Page:The Life and Works of Christopher Dock.djvu/116

104 mountains for help (Psalm cxxi) if I wished to do good work in the world as it exists, and so I re-entered this work and have thus far remained in it. I often wish I could have accomplished more, but I thank God for helping me to do as much as I did.

Concerning Friend Saur's first question, how I receive the children at school, I proceed as follows: the child is first given a welcome by the other children, who extend their hands to him. Then I ask him if he will be diligent and obedient. If he promises this, he is told how to behave; and when he can say his A B C's and point out each letter with his index finger, he is put into the Ab. When he reaches this class his father owes him a penny, and his mother must fry him two eggs for his diligence, and the same reward is due him with each advance; for instance, when he enters the word class. But when he enters the reading class, I owe him a present, if he reaches the class in the required time and has been diligent, and the first day this child comes to school he receives a note stating: "Diligent. One pence." This means that he has been admitted to the school; but it is also explained to him that if he is lazy or disobedient his note is taken from him. Continued disinclination to learn and stubbornness causes the pupil to be proclaimed lazy and inefficient before the whole class, and he is told that he belongs in a school for incorrigibles. Then I ask the child again if he will be diligent and obedient. Answering yes, he is shown his place. If it is a boy, I ask the other boys, if a girl, I ask the girls, who among them will take care of this new child and teach it. According to