had been sent out, sitting in the anti-room, looking very disconsolate, and perfectly quiet; though no directions had been given to them. She expressed her regret at their losing the interesting reading. Oh yes, we know! said they; we have heard them shout. Nothing is so interesting as Pilgrim's. Progress, and the conversations, said one. We would rather have been punished any other way, said another. When they were called in, they said the same

thing to Mr. Alcott. He asked why? Because the blow would have been over in a minute, said one boy. But this conversation can never be, another time, said another.

Having brought the whole school to this state of feeling, Mr. Alcott introduced a new mode. He talked with them, and having again adverted to the necessity of pain and punishment, in a general point of view,, and brought them to acknowledge the uses of this hurting of the body, (as he always phrased it,) in concentrating attention, &c., he said, that he intended to have it administered upon his own hand for a time, instead of theirs; but that the guilty person must do it. They declared that they would never do it. But he soon made them understand that he was serious. They said they preferred being punished themselves. But he determined that they should not escape the pain and the shame of administering the stroke upon him, except by being themselves blameless.

On the morning this was announced, which was the 1st of March, there was a profound stillness. Boys who had never been affected before, and to whom bodily punishment was a very small affair, as far as its pain was concerned, were completely sobered. There was a more complete silence, and attention, and obedience, than there had ever been. And the only exceptions, which were experiments, were rigidly noticed. Mr. Alcott, in two instances, took boys into the anti-room to do it. They were very unwilling, and at first they did it very lightly. He then ask-ed them, if they thought that they deserved no more punishment than that? And so they were obliged to give it hard :—but it was not without tears, which they never had shed when punished themselves. This is the most complete punishment that a master ever invented,—was the observation of one of the boys, at home; Mr. Alcott has secured obedience now,-there is not a boy in school, but what would a great deal rather be punished himself, than punish him.

It must be observed, however, that the point of view in which this Punishment is presented to the minds of chil dren, is not that in which vicarious punishment is placed. It is not to satisfy the claims of any inexorable law; but to give a pain which may awaken a solemn attention, and

touch the heart to love and generosity. The children do not feel that they escape punishment; for it is taken for granted that they feel a greater pain, in seeing others suffer,than they would, in suffering themselves. But its great object is to display to them that Mr. Alcott's infliction of punishment, is not want of feeling for their bodies, but a deeper and intense interest in their souls.

And this was completely effected. A new sense of the worth and importance of that for which he was willing to suffer pain, seemed to spring up all around, while the unquestionable generosity of it, was not only understood, but felt to be contagious. One boy, of nine years of age, who was one day superintendent, and obliged, in the discharge of his duty, to put on his slate the names of several boys, some of whom seemed to look forward to their punishment as a frolic, and one of whom cried for fear, begged so hard to be allowed to receive the strokes himself, that he was allowed to do so; and it had the most gracious effect both on himself and the rest. The real exercise of magnanimity necessarily elevates the one who rises to it, and who is by nature incapable of vanity, (the weakness of the selfish,) while the spectacle of it works on the dullest and the coldest. Of course such scenes must be rare; but their occurrence even once, is enough to spiritualise all the punishments of the school in which such a circumstance happens.

N. B. Since the publication of the first edition of this book, there has been no recurrence of this species of punishment, corporeally. Such punishments as omitting the reading, suspending particularly favorite exercises, &c., are punishments which must bear on the whole, though but one is guilty. But nothing severer has been found necessary to make any one scholar sorry for wrong doing. There have been some false reports on this subject, such as that whenever a scholar did wrong, Mr. Alcott called on some good boy to be punished! Mr. Alcott never called on any boy to be punished for another. And the above instance was entirely voluntary, and Mr. A. said nothing to encourage its being repeated.

The Journal was at first suggested as an assistance to the discipline of the School. It was found very useful at the end of the school hours, to recal to the children all that had passed. Some of the individual reproofs are now omitted, as not suited for publication, but a few are retained, to shew their style and nature. I here also omit the details of all the lessons, excepting those on the spelling. defining and reading of English, which were always the first exercises of the morning, and are made more especially subservient to the main objects of the school.

Before beginning the Journal I must however premise, in justice both to the School and myself, that my record being made at the moment, a great deal was omitted. I found it impossible to seize and fix with my pen many of the most beautiful turns and episodes of the conversation, especially as I took part myself, and the various associations of thought in so large a company, often produced transitions too abrupt for my tardy pen to follow; and graceful, humorous, and touching turns of thought and expres-. sion which could hardly be recorded by the most skilful reporter.

Dec. 29th. When I arrived at the schoolroom, just after nine o'clock this morning, I found all the children sitting quietly at their desks, engaged in writing their journals, or their spelling lessons. During this time of silent study, Mr. Alcott generally walks about the room, preparing pencils and pens at each seat, and making remarks. For the study of this lesson, an hour is generally