single master in San Juan who possesses this primary qualification of his profession.
"In the absence of D. Ignacio, his influence, his shadow, I may say, presided over the school. A dull murmur of conversation might be heard; but it did not come to be noisy, and never rose to a shout; as soon as he was seen to pass by the window, that suppressed murmur began to subside and became silence, and this silence was never disturbed by any one in his presence; there was no necessity of calling to order, to which our masters recur in vain. I preserve still the almost religious impression of this respect which he inspired in us all, without exception, a respect which we saw at home was mixed with love, and which accompanied us to adult years, although many of his pupils have occupied stations more exalted as to social position than his own.
"The sphere of his instruction Jwas not very extensive, but as we only learn by having our intelligence developed, his mode of teaching went straight to the object, and whatever he taught we learned well, because he cultivated the thinking powers from the beginning. In San Juan there were fine readers taught by a new and easy method, long before they could be found in Chili, and the Sanjuaninos of those times were better spellers than there are to-day among the cultivated youth of Buenos Ayres.[1] At first he tried the system of emulation; his pupils were Carthagenians and Romans; but later he modified this system by giving to each pupil one opponent who always ended by being his best friend. At last he adopted Lancaster's method. But the system which he used to perfection was that of simultaneous recitation.
"He tried every system of punishments during the
- ↑ The Spanish language has been very much adulterated in South America.—Ed.
