The union Democrat., 1870-06-25
our pnA,s~ srhe,i.

Our Pasls~ srheei-
yisititing the Sonora Pablo School last
Friday. We we're impressed with the opinion
that this commnnify rejoices 10 the possession
Of an active, earnest, pains-takiug Principal
and Assistant. The discipline i good, and
is not enforced BY any grand clatter OF tongue.
We are the friend Of school teachers.
We sympatbizs with them. We know some
thing of their arcuous, wearing and de-vital-
isirg labors . labor in reality more exhaust
ing than the p1oughman's.
The brain is no myth. It is IN invisible
power hidden in the body. 1t is . power
when severely exercised, which wears and
takes the snap and crsckle from muscle, car
tilage anc sinew.
The faithful teachers brain is doubly work
ed. 1t must at the same time govern and
teach. II our children at school could be
made to keep as quiet as 20 many wax-dolls,
still supposing that those dolls had intellect,
teaching would be shorn of weighty half of
its burthen. But our children are lively and
mischievous imps. They are not half con-
trolied at home. They need all the tighter
rein at school. They are just as We were in
our youthful days.
This is well enough. It is not yet the age
for good, quiet children. We ask not to-day
that they be so. We prefer them as they are.
Your very good little boy or girl is not apt to
''set the world a-6re /" at mature age. In
this restlessness, mischief and deyiltry we
see vitality, energy and undeveloped force,
for the future man or woman. But this raw,
restless material crowds the teacher. The
livslier and stronger and more spirited the
colts, the more tact and patience are necessary
to make them work in harness. They must
be trained without being broken down. This
day by day is hard work for our teachers.
For this we symapthize with him or her.
Another point. Brains are natural pro-
daction like plants, trees, vegetables and
flowers. Their quality depends upon that
of the parental stock. The intellects making
up your Public School or any other school
will not grow, expand and mature as evenly
as a lot of seeds dropped into prepared plot
of ground. On the contrary, they will devel-
op, learn and comprehend what is given them,
some quickly, some slowly, according to their
nature and capacity. But the fault is not yet
obsolete of blaming the teacher for the appa-
rent incapacity Of the pupil. Were the
teacher the parent of all bis scholars be might
perhaps in some degree be amehable to such
charge. Not oil the quickness in pupils
advancement in learning may be credited to
the preceptor. Neither may all the back
wardness. It is unpleasant to be made re-
sponsible for lack of brsins. Blu. this is one
contingency Of the teachers calling. For
this, We again sympathize with him or her.
| One point more. We use the term "appa-
rent incapacity." We have much sympathy
end respect for boys and girls slow to learn.
The mere lack Of quickness in memorizing
does not always indicate lack of brain.
Backward scholars have turned out great
men. The strongest trees are the longest in
maturing. Some brains unable to grapple
with books, are in time wonderfully quick
and powerful to grapple with much not con-
tanned in books, yet of great use and purpose
in tie practical world. Neither Yale nor
Harvard, nor any other college turn out all
the men who move this planet. All that per-
tains to the business Of life is not yet written
in letters. Many so-called "slow" boy or
girl feels and realizes and thinks and ''senses"
an hundred fold more than your smart
scholar" But this, they cannot express. 1t
is entombed within them. Yet year by year
il may slowly be terminating; it must in
time come forth |; we may not tell what di-
rection or shape such mind may develop it's
powers and energies. We will respect it for
the hidden and perhaps entirely new gems it
may contain.