Again in the following year--1829--when the Hartford school was for a time deprived of the headship of Miss Catherine, Harriet took entire charge of things, turning the school for the nonce into a republican form of government by means of a system of “Circles,” called Circles of Order, of Neatness, of Punctuality, of Benevolence, etc. With profound cleverness she put the most fun-loving girls into the Circle of Benevolence. Then she gathered all together in a central body, called the “Senate of the Skies.” By this means she engaged the girls in a system of self-government, prophetic of methods used to-day. To Catherine, away at the Water-cure, Harriet wrote: “DEAR SISTER: “This morning I delivered a long speech on ‘Modes of Exerting Moral Influence,’ showing the ways in which an evil influence is unknowingly exerted and the ways in which each and all can exert a good one. The right spirit is daily increasing. Miss Brigham says all her classes seem so anxious to do right and are so interested in their studies that she loves them better and better every day. The other teachers also say they never saw the classes form in more perfect order and go and return with so little noise. I feel as if we are holding the helm, and can turn the vessel the right way. The force of moral influence seems equal to that of authority, and even stronger. When the girls wish what is against my opinion, they say, ‘Do, Miss Beecher, allow just this.’ ‘Allow you?’ I say; ‘I have not the power; you can do so if you think best.’ Now, they cannot ask me to give up my opinion and belief of right and wrong, and they are unwilling to act against it.” “Your absence,” she added, “is doing me good, for I never before felt so confident to go forward and act.” In another letter she said: “I shall become quite an orator if you do not come too soon. The school has never been more orderly than it is now, and I think all the young ladies, though some slowly, are realizing more than ever before that they must not live unto themselves.” Again she said: “The girls are all anxious to have you stay as long as you can.” Let us take this not only as an expression of loyalty to the Principal, but as an unconscious testimonial to the excellence and charm of the younger sister, then but eighteen years old. CHAPTER VIII SOME STEPS FORWARD