, 1865-11-21

nv dismissal nom IT. III Is HOW my uuty W
prove, that the latter statement is correct, and,
having done that, [ shall endeavour to explain
the seeming contradiction between this and the
former opinion.
When, on the accession, on Friday the 25th
Of February 1913, of my successor Revd.
Brandt, | was, as [ may say, expelled from the
school, | left it not only with the consciousness
If having acted conscientiously as a public
teacher, but also with a strong assurance, from
many quarters, of appreciation of my worth as
such. Having used the precauti2n Of re curing
written attestations of this fact from those, who
were warmest in expressing their regret at my
dismissal from the school, | might here give a
COPY of an excellent declaration in my favor,
given to me by the then Surveyor, Capt. of
Artillery Fritz M0ller, as well as Of the various
assertions Of adhesion to his views of the mat
ter, also given to me in writing by the parents
of many of my former pupils; but as, by doing
so, or giving any historical account about the
school in my time, | might incur that rebuff
once given to me by the Reyd. Water, that
'nobody cares for old stories" | shall at pre-
sent content myself in laying before the Public
the copy of a document, containing two decla-
Eations given to me this very year, without,
however, binding myself to suppress my cold
stories,' when I shall have a good occasion to
give them publicity,
The document reads as follows
"At the request of Mr.. j. n. Mo5sin, Cand'
philosophia, DO hereby declare, with that
clear and fall acknowledgment, with which a
person necessarily is impressed in his ripper
wears, that |, for one, owe to the ability and
conscientious exertions of that worthy gentle
man the foundation of my knowledge particu-
larly of Danish and of grammar, and that, in
fact, | am indebted principally to him for that
spiritual development, which | obtained by
frequenting the Danish School in FrederikSted
when under his direction.
Est. SIob, March 2Ist 1868.
PETER DIDRIcHsEN."
~ the UNDERSIGNED who have also been q
pupil Of the Danish school in Fredriksted I'M
der the tuition Of Mr.. Nossin, Reyd, Hanschell,
Revd. Brandt and Nr. Rippergcr, do hereby
conScicntl0uSly endorse the above statement of
Mr.. Peter Didrichsen, adding, that, OF these
four men, he is the only one, from whom /, at
least, feel having learnt something more than
to recite a lesson mechanically after the book
and that ! know, a similar opinion is entertain
ed by all his former pupils.
Frederiksted, April 5th 1865.
BaRrRAM N. ROBERTSON"
The above statements may serve as a proof,
that my en0eaV0fS as q puDHC teacuer nave hob
been ~fruitless. And why have they not been
f~ruitless? The answer might be If the two
above statements prove the presence in me of
the two first requirements in q good teacher,
myself can solemnly declare, that the third
one was also found in me in an eminent degree;
but that my endeavors were not ~fruitless may
simply be accounted for by the two facts, that
] kept a strict discipline in the school both
with regard to attendance, order and study, and
that-unlike many a "teacher," who ceases to
be one the moment his book is taken from him
Il only valued and p~racticed the method of
teaching and examining the pupils without
taking assistance from the book. And these
very two levers for the school were also the
cause Of that bitter malice, SANDER and perse-
cution, which burst over me in the beginning OF
thesyear 1916, not a year after my accession to
the school for maintenance OF necessary dis
cipiine in two classes of 80 pupils each was, in
the mouths of the slanderers, converted to I'M
warrantable tyranny, and my denunciation of
instruction, consisting in mechanical recitation
of the text of a book,-which practice must
have kept itself in force from those very days
of yore, since, at the last public examination in