"Suppose now," said I, "that a young lady has come into school, and has
accidentally left her book in the entry--the book from which she is to
study during the first half hour of the school. She sits near the door,
and she might, in a moment, slip out and obtain it. If she does not, she
must spend the half hour in idleness, and be unprepared in her lesson.
What is it her duty to do?"
"To go," "Not to go," answered the scholars, simultaneously.
"It would be her duty _not_ to go; but I suppose it will be very
difficult for me to convince you of it.
"The reason is this," I continued; "if the one case I have supposed were
the _only_ one which would be likely to occur, it would undoubtedly be
better for her to go; but if it is understood that in such cases the
rule may be dispensed with, that understanding will tend very much to
cause such cases to occur. Scholars will differ in regard to the degree
of inconvenience which they must submit to rather than break the rule.
They will gradually do it on slighter and slighter occasions, until at
last the rule will be disregarded entirely. We must therefore draw a
_precise line_, and individuals must submit to a little inconvenience
sometimes to promote the general good."
At the close of the day I requested all in the school to rise. While
they were standing, I called them to account in the following manner:
"Now it is very probable that some have, from inadvertence or from
design, omitted to keep an account of the number of transgressions of
the rule which they have committed during the day; others, perhaps, do
not wish to make a report of themselves.
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