Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1862-03-26
l30Q9AIQ004la
Edited by A. SMITH, County Superintendent.
For the Educational Column.
" Wearing Out !"

caring UuC.
There is work enough in this world to
employ all the earnest thought and cease
less labor of every human being, without
wasting any strength or leaving any talent
undeveloped. That there is much worry
ing and wishing, and unnecessary and i'll.
directed WoFk done, must be evident to all;
very few are careful to husband their pow
ers, physical, mental, AID moral, for the
wise purposes for which they were respect
lively designed.
These remarks apply to teachers with as
much force as to any other class of socie.
ty. Teaching is work that wears. Close
cOnfnemcnt and daily intercourse with
stubborn wills and selfish dispositions make
it very trying to the temper and exhaust
ing to the nervous system. 1t often re-
quires a heroic share of fortitude and
strength, heart-strength, to bear up cheer
fully under the trials of the school room
\ bright side the teachers life has, no
doubt, but it also has another side we'll
shaded with earnest work and serious trials
Let us briefly notice few things that
unnecessarily and prematurely !wcar out a
teacher.
lFam Of System.-Need anything be
said on the importance of system in school
teaching? Has not "a time and place for
everything and everything at its time and
place become hackncyed sentiment? True
it has, yet there is still roam to improve.
Many teachers, in former days, attempted
to mend quill look at sum, tell mis-
chievous urchin to keep quiet, and hear a
reading class, all at the same time This
much was attempted, no doubt, to make
the most of the time but, of course, nei-
ther thing was we'll attended to, and such
a procedure must have been very annoy
ing, perplexing, and unsatisfactory to the
teacher, all occasioned by a want Of Sys-
TEN. y loose and hap hazard way of con-
Quoting school cannot be very beneficial
to a school, while it is, necessarily, very
injurious, inasmuch as it fosters careless
and idle habits instead of those strong.
manly habits and principles which make
coed, Ylrtuous character. But the oppos-
itc extreme of being too precise and syste-
matte is also to be avoided not because
there can be too much good system, but
because preciseuess and system carried too
far into the details of teaching, become pc
dantry and dogmatism. 1t is carrying sys.
TEN too far for instance, to lay down code
Of rules, with fixed penalties for every vic
lation for punishment should be adapted
to the character and disposition of the per
son to be punished. A good, honest look,
or a few words Of reproof, are quite as Sc
we're, and generally much more effective
punishment to a timid and sensitive boy
or girl, than severe whipping to q rude,
rough, and thoughtless one In some cas-
es it may be well to have fixed penalty
to a certain regulation, but 10 base ones
mode of government on this system will
bring trials and difficulties that might and
should be avoided
Want Of STANDARDIZATION self
control you are liable to become a prey to
irritabi.ity, impatience, anger, unnecessary
anxiety, and dependency. Compare the
effects of these preying upon your mind,
with those produced by habitual cheerful
ness, kindness, hopefulness, and patience,
which characteristics are, in a great meas
urc, the result Of selfcontrol. The former
embitter all enjoyment; to use a common
phrase, they worry to death, and render a
hearty interest in the work of teaching al
most impossible. The latter brace up the
healt, give tone and vigor TO the mind, and
thus enable one to accomplish great deal
with very little 'wear and tear An angry
and irritable teacher deliver US from the
sight How pernicious his influence must
be upon those tender immortal beings
around him, chilling the warm feelings,
sQuring the temper, and, perhaps forever
disgusting the young mind with the idea Of
school, books, and study.
PERSEVERANTIA.