own convenience and hurry must wait for the greatest convenience of all members of the school.

The writer has no quarrel with those who succeed in developing all that is highest and best in the pupils without such a method, or without any method at all. Godspeed to every great and successful teacher! The foregoing method has been written for those who do not succeed, or who find the management of their classes a burden and their results unsatisfactory. Many young teachers, and not a few older ones, are wrecking their physical strength in a vain struggle to keep order. Professor H. S. Clark of Chicago has said that all such methods as the one proposed are manufactured to bolster up the weak teacher. He would have us weed out the weak teachers. But the writer has known many teachers who at first had failure and chagrin staring them in the face and who have, by methods essentially the same as the one outlined in the preceding pages, succeeded in wresting victory from defeat, and are today as strong teachers as any one could demand.

One of these, a graduate from one of our State Normal Schools, and having had a year's experience in a country school of eight or ten pupils, was called to a sixth grade of forty-two pupils. The class had been in skillful hands during the previous year, and received the young teacher in a spirit of helpfulness and courtesy. Immediately after introducing herself she assigned lessons, and, in about twenty-five minutes, had an oral recitation. No effort at organization was attempted because she had learned somewhere that all of this "red tape" was unnecessary, and to use it would be a sign of weakness. When the first recess came, the minor difficulties of sliding by each other in narrow aisles and the congestion on reaching the door without any understanding as to who should go first resulted in considerable delay, but was adjusted with no serious confusion, or marked disorder. After recess the teacher decided to have some written exercises done, and proceeded to supply the pupils with pens and paper. Since there were no monitors to do this for her, she distributed these materials herself. While she was supplying the last four pupils, the children in the first row, having nothing else to do, dropped their papers on the floor. As a result, some of the papers were soiled. The teacher, noticing this, replaced the soiled papers. When the distribution was completed, two or three raised their hands, and one said they had no ink. The teacher, in her hurry, spilled some ink on the floor and on her hands, but finally succeeded in supplying all of the pupils with ink. While she stepped from the room to wash her hands, the forty-twoboys and girls wanted to be busy, and so engaged in a little friendly comment on the new teacher. A few prepared their papers by putting their names and the date in the proper place, a habit which

they had acquired in previous years. In doing this, a few had the misfortune to receive an unintentional bump from those who were leaning over to engage in conversation with a chum across the way. As a result, their papers were decorated with ink spots. When the teacher returned, she was very kindly told of these mishaps, and as kindly passed down the aisles with more paper for the unfortunate ones. Now everything is ready, she thought. Then proceeded to put a question on the board. Just as the first question was half written some one attracted her attention and asked for a blotter. Down went the teacher's chalk and, with an air of apology for her forgetfulness, she distributed the blotters which had been placed on her desk at the direction of a provident principal. The question on the board was then completed, and the children eagerly went to work. Full twenty minutes had slipped away and nothing had been accomplished, except the distribution of materials. During the remaining ten minutes of the period, the class did some good honest work.

Next came an exercise at the blackboard. The teacher asked the class to go to the boards. All complied with the request, but there were numerous collisions in the narrow aisles, and a few disputes over preferred places at the board. A few minutes of delay righted these minor difficulties. The children were all eager to do the problems which the teacher gave them, but there had been no chalk distributed. Two or three announced the fact in tones of disgust. The chalk was then passed along the line, the problem given out, and all were happy. Since the space at the board was limited, the teacher directed them to erase after the first problem had been explained. This produced a noticeable laugh, because the erasers were not at hand. Some one courteously reminded the teacher of the difficulty. Two or three pretended to wipe the board with their handkerchiefs for the innocent amusement of their mates. After looking about for awhile, the teacher found a supply of erasers in the closet. The distribution of these relieved the situation. Another problem was announced, when the bell rang for the noon dismissal. The hungry children rushed to their seats, leaving a trail of disorder and noise behind them. They were dismissed. A jam of boys at the door and a swarm of girls in the cloak room completed the performances of the morning. The seeds of disorder, confusion, and discourtesy had already been sown in children who had been quiet, courteous, and well-behaved during the first hour of the morning.

When the pupils returned in the afternoon, the sun had reached the south windows, and streamed in upon the desks, and dazzled the eyes of those seated on the south side of the room. The temperature of the room soon became unbearable, and, before the first as

signment for study had been made, the teacher stopped, pulled down the blinds and opened the windows from the bottom on the heated side of the room. It did not occur to her that the cooler air lay outside on the shady side of the building, waiting to get an entrance through the doors and windows on the north side. The children became restless, and some noise and confusion attended the change from a history lesson to the study of geography. A hurried assignment of a few definitions in the text was made. Then the teacher and pupils began poring over the words of the text. So deeply was the teacher absorbed in getting the lesson herself that she did not notice the ripples of quiet merriment that appeared on the surface. Now it is time to recite. Books are closed with a bang and a sigh of relief at the prospect of a change.

