The teacher should train himself to turn away from all worrying and
depressing thoughts the moment he enters the school gate, for his
contribution to the school atmosphere, in which the boys must live and
grow, must be cheerfulness and energy. The best way to get rid of
depression is to occupy the mind with something bright and interesting,
and this should not be difficult when he is going to his boys. Thoughts
die when no attention is paid to them so it is better to turn away from
depressing thoughts than to fight them. Cheerfulness literally increases
life, while depression diminishes it, and by getting rid of depression
the teacher increases his energy. It is often indeed very difficult for
the teacher, who has the cares of family life upon him, to keep free
from anxiety, but still he must try not to bring it into the school.

Mr. Arundale tells me that he has made a habit of becoming cheerful the
moment he enters the College gates, however worried he may have been
beforehand, because, he writes: "I want my contribution to the school
day to be happiness and interest, and by a daily process of making
myself pretend to be cheerful when the College gates are entered, I have
finally succeeded in becoming so. If, as I pass through the grounds to
my office, I see any student looking dull and gloomy, I make a point of
going up to him in order to exert my cheerfulness against his gloom, and
the gloom soon passes away. Then comes the religious service, and when I
take my seat upon the platform with the religious instructor, I try to
ask the Master's blessing on all the dear young faces I see before me,
and I look slowly around upon each member of the audience, trying to
send out a continual stream of affection and sympathy."

I have already said that boys watch their teachers' faces to see if they
are in a good or a bad mood. If the teacher is always cheerful and
loving, the boys will no longer watch him, for they will have learned to