treatment you may think proper to bestow upon him. It is the
most difficult thing in the world, for the schoolmaster to
inspire into his pupil the desire to do his best.

Among full-grown men the case is different. The schoolboy,
whether under his domestic roof, or in the gymnasium, is in a
situation similar to that of the Christian slaves in Algiers, as
described by Cervantes in his History of the Captive. "They were
shut up together in a species of bagnio, from whence they were
brought out from time to time to perform certain tasks in common:

they might also engage in pranks, and get into scrapes, as they
pleased; but the master would hang up one, impale another, and
cut off the ears of a third, for little occasion, or even wholly
without it." Such indeed is the condition of the child almost
from the hour of birth. The severities practised upon him are
not so great as those resorted to by the proprietor of slaves in
Algiers; but they are equally arbitrary and without appeal. He
is free to a certain extent, even as the captives described by
Cervantes; but his freedom is upon sufferance, and is brought to
an end at any time at the pleasure of his seniors. The child
therefore feels his way, and ascertains by repeated experiments
how far he may proceed with impunity. He is like the slaves of
the Romans on the days of the Saturnalia. He may do what he
pleases, and command tasks to his masters, but with this
difference--the Roman slave knew when the days of his licence
would be over, and comported himself accordingly; but the child
cannot foresee at any moment when the bell will be struck, and
the scene reversed. It is commonly enough incident to this
situation, that the being who is at the mercy of another, will