“No,” said Lucy, “I am going to make what I choose.”
Royal and Lucy were both wrong in this discussion.
Lucy was wrong, for the last of the reasons which Royal assigned, namely, that he was her teacher, and therefore she ought to have obeyed him. The first of Royal’s reasons, however, was not valid,—namely, that, because two comes before three in numeration, therefore it ought to be made first. The successive steps of a study ought to be taken in their natural order, when one depends upon another. For instance, a child ought to learn how to subtract before undertaking to learn how to divide, for division depends upon subtraction. You cannot well divide without subtracting. But in merely learning the forms of the figures, there is no dependence of one upon the other, and therefore they may be taught in any order which the teacher thinks best.
Therefore, if Royal, who was the teacher, had thought it best to have taught Lucy to make the figure nine, or eight, or the cipher, next to one, because he supposed that those characters would be more easy for Lucy to form, it would not have been at all improper; and therefore his argument, that two ought to be made next to one, simply because it comes next to it as a number, was not a valid argument. But his second reason was valid; for it is always the duty of a pupil to follow the directions of the teacher, whether the pupil approves of the directions or not.
But, then, although Lucy did very wrong in resisting and disobeying the will of her teacher, Royal himself acted very unwisely, in being so strenuous in requiring a compliance with it. His whole hope of success in his efforts to teach his sister, and so to gain the paint-box, depended necessarily upon keeping on good terms with her, and making her willing to follow his instructions. If Miss Anne had been in Royal’s place, she would not have had any contention with her upon the subject. She would have allowed her to make the three next, and then, after the lesson was over, she would have said, perhaps,—
“Now, Lucy, you have been a pretty good scholar. You have obeyed my directions very well generally, and I am therefore going to let you see the things in my magazine. Only there was one time that you didn’t obey me. When I wanted you to make twos, you would make threes, and so I can’t let you see all the things in my magazine. There are some little pictures in a pocket-book, which I cannot let you see; but the next time you study, if you obey me perfectly, then I will let you see the pictures in my pocket-book.”
Or, if Miss Anne had thought that this would have made Lucy cry, and so have been the cause of making disturbance in the family, then she would have had some slighter punishment, just enough not to make her cry. She did so once, when Lucy was younger and more ready to cry. She was taking a walk with her, and Lucy did not come back quick when she called her away from the shore of a brook. Accordingly, when they were going home, and Lucy asked Miss Anne to tell her a story, Miss Anne said,—
“A short or a long one?”
“O, a long one,” said Lucy.
“Well,” replied Miss Anne, “I will tell you a pretty long one, because you have obeyed me pretty well while we have been walking; but I cannot tell you a very long one, because you did not obey me all the time.” By always doing something like this, Miss Anne soon succeeded in making Lucy disposed to obey her at all times.