Miss Olney made several mistakes. First of all, she made her pupils very conscious of the visitors by putting them upon the platform and spending her time during lesson-hours talking to them. Company should never be put upon a platform unless they are to be looked at; for any child feels that an unusual object, placed directly before him, must be meant to be seen. Miss Olney had no business asking her pupils to do what she did not herself do; she spent her time with the visitors, neglecting her regular program, but asked her pupils to attend to their lessons. She should have known that voluntary attention is weak in early childhood, and needs every help to growth. She made Harvey, Sara, Mary and the little Johnsons very self-conscious by correcting them before guests, then reproved them for not going on with their work in complete unconsciousness of anything unusual. In short, she ignored the value of example in every way. Dramatic exercises are a most effective means of reaching small children, since they offer the elements of vividness and repetition. ILLUSTRATION (RURAL SCHOOL) “Hey, there, teacher!” called out Johnny Scott to Miss Strong, whom he spied across the road. “Say, you didn’t lick me today, did you? Pa said you would, but I told him where he got off at.” [Sidenote: Loud Manners] The men lounging before the postoffice laughed good-naturedly as Johnny yelled this greeting to his teacher. She was embarrassed, but not angry, for she knew Johnny and fine manners had never had a fair chance to become acquainted. She dreaded going to the postoffice for her letters, but as she could not have them without making the trip, she finally mustered up courage and ran the gauntlet of staring idlers. One of them, Ike Masters, spoke to her as she came out. “Well, the first day’s done, ain’t it?” he asked with kindly interest. “An’ you ain’t sorry, now, I’ll bet. If my boy gives you any trouble just lick the stuffing out of him, an’ I’ll do it again when he gits home if I’ve hearn about it.” His friends nodded and guffawed their approval, and Miss Strong escaped with a murmur and a smile. The smile came because she realized that these mountain people were kindly disposed toward her and her work, and that their crudeness was that of ignorance and not that of viciousness.