The old Sage lent me some books, and I read and pondered over everything that I could get hold of.

With the new ideas that I have been acquiring in one place and another my point of view has changed and I have seen many things under a different aspect from what they had appeared to me before.

I saw error where before I had seen only truth, and truth in many things where I had formerly seen only error.

Corporal punishment, for example, which from time immemorial has been the distinctive feature in the schools and which has heretofore been considered as the only efficacious means of making pupils learn--so we have been accustomed to believe--soon appeared to me to be a great hindrance rather than in any way an aid to the child's progress.

I became convinced that it was impossible to use one's mind properly when blows, or similar punishment, were in prospect.