"I've begun it, and I won't chuck it," he said firmly. "And I hope to prove that your methods are all wrong. Let it come gradually; that's what I say." When he came over at four o'clock his face glowed with excitement. He slapped me on the back with his heavy hand. "Man," he cried, "it's going fine! We had our first trial this afternoon." "Go on," I said. "Oh, it was a first class start. Jim Inglis threw his pencil at Peter Mackie." "I hope he didn't miss," I said flippantly. Mac ignored my levity. "And then I didn't know what to do. My first impulse was to haul him out and strap him, but of course I didn't. I just said to the class: 'You saw what Jim Inglis did? You have to decide what is to be done about it'." "And they answered: 'Please, sir, give him the tawse'?" I said. Mac laughed. "That's exactly what they did say, but I told them that they were governing themselves, and suggested that they elect a chairman and decide by vote." "Bad tactics," I commented. "You should have left them to settle their own procedure. What happened then?" "They appointed Mary Wilson as chairman, and then John Smith got up and proposed that the prisoner get six scuds with the tawse from me. The motion was carried unanimously." "You refused of course?" I said. "Man, I couldn't refuse. I was alarmed, because six scuds are far too many for a little offence like chucking a pencil. I made them as light as possible." I groaned. "What would you have done?" he asked. "Taken the prisoner's side," I said promptly, "I should have chucked every pencil in the room at the judge and jury. Then I should have pointed out that I refused to do the dirty work of the community." "But where does the self-government come in there?" he protested. "Chucking things at the jury is anarchy, pure anarchy." "I know," I said simply. "But then anarchy is necessary in your school. You don't mean to say that the children thought that throwing a pencil was a great crime? What happened was that they projected themselves on to you; unconsciously they said: 'The Mester thinks this a crime and he would punish it severely.' They were trying to please you. I say that anarchy is necessary if these children are to get free from their dependence on you and their fear of you. So long as you refuse to alter your old values you can't expect the kids to alter their old values. Unless you become as a little child you cannot enter the kingdom of--er--self-government." I know that Mac's experiment will fail, and for this reason; he wants his children to run the school themselves, but to run it according to his ideas of government. * * * * *