The Teacher | Page 5

officer in attendance was ordered to clear the
gallery, it was sometimes found to be a very troublesome and slow
operation; for those who first went out remained obstinately as close to

the doors as possible, so as to secure the opportunity to come in again
first when the doors should be re-opened. The consequence was, there
was so great an accumulation around the doors outside, that it was
almost impossible for the crowd to get out. The whole difficulty arose
from the eager desire of every one to remain as near as possible to the
door, _through which they were to come back again_. Notwithstanding
the utmost efforts of the officers, fifteen minutes were sometimes
consumed in effecting the object, when the order was given that the
spectators should retire.
The whole difficulty was removed by a very simple plan. One door
only was opened when the crowd was to retire, and they were then
admitted, when the gallery was opened again, through the other. The
consequence was, that as soon as the order was given to clear the
galleries, every one fled as fast as possible through the open door
around to the one which was closed, so as to be ready to enter first,
when that, in its turn, should be opened. This was usually in a few
minutes, as the purpose for which the spectators were ordered to retire
was in most cases simply to allow time for taking a vote. Here it will be
seen that, by the operation of a very simple plan, the very eagerness of
the crowd to get back as soon as possible, which had been the _sole
cause of the difficulty_, was turned to account most effectually to the
removal of it. Before, the first that went out were so eager to return,
that they crowded around the door of egress in such a manner as to
prevent others going out; but by this simple plan of ejecting them by
one door and admitting them by another, that very eagerness made
them clear the passage at once, and caused every one to hurry away
into the lobby the moment the command was given.
The planner of this scheme must have taken great pleasure in
witnessing its successful operation; though the officer who should go
steadily on, endeavoring to remove the reluctant throng by dint of mere
driving, might well have found his task unpleasant. But the exercise of
ingenuity in studying the nature of the difficulty with which a man has
to contend, and bringing in some antagonist principle of human nature
to remove it, or, if not an antagonist principle, a similar principle,
operating, by a peculiar arrangement of circumstances, in an antagonist

manner, is always pleasant. From this source a large share of the
enjoyment which men find in the active pursuits of life has its origin.
The teacher has the whole field which this subject opens fully before
him. He has human nature to deal with most directly. His whole work
is one of experimenting upon mind; and the mind which is before him
to be the subject of his operation is exactly in the state to be most easily
and pleasantly operated upon. The reason now why some teachers find
their work delightful, and some find it wearisomeness and tedium itself,
is that some do and some do not take this view of the nature of it. One
instructor is like the engine-boy, turning, without cessation or change,
his everlasting stop-cock, in the same ceaseless, mechanical, and
monotonous routine. Another is like the little workman in his brighter
moments, arranging his invention, and watching with delight the
successful and easy accomplishment of his wishes by means of it. One
is like the officer, driving by vociferations, and threats, and
demonstrations of violence, the spectators from the galleries. The other
like the shrewd contriver, who converts the very desire to return, which
was the sole cause of the difficulty, to a most successful and efficient
means of its removal.
These principles show how teaching may, in some cases, be a
delightful employment, while in others its tasteless dullness is
interrupted by nothing but its perplexities and cares. The school-room
is in reality a little empire of mind. If the one who presides in it sees it
in its true light; studies the nature and tendency of the minds which he
has to control; adapts his plans and his measures to the laws of human
nature, and endeavors to accomplish his purposes for them, not by mere
labor and force, but by ingenuity and enterprise, he will take pleasure in
administering his little government. He will watch, with care and
interest, the operation of the moral and intellectual causes which he sets
in operation, and find, as he accomplishes his