Natural leadership, a rare and valuable gift, is usually combined with
unusual ability of some kind or other, and is always carefully to be
reckoned with. When Miss Mayne found the girl who started the giggling,
she might have said to her:
“Lulu, have you found out something that is too funny to keep? No? You
are just giggling because you are giggling? That is too bad; suppose you
step out into the hall until you are over the attack; perhaps it is too
warm for you here.”
Assume that your pupil knows that people look with a certain contempt
upon causeless giggling, and explain why. Make clear how important it is
for people to be able to control their facial muscles, their expression,
their laughter; how absolutely necessary it often becomes to be able to
forego laughter. Then suggest some simple exercises for the gaining of
this control; and above all, show an appreciation of the trouble a
lively little girl has to control her risibilities. Give her permission,
if necessary, to step out of the room when she feels an uncontrollable
desire to giggle; usually being alone helps to control the spasm. If
possible, interest this leader, with her wealth of spontaneity and high
spirits, in some enterprise in which she may use all her surplus energy.
Step out into the hall and ask Lulu solicitously if she has recovered
from her fit of giggling; probably she will be ready to step to her seat
and go on with her work quietly. If she is not, make her comfortable in
the hall, and tell her to wait after school for a little talk. You are
not punishing her in doing this; you are trying to cure her of a
disease, to help her gain a control which she has not so far
accomplished.