教约

Each morning, when the students have bowed, the teacher in turn asks them all: at home, the heart of loving and reverencing parents — has it slackened, fallen short of true earnest? The offices of warming, cooling, settling and inquiring — any gap, any failure in practice? The courtesies of walking the streets — any wildness, any lapse of decorum? All words, deeds and thoughts of the heart — any deceit or perversity short of loyalty, faith and earnest respect? Each child must answer truly: where at fault, mend it; where not, the more strive. The teacher, suiting the moment and the matter, gently instructs and opens; then each returns to his desk to study.

In singing the poems, one must compose the person and steady the breath, voice clear and bright, measure and tune even and exact — neither rash nor hurried, neither wild nor clamorous, neither faint nor cowed; in time the spirit flows free and the heart's breath is at peace. Let each school divide the children by number into four sections: daily one section sings while the rest sit composed and listen; every fifth day the four sections sing in turn at the school; on the first and fifteenth, all schools gather to sing at the academy.

In practicing ritual, one must settle the mind and grave the thoughts, examining the ceremonies, weighing the bearing — neither careless nor slack, neither dashed nor abashed, neither blunt nor rough; composed without tardiness, exact without stiffness; in time the manner becomes practiced and the moral nature firm. The sections are as for singing. Every other day one section practices ritual while the rest sit composed and watch; on ritual days the copybooks are excused. Every tenth day the four sections practice in turn at the school; on the first and fifteenth, all schools gather to practice at the academy.

In setting lessons, prize not quantity but thorough mastery. Gauge the endowment: one able to read two hundred characters should be given but one hundred, the strength of mind always in surplus — then there is no weariness, and the beauty of self-attainment. In reciting, insist on single-mindedness: mouth reciting, mind brooding, every word and sentence unwound and turned again, the cadence rising and falling, the heart kept wide and easy; in time the meanings soak through and intelligence daily opens.

The daily program: first, examination of conduct; then reciting and reading from memory; then ritual practice or copybook work; then further reading and expounding; last, singing the poems. Ritual and song are to keep the child's heart ever alive, glad in study and untiring, with no leisure for the crooked. A teacher who grasps this knows what to apply. Yet this is but the outline; to work it with spirit and insight lies with the man himself.