The first few questions and attempts at recitation showed clearly that the pupils did not understand the definitions which they had tried, in a half-hearted way, to memorize. A globe and a map were needed to assist the pupils in comprehending the meaning of the book. A boy was sent to the main office of the building to secure the globe and the map. Meanwhile, the teacher and class struggled with the "dead vocables" in the text, until all interest in the lesson was lost and a sense of disgust was apparent among the children. Though the map and globe arrived rather late, in the hands of a boy who had enjoyed the freedom of the open air for some minutes, yet they served to awaken the drowsy children for the last few minutes of the period. The recitation was less than half completed when a signal for dismissal was given. It was recess time, and, in their haste to reach the coveted outdoor air, the pupils made a dash for the door and formed in good order to march down and out. Before they formed in the halls, there were a number of discourtesies and exhibitions of rudeness to mates. Recess over, the pupils returned to complete the last hour of the day in listening (?) to a delightful reading of some literature which they did not understand. They allowed the teacher to explain to them while they leaned back and secretly yawned and stretched. A song and a courteous good-night closed the first day's program, which had been carried out according to no special, prearranged plan. Taken all in all, the pupils liked the new teacher, and had done no serious mischief during the day. To use the teacher's language, "they had heen very good children." She knew she would enjoy her work with them.

By the end of the second day, it was rumored that two of the boys had enjoyed punching each other while there was nothing else for them to do. At various times during the third day, general disorder and merriment prevailed in the room. The teacher seemed quite unhappy as she was about to leave the building. A word of caution from her principal was received with an air of subdued self

confidence. Thursday brought new disappointments. On Friday, after a fruitless struggle to manage the children, she went to the principal's office utterly disheartened and ready to give up the school.

She was advised to continue and to make an attempt to recover lost ground. She reluctantly accepted the advice and returned, early on the following Monday morning, to receive her first lesson in the organization of a school; and, under the immediate supervision of her principal, by the aid of a few of her most troublesome boys and girls, the entire series of fifteen questions mentioned above were answered in detail before school was called. When the class arrived, she seated the pupils as suggested by the principal, secured their names on small cards, and placed them upon a diagram showing the arrangement of the desks. From this she could see just. where each pupil belonged, and it enabled her, at this late date, to fix in mind the names and faces of the children. A definite order of passing to and from the room was arranged, so that pupils need not interfere with each other, and so that all would leave the room with the greatest economy of time. A place at the blackboard was assigned to each pupil, and the order of passing to and from the boards was so arranged that pupils did not slide by each other in the aisles, nor collide with each other when turning the corners. Then the teacher adopted a code of signals that required the least possible expenditure of energy on her part, and contributed to the quiet of the class-room. Using these signals, she drilled the class in rising and sitting together, in passing to and from the room, in passing to and from the blackboards, until the whole class executed these movements with precision and without noise or confusion.

The pupils whom she had seated in the rear seats of each row were designated to act as monitors to distribute pencils, pens, paper, books, etc. The class was then directed to study the exercises which had been placed on the board before the opening of the morning session. The monitors were asked to "rise," "pass" forward, and distribute paper and pencils which had been previously sharpened and placed in a simple pencil rack by one of the most troublesome boys. In less than a minute, the entire class was busy solving the problems which had been written on the board. Throughout the entire day everything needed was at hand and the physical comfort of each child was carefully provided for. Occasionally the teacher would stop to give a drill to secure greater promptness and precision in the movements of the class, and to cultivate in the pupils a habit of prompt obedience to her directions.

These drills enabled the teacher to acquire the habit of directing the movements of the class with ease and freedom. In a few

days the signals and words of command became automatic. This left the teacher's mind free to observe, instruct, guide, and direct the pupils, and to control their conduct by look, word, or gesture. No one should ever undertake to put this method into operation unless she is willing to drill, and persist in the drills, until she shall have acquired perfect ease and skill in directing the movements of the class, monitors, or school as a whole. To stop short of this would not only make the method ineffective but would serve to condemn the method before it has had a trial of the most essential element in it

After a week's trial of the method detailed, the teacher, mentioned above, had acquired reasonable ease and freedom in managing her class, and the habits of the pupils were decidedly improved. At the end of the first month, teacher and pupils were working in hearty co-operation with each other. At the end of her second month, the County Superintendent pronounced her management of the class excellent and her work as a whole very good. Four years or more have passed since that victory was won. Hard as was the battle, it saved a strong teacher to the State of California! Was it worth while? Shall we throw overboard the "weak teacher" whom a well organized system can make strong?

By the time a teacher has acquired the necessary skill and has developed orderly habits and correct attitudes, pupils will take upon themselves the execution of the various movements of the school. Each pupil drops into his proper place, and performs his duty without attention from the teacher. The school will run in its mechanical details with little or no expenditure of effort on the part of the teacher. This freedom from detail will enable her to concentrate her energies upon the vital work of teaching those things which make for character and efficiency in society and state.

These words are written in the light of experience, for the help and encouragement of those who are blindly struggling to win the victory. In this method, the essentials only have been emphasized. Much might be added, and a few minor items taken away. Each teacher must decide for herself just what modifications are necessary to adapt the method to special situations. Sufficient to say, it has met the needs of a variety of schools in communities differing greatly in the character of its people, and has lifted many a worried soul to the rank of first-class teachers.

Organization and attention to mechanical details in the schoolroom are but a very small part, though, to most teachers, an essential part, of the management of a school. The external forms of order and politeness, the physical attitude of attention, automatic obedience, the outward semblance of co-operation and mutual helpfulness, may exist without the proper attitude of soul (mind, heart,