The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-09-08
CHARLES LAMBS soHooLMAsTER.
q From the schoolmaater1 for August.

member of the teachers profession: *
Z. q Persons in my situation are more to
be pitied than can well be imagined We
are surrounded by young, and, consequent
Iy, ardently- affectionate hearts, but zoe
can never hope to share an atom Of their
affections. The relation of master sand
pupil. forbidss this, How pleasing #this
must beto you; how Isenyy your feel
ipgs = my friends will Sometimes say to
me, when they sac young mem whom /
have educated, return, after some years
absence from. school--their eyes shining
with pleasure while they Shake hands
with theirold master y bringing pres
sent of game to me, or a toy to my wife,
and thanking me in the warmest terms
for nv care Of their education. A holi-
day is begged for the boys: the house is
a scene of happiness; I, only, am sad at
heart This fne-spirited, warm-hearted
youth, who fancieS he repays his master
with gratitude for the care of his boyish
years-tIis young man -inathe eight long
years watched over him With parents
loohS of genuine feeling.ia He was proud,
when I praised; he was submissive, when
IreproYed him3 but he never did looe
itude and Kindness for me, is but the
pleasant sensation which all persons feel
at revisiting the scenes of their boylsh
hopes and fears; and the seeing on equal
terms Of the man they were accustomed
to look up to with reverence"
Is there not too much truth in this theo1
ry of the genial humorist? Is it not too
often fact, that, in order to make our
pupils stand high" our government"
strong, and our " order" good, we assume
a length of Visage-an austerity of de-
meanor and a "dignity ? of manner that
very efectually makes our children
"proud," when praised-that not SO eff
fectually makes them submissive v hen
Z reprOyed- very uniformly makes
them loying-never? May we not afford
to sacrihce some portion CT the standing
of our schools which reports" casual
visitors, and exhibitions publish to the
world, for the sake Of obtaining the af
fections of our pupils Are not the re-
pentant tears Of the sorely- tried pupil an
adequate compensation for the fault in
attendance" or scholarship, or y" de-
portment?" Ought we not to be willing
chat little bessubtracted from therepu
tation of our schools when much is added
to the goodness, and the truth, and the
humanity of our pupils?
2 That we can never hope TO share, an
atom of our pupils affections, because the
relation of master and pupil forbids it, is
a proposition whose truth we are very re
luctant to admit; and yet weeare as re-
luctantly compelled to admit that the
teacher whois cold and unsympatlIetic,
whose manner is suggestive of anything
but Affections, succeeds best in securing
that high scholarship which enables his
pupil to say that he F" can orderly decline
his noun and his verb 1t may be that
this GOODNESS and rigid exclusion of SYM
patty, and this imposing dignity, may re-
pei many who might otherwise be attract
ed may drive away from, school, and
thus from paths of honor and rectitude
though anxious parents grieve, in vain,
and angels well may weep, dull children,
that might have been made to feel the
superiority of patiently -acquired accom-
plishments to the charms of original ge-
Mus; proud children, whose naughty
spirits could not brook seeming neglect
or indifference, but who might have been
changed into spirited advocates of the
right, even through bitter tears of humil-
iation. Bitter tears but saving, because
evoked by the perception and acknowl-
edgment of a besetting sin !; neglected
and perverse children, whose strong pas
sions ruff1e the even stenorof our way, it
! is true, but who once won to virtue,
would have added a double strength to
her cause, by the support of their own
= strong hopes, and rich enthusiasms, land
earnest lab0rs, and by the loss of all these
j which vice would sustain To compen-
safe for allsthis the " scholarship " will be
high, the ORDER will be irreproacha-
BILE, the teacher will be a, model of F'sdig
nifty" and monarch of all he surveys"
We cannot agree with Charles Lambs
schoolmaster. The relation Of master
pupil does not forbid as to, share. an
atom of their affections. % OF course by
affection, here, is not meant the sickly
sentimentalism of the novelist. The teach
er who fails to secure the afectionates re-
gard and confidence of his yupils, though
he mayscultivate their memories, and, in
cowardly natures, the sentiment of fear
2 wuIyet make but little progress in true
Intellectual or moral development
If this theory were true, the teachers
would indeed be the most thankless of
earth's occupations What position can
be conceived So destitute of happiness
than that of one who, for mere pittance,
as compared with the compensation re-
ceived by those of equal ability in other
avecations imposes on, the better and
Kinder feelings of his nature abstinence
from enjoyment What spectacular be
imagined more worthy of pity, than that
of a person bearing day by day the
weighty burden of hypocritical digni-
ty"l What reflection so we'll calculated
tn awalcen feelinuS Of hitter rernnrse &c