American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1863-12-23
Educational department.
Order in the School Room.

Inc necessity OF Ofuer anu neathess III
and about the school-room | have chosen
as subject, which has been explained by
precept more than by practice. But few
of the many teachers entrusted with the
charge of traing the youthful mind, ever
consider that so much depends upon the
attractiveness of the school-room. For it
is here that the student learns, not only
the lessons taught from books, but the
habits which characterize him through
life are formed while attending school /;
and one who has been accustomed to an
untidy and disorderly school-room, will,
in nine cases out of ten, ever be followed
by habits of slothfulness.
Next to home the student should love
the school-room and as he wends his way
thither, fancy pictures in glowing colors
in his imaginative mind, the pleasure of
reciting well those long and arduous les
sons which, under the encouraging smile
of teacher, seem but an easy task; and
it is with delight that he welcomes the
smiling faces of his school-mates, who,
like him, are striving to gain the unfading
treasures of knowledge. Under the guild
ance of teacher whose motto is, a place
for every thing, and every thing IN Its
place" he will acquire the habits OF Or
der and system, in whatever calling he
may engage.
The inHuepce which teacher exerts
over his pupils by the example he sets be-
fore Chem, is the influence which guides
him through all the vicisitudes of those
long years of patience and untiring study,
in the intricate and obtuse parts of sci
ence; and though his precepts be good,
yet if his example fails to demonstrate the
same, it will be of little if any benefit to
his pupils.
Man loves to labor amid the works of
nature. When contemplating them in
their many and varied forms, he feels
strengthened and invigorated to commence
with renewed energy the task before him,
and the mind too, expands more freely and
drinks in deep draughts from the peren-
nial springs of knowledge with ease and
pleasure The mind-most mysterious in
its mechanism, and wonderful in all its
properties-is placed in the hands of the
teacher to train in the way of knowledge,
and imbue it with the principles of truth
and justice, which shall ever prove safe
guard against the vice and temptations
which beset its path: and if this daily as
sociation be where the hand of nature has
lavishly bestowed her bounties, will it not
learn to love the beautiful flowers, forests
and fields Surely it can admire the or
der and regularity which characterize
them, for all these seem to work together
for good in perfect unison, impressing up
on it the important part sooner or later to
be acted in the grand drama of life, actu-
ating each tosieze upon those means which
time will call him to employ. And to do
this he must be familiar with scenes gone
by: He must treasure up those impor-
tant truths which history, the ever living
language of the past, presents; but he sees
this only in the distance and now he re-
solves to persevere and eonque: all the OBJ
stacles in the way of accomplishing his
cherished hopes. If, thus, delight in the
beauties of nature, encourage the student
to progress in his studies, then certainly
this is a sufficient excuse for ornamenting
the grounds attached to this often times
rude and rustic temple of knowledge,
where so many of childhood's happy hours
are spent. He is but an Indifferent OBJ
server who will not turn from nature up
to natures God.