How Shall I Make My Pupils Get Their Lessons?

This question is repeatrd by teachers ad infinitvm. lts repetition is of very fre riuent oocurrence during the first ywir's experience ; after that, the interroffatory h uiade less and lens, until otten, when the professional teacher takes the plaoe of the novice, the question is a.iked no more. What does experience leach with regard to this part of the work ? Why do young teacher.-, earnestly a.-k the questiou whicli so seldoua appeam to troiible tlieir elders? We are beginning to learn that all pupils tihould not be similarly treated, even though the old school discipline vigorously so taught. Each boy and girl requires mental, moral and physioal treatnient, different from that of every other boy and girl. We ought to be able to apply thia in each instance. This cannot be done, because, first, under such a regime, one teacher oould instruot Dot more than twenty pupils, and, second, we do nut know enoujih ; by this I mean that the mass of teachers know less than any other class of' people, of men and things abont them, henee less of human nature. Then, the conditioi) of things prevents the application of the true method of making boys and girls get their lessons, viz : Treat each oue according to his individual character. In school as in the world, some raust be coaxod and a few be driven. The first thing tor the teacher to do istodistinguish these two kinds in her class. One of the comiuon methods of compulsión, is detaining the pupil after gehoiil hours. The resulta are, where the school session lasts sil hours a day, vexation of pupil, impatience of teacher, and a general unhappiness ot' both. In some cases thÏH is a good thini; to do. A pupil will not be harmed by an hour's deleution after school if his school day is hut three hours. A lazy, lymphatic pupil will not be injured by detention in the school-room after hooi. Recesses should never be prohibited. But the geueral rule for both teacher and pupil should be " leave the house when school is done." You can keep a boy after school, but if he is a boy of spirit and persistence, he will not get his lesson. It is only the good boys that go to work with a will after school, and they are the very ones you do not care to detain. Then if the pupils cannot be detained after school, how shall they be made to get their lessons ? The answer has never been given. It cannot be given. Thereareduties of a teacher, the accomplishing of which requires an amount of ability, tact, foroe -cali it what vou will - the quality of whioh, though comprehended by resulta, cannot be described. It is this that will make the pupil get bis lesson ; it in this that makes school management relatïVely easy ; it h God-given, not acquired ; he who has it not can uever acquire it- lie can butimitate. As for the pupils, while parentsremainas they are, it eau not be expected that the child will ever learn tasks assigned himjust because he loves the work ; ome other