I MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL BOYS.--"WHEN I WAS A LITTLE
BOY."--AN AWFUL MOMENT.--A SIMPLE THEORY.--I SCORE A SUCCESS.
I am not quite sure that the best qualification for a school-master is
to have been a very good boy.
I never had great admiration for very good boys. I always suspected,
when they were too good, that there was something wrong.
When I was at school, and my master would go in for the recitation of
the litany of all the qualities and virtues he possessed when a
boy--how good, how dutiful, how obedient, how industrious he was--I
would stare at him, and think to myself: How glad that man must be he
is no longer a boy!
"No, my dear little fellows, your master was just like you when he was
mamma's little boy. He shirked his work whenever he could; he used to
romp and tear his clothes if he had a chance, and was far from being
too good for this world; and if he was not all that, well, I am only
sorry for him, that's all."
* * * * *
I believe that the man who thoroughly knows all the resources of the
mischievous little army he has to fight and rule is better qualified
and prepared for the struggle.
We have in French an old proverb that says: "It's no use trying to
teach an old monkey how to make faces."
The best testimonial in favor of a school-master is that the boys
should be able to say of him: "It's no use trying this or that with
him; he always knows what we are up to."
How is he to know what his pupils are "up to" if he has not himself
been "up to" the same tricks and games?
The base of all strategy is the perfect knowledge of all the roads of
the country in which you wage war.
To be well up in all the ways and tricks of boys is to be aware of all
the moves of the enemy.
* * * * *
It is an awful moment when, for the first time, you take your seat in
front of forty pairs of bright eyes that are fixed upon you, and seem
to say:
"Well, what shall it be? Do you think you can keep us in order, or are
we going to let you have a lively time of it?"
All depends on this terrible moment. Your life will be one of comfort,
and even happiness, or one of utter wretchedness.
Strike the first blow and win, or you will soon learn that if you do
not get the better of the lively crew they will surely get the better
of you.
* * * * *