WE should always endeavour to be at school at the proper time. It is almost always our own fault if we are late; we must either have been too lazy in getting up in the morning, or have walked too slowly to school; for our parents will very seldom detain us. If we do not enter school till the lessons are begun, we not only lose part of our lessons, but we disturb the teacher and all the other pupils, which we have no business to do. Besides,

when we are late, we cannot be present at prayers; and this is very wrong, for it is not shewing proper respect to the good God from whom we receive every blessing. We should therefore be very careful to come early to school; and we ought to take our proper places quietly, without making any unnecessary disturbance, remembering that all confusion will annoy the master, and is a very unsuitable preparation for an act of worship.

When it is time to begin lessons, we ought to see that our books are ready, and that we have the proper place turned up. It is a very good plan to mark the place in our books, by putting in a narrow ribbon, or even a thread, and then we can open at the right place at once. But we ought never to fold in the leaf, as this soon destroys our books. However well we may prepare our lessons at night, we shall never be able to do well in school unless we take care to attend to what is going on in our class. It is very

hard, no doubt, to sit without talking, and to be always looking on our books; but then our parents wish us to do so, and our teachers require us to do so, and it is all for our own good as we shall find out when we grow to be men and women. It would be far less trouble for the teacher just to allow us to be as idle, and learn as little as we please; but we should suffer by this in the end, as we should not only lose all the pleasures which can be enjoyed only by those of good education, but should be laughed at by every one for our ignorance, and should be fit for nothing but the coarsest work and the lowest station in society. We should keep this in mind when we begin to weary of attending to our lessons, and then we shall perhaps be more willing to bear a slight hardship, for after all it is no very difficult matter that we are required to do.

Every teacher has his own way of managing affairs in his school, and unless all the

C

scholars follow one system the school will

soon be filled with uproar.

We must there

fore be very careful to obey the master at once, and submit to his directions without any hesitation. It is very foolish conceit in us to suppose that we are wiser than the master, and it is still worse to be self-willed and disobedient. We should never contradict our teacher, or persist in saying that what we have said or done was right, if he condemns it, for we will almost always be mistaken. Sometimes, indeed, the teacher may be wrong; he may find fault with us when we are not doing anything that deserved blame; or he may say that we have answered incorrectly when we were in the right; but this should not make us forget the respect that is due to him. He has many things to occupy him, and may thus occasionally make mistakes; but if we quietly, and politely, and modestly explain matters, we shall seldom find the teacher so unreasonable as not to

listen to us patiently, and put everything to rights. Few persons have so many cares to annoy them as a teacher has; and every scholar of good feelings will try as well as he can to keep from all noise, talking, idleness, and everything else that may give additional annoyance. Even the best tempered teachers will sometimes be ruffled; and if they are cross, we know that carelessness is not the way to make them better.

If we really feel any respect for our teacher we will shew it at all times; when he is absent as well as when he is present; when he teaches himself, or when he employs an assistant to instruct us. Nothing can be a more certain proof of our want of good sense and good manners, as well as of respect to our teacher, than to take liberties when strangers come to visit the school; to make a disturbance when the master may be called away for a few minutes from the room; or to be insubordinate when ill-health confines