sive excellence. But how was it to be done? Could I safely trust myself with such a selection? Might not some, by pleasing manners, ingratiate themselves with me, and yet not be remarkable for amiable affections toward their fellow pupils? Therefore they would be the most accurate judges. I decided that they should on such an occasion exercise the right of suffrage. Explaining this to them, and charging them to vote conscientiously, and without influence from others, each was permitted to give me, at the close of the term, a sealed ballot containing the name of the one who had with the least variation given the most amiable example. To the counting of these votes, and the announcement of the successful candidate, I gave as much dignity and éclat as possible. The welcome from her compeers was touching. Each gave her the kiss of the heart. At the examination in all the studies on the last day, where invited friends were present, she wore a crown of flowers, woven by their hands, as their chosen Queen, the loved of all.
In the distribution of these three marked honors, simple enough, yet intensely coveted, it will be perceived that I left myself no chance for partiality, with which instructors are often charged by the discomfited. Two were as clear and open in their winning, as any mathematical demonstration, and the other was the result of an uncanvassed suffrage. A prominent objection to the distribution of school rewards, is the possi-
