Great caution is,
however, in such a case, necessary to guard against the danger that the
teacher, in attempting to avoid the tones of irritation and anger,
should so speak of the sin as to blunt his pupils' sense of its guilt,
and lull their consciences into a slumber.
At the appointed time on the following day the subject was again brought
before the school, and some plans proposed by which the resolutions now
formed might be more certainly kept. These plans were readily and
cheerfully adopted by the boys, and in a short time the vice of
profaneness was, in a great degree, banished from the school.
I hope the reader will keep in mind the object of the above
illustration, which is to show that it is the true policy of the teacher
not to waste his time and strength in contending against _such
accidental instances_ of transgression as may chance to fall under his
notice, but to take an enlarged and extended view of the whole ground,
endeavoring to remove _whole classes of faults_--to elevate and improve
_multitudes together_.
By these means, his labors will not only be more effectual, but far more
pleasant. You can not come into collision with an individual scholar, to
punish him for a mischievous spirit, or even to rebuke him for some
single act by which he has given you trouble, without an uncomfortable
and uneasy feeling, which makes, in ordinary cases, the discipline of a
school the most unpleasant part of a teacher's duty.
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