Upon a satisfactory examination the student now passes to the second department, where a wider scope of knowledge in accounts is opened to him, with a large amount of practical detail familiarizing him with the actual operations of business. The greatest care is taken to prevent mere copying and to throw the student upon his own resources, by obliging him to correct his own blunders, and to work out his own results; accepting nothing as final that has not the characteristics of real business. Much care is bestowed in this department upon the form and essential matter of business paper, and especially of correspondence. A great variety of letters is required to be written on assigned topics and in connection with the business which is recorded, and thorough instruction is given in the law of negotiable paper, contracts, etc. During all this time the student devotes from half an hour to an hour daily to penmanship, a plain, practical, legible hand being aimed at, to the exclusion of superfluous lines and flourishes. It is expected that the work in the first and second departments will establish the student in the main principles of bookkeeping, in its general theories, and their application to ordinary transactions. In the third department the student takes an advanced position, and is expected, during the two or three months he will remain in this department, to perfect himself in the more subtle questions involved in accounts, as well as to shake off the crude belongings of schoolboy work. He will be required to use his mind in everything he does--to depend as much as possible upon himself. The work which he presents for approval here must have the characteristics of business. His letters, statements, and papers of all kinds are critically examined, and approved only when giving evidence of conscientious work, as well as coming up to strict business requirements. Before he leaves this department he should be versed in all the theories of accounts, should write an acceptable business hand; should be able to execute a faultless letter so far as relates to form, spelling, and grammatical construction, should have a fair knowledge of commercial law, and have completed his arithmetical course.