The week passed and the day of the lecture arrived. Laura was to be one of the ushers that night. Mr. Hodge was giving some final directions concerning the arrangements for the evening when Laura giggled. Instantly Mr. Hodge announced that some one else must be appointed in Laura’s place as usher and that she bring in the translation of twenty extra lines of Caesar the following day. This was the beginning of a strong opposition to Mr. Hodge which culminated in his being asked to resign at the end of the year. CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT Deal with the cause of the disturbance. Suppression of either the laughter of the girl or the humorous trait in the boy is entirely out of the question. Pass over the girl’s misdemeanor until the boy has been disposed of. Cultivate the humor in Charles. The primary task will be to teach him how to make good use of his talent. Wide reading under your direction will acquaint him with many types of humor and enable him to choose with discrimination. Show him the appropriate uses of humor, the occasions when humor can best be indulged in, the injuries wrought by unregulated fun. Have him take charge of the humorous column in the high school weekly. If he has a gift in drawing, develop humor and art together. You may learn a great deal from Charles; if you do, let him know the fact and so link him to you the closer. Hold many private chats with him informally about his work and enter into it with genuine interest. COMMENTS Nine times out of ten the one who laughs in school is not the real culprit. A person scarcely ever regards himself as “funny” or ridiculous. A pupil laughs at another’s error, blunder or joke. If the sense of humor is enkindled, laughter is the only natural outcome; the control of one’s impulse to laugh must of course be taught, yet for school-room purposes it is far more important to be master of the conditions that provoke laughter. The treatment recommended for Charles will help to make a man of him, and other pupils will respect the teacher all the more if he prizes a talent which wins the applause of all the school. A teacher who is unable to laugh or to share in that which is positively humorous is an unlovely person. “’Twas the saying of an ancient sage that humor was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor. For a subject that would not bear raillery was suspicious; and a jest which would not bear a serious examination was certainly false wit.” —_Shaftsbury._ The best teachers occasionally have a whole room of pupils roaring in peal after peal of laughter. They lose nothing by the experience; rather they gain immensely, for laughing together makes hearts warm up towards each other.