In other words, their
respect for him should be based on _real traits_ of character as they
see them brought out into natural action, and not on appearances assumed
for the occasion.
It seems to me, therefore, that it is best for the teacher first to meet
his scholars with the air and tone of free and familiar intercourse, and
he will find his opportunity more favorable for doing this if he goes
early on the first morning of his labors, and converses freely with
those whom he finds there, and with others as they come in. He may take
an interest with them in all the little arrangements connected with the
opening of the school--the building of the fire, the paths through the
snow, the arrangements of seats; calling upon them for information or
aid, asking their names, and, in a word, entering fully and freely into
conversation with them, just as a parent, under similar circumstances,
would do with his children. All the children thus addressed will be
pleased with the gentleness and affability of the teacher. Even a rough
and ill-natured boy, who has perhaps come to the school with the express
determination of attempting to make mischief, will be completely
disarmed by being asked politely to help the teacher arrange the fire,
or alter the position of his desk. Thus, by means of the half hour
during which the scholars are coming together, and of the visits made in
the preceding evening, as described under the last head, the teacher
will find, when he calls upon the children to take their seats, that he
has made a very large number of them his personal friends.
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