"_
Before the close of the school I had eight or ten notes acknowledging
the fault, describing the circumstances of each case, and expressing
promises to do so no more.
It is by such methods as this, rather than by threatening and
punishment, that I manage the cases of discipline which from time to
time occur; but even such as this, slight as it is, occur very seldom.
Weeks and weeks sometimes elapse without one. When they do occur, they
are always easily settled by confession and reform. Sometimes I am asked
to _forgive_ the offense. But I have no power to forgive. God must
forgive you when you do wrong, or the burden must remain. My duty is to
take measures to prevent future transgression, and to lead those who
have been guilty of it to God for pardon. If they do not go to Him,
though they may satisfy me, as principal of a school, by not repeating
the offence, they must remain _unforgiven_. I can _forget_, and I do
forget. For example, in this last case I have not the slightest
recollection of any individual who was engaged in it. The evil was
entirely removed, and had it not afforded me a convenient illustration
here, perhaps I should never have thought of it again; still, it may not
yet be _forgiven._ It may seem strange that I should speak so seriously
of God's forgiveness for such a trifle as that. Does He notice a child's
ringing a door-bell in play? He notices when a child is willing to yield
to temptation to do what she knows to be wrong, and to act even in the
slightest trifle from a selfish disregard for the convenience of others.
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