Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/96

 cient number of seats for the boys, so arranged that the master can see all his pupils at once. The boys should sit with their backs to the window, that the light may fall on the master as he works at the blackboard. In addition to the class-rooms there must also be a big school for dramatic performances and speech-days. Once a month the headmaster, accompanied by the clergyman of the parish or by one of the school-managers, should examine the class to see if fitting progress has been made. At the end of the year an examination on a larger scale is to be held, but, as it is impossible to examine the whole class, boys should be selected haphazard and questioned on their year’s work. Promotions must be arranged in accordance with this examination.

Flogging is allowed, but with certain restrictions. On the first hour of Sunday, the whole school shall be called together, and, after the headmaster has read the rules, each master shall chastise those of his own pupils who have broken any of them during the previous week.

Comenius had evidently been a sufferer at the hands of that scourge of schoolmasters, the unreasoning parent. Before any boy is admitted to the school, his father must sign a document by which he undertakes to abide by the rules of the institution, and promises that his son’s attendance shall be as regular as possible.

In the boarding-house, no meals are allowed out of hours, and such a thing as a tuck-shop is evidently not to be tolerated for a moment. Boys go to bed at eight o’clock and get up at four, and must make their own beds as soon as they rise.

The masters are reminded that their position is one of dignity and of great importance. For the headmaster, in particular, special duties are laid down. He should be a model to the whole school of virtue, piety, and diligence. As he has no class of his own he ought to go through all the classes daily, “as the sun courses through the heavens.” He is to look after the school archives, and to keep an exact record of each boy’s entrance to and