Whispering, also, is a relief from the weariness of work. If there is any daring in a pupil he will try out the teacher on whispering. There are always enough reasons why occasional communication is necessary, to afford an excuse for asking permission to whisper, and next, to whisper without permission. No teacher ever attempts to secure absolute silence. Minor infractions of a whispering rule are always tolerated. Such must ever be the case. These concessions to human necessity lodge the idea that more whispering may pass unnoticed. In a word the conditions that favor whispering are numerous and very stimulating. The impulse to whispering can never be eradicated from a pupil. It may be suppressed or directed. A wise teacher has no wish to remold human nature to the extent that a person ceases to care for the opportunity of talking to another person. We are confronted with the problem of how to control an impulse that we desire to preserve without injury and yet without waste of time and effort. Whispering has always been a menace to the best school order. Everywhere and in all grades it threatens to retard or make impossible the highest type of school work. Not only is the noise of whispering a nuisance in itself, but it stimulates unnecessary noise from other sources. When whispering ceases many other sounds of doors, rustling leaves, etc., will be either markedly subdued or entirely eliminated. Furthermore, whispering is a well recognized cause of inattention to the subject in hand. The pupil who whispers, and the one to whom he whispers, both have their attention withdrawn from the work of the moment. Whispering is not a wrong in itself, like dishonesty or theft. Again, while all agree that better order can be maintained without whispering, few have a tested method to suggest for reducing it to a minimum. The most useful principle of discipline for the control of whispering seems to be that of substitution. Given a room full of children with no work to do, whispering will spring up instantly. Given a room where every pupil has urgent work on hand, the amount of whispering will be greatly reduced. If work can be substituted for communication, as an object of interest and effort, a large gain will have been made. Careful attention must be given to the age of the offender. In younger pupils the joys of talking with one’s fellows are still very enchanting. Usually offenders are not vicious in intention, rather they are quite without self-control. To require that whispering shall be reduced to a minimum can not be looked upon as an injustice; at most it is only an inconvenience. At church and theater and in the parlor or dining-room, whispering is tabooed. The teacher, then, is merely requiring what good manners prescribe in this respect for other assemblages of people.