Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-02-14
misre11ann.
A Schoolmaster's Recollections

A Schoolmaster's Recollections.
1t was many years ago that | com
menced keeping school. / had gradu-
ated at college of some note, and was
we'll posted up in those branches Of ed
ucation which were introduced into our
common schools; and when the commit
tee came to examine me, [ could see
that they were very forcibly impressed
by the care with which | answered my
questions In short, | knew everything
that was set down in the books which l
had studied, for / happened to possess
ore Of those wonderfully retentiye mem
ores that fastens surely upon whatever
comes once within its grasp. imag-
ined, and so did the committee imagine,
that l was eminently qualified for the
post to which | aspired. But, as look
back now upon the events OF those years.
| can see wherein greatly erred. can
where | most wofully lacked in quallf
cation; and | write this little chapter of
Recollections for the benefit Of those
who may be just entering upon the du-
ties of Teacher. ..---
When commenced my first school,
| (and the same idea had governed me
| for long time afterwards,) l looked
upon the children before me as so many
little individuals whom | had got to fill
with learning. They were, to my mind,
SO many human vessels which had got
to be filled up with the waters of educa-
ton; and my only ideas of their capacity
We're of size and age. In my class Of
ten scholars, which was to recite from
the mental arithmetic, aud the members
of which were nearly of the same age,
1 considered that each individual must
hold just the same amount of mathemat-
ical food, and digest it equally with the
rest And thus commenced my school.
knew what was written in the looks,
and l was to teach it to the children be-
fore me. l had learned it all, and I be-
lieved they could. At least if they did
not, l meant that it should be no fault
of mine. -..-c--.r, 80, .----..,.. g. ...,,-rs.
/ In my first class in arithmetic were
two boys whom / have selected to figure
in this sketch | take them because
their subsequent careers afford strik-
ing example of the fact wish to pre-
sent. l shall not give you their real
names, for they are both living, and are
worthy, honorable men. shall tell
you that they we're Luke Weston and
James Shute. Luke was rather heavily
built, with large, full forehead; forid
chubby face; dark bluish-gray eye
dark brown hair, and inclinedsto be slow
and dreamy when called upon to o,ework
with his mind. He could work fast
enough when out of doors, when the
play hours came, and when the free all
and vigorous exercise sent the CO.
pious blood bounding through his veins
but in the school-room, over his books
he was quite another character. GA
/ james Shute, ON the other hand, was
light of frame, with small compac
head; hair Of faxeu hue; light blue eyes
and possessed an organization hig hly
nervous and sensitive. He cared bu
little for the rough sports out of doors
. seeming rath er to prefer his books, an
perfect himself in his lessons. | die
not make any account of these physica
peculiarities at the time; for L though
nothing of them, but remember then
, we'll enough now. a- sa
Luke aud James we're in all the sam,
: classes in all the branches they studied
and the few months of difference in thei
ages were In favor OF the former, he be
ing little Older. In very short tim
discovered that Luke Weston did no
: learn his lessons well. He blundered il
s his arithmetic, and stun bled lameIy owe
e his spelling lessons. AS l look bacl
now l can remember that he used to be
q tray deep interest in some PORTIONS @
philosophy, and that, when the subjee
!, interested him: he read with feeling no
\ excelled by any scholar in the school
But cared little for this at the time
1 looked upon the black board as tn
grand field for scholastic display; tn
spelling book came next, and next cam
. Lindley Murray's old calf bound gram
D mar, with its infinite maze of Orthogra
j. ply, Etymology, Syntax and Prosod.
= These were my educational deities, be
y y fore which every intellect was to bow
70 and from the inspiration which every il
t tellect must be filled. "a. -
s James Shute became my favo.it
9f scholar. He worlk lked oyer his slate wit
e. an assiduity which was untiring, and