Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1872-01-10

do most implicitly trust that it is the
desire and ambition of every teacher
in the county to see the standard of
qualification still advance; and, as
this will be the last opportunity of the
kind that will in all probability. ever
have of addressing you thus, | sincere
ly hope that my successor in office
may be man fully imbued with a
spirit of improvement. love of the
good the beau'jfaL and the trnN. and
that his motto will ever be erce'siior.
1t has sometimes been found neces-
sary for the life and preservation of
tree to take of some of its branches.
1t is equally necessary in this imper-
fectly organized condition of your pro-
fession. 1t Is always an unpleasant
duty. painful both subjectively and OBJ
jectively, but its healthy growth de-
mands an occasional pruning. so that
the main stocks may become more Wig
orous and thrifty. 1t becomes you
then, as gentlemen and ladies, (for none
other should aspire to the Office of
teacher,) to bear with this seemingly
unbenevolent operation, for it eontem-
plates as its object the greatest good
to the greatest number.
do not desire to flatter you. / am
not much given to that virtue, or vice,
as the case may be. l have already
said you have made improvement in
your profession ! mean here both
ladies and gentlemen, and especially
those teachers who are the bone and
sinew of the profession. To be still
more definite, those of you who make
teaching business, and who still in,
tend to make it such. When | COM
menced the visitation of the schools of
the county, about five years ago, I was
much discouraged. l had hoped to
find much better condition of affairs.
No well-defned methods of teaching
were to be found, except in few of
your schools, with all due Difference to
those very creditable and honorable
exceptions. now take pleasure in
saying that there are but few teachers
in the county but wha; have adopted
some at least of the most approved
methods of instruction in their schools.
Your classification has been decidedly
improved. and is still improving, and
it is ardently hoped that it may con-
tinue to improve until every one Of the
five thousand children of the county
are studying the branches their men
tai capacity and intellectual advance
ment demands. 1t is for the improve
meut in the science and art of teaching
that you have left your homes and
your schools 10 day land have come here
at some sacrifice 10 spend the week.
In conclusion, | feel that we have
great reason to rejoice in our progress,
and in what has been accomplished Z;
and this should stimulate US to greater
e1ertion in the future. A great debt
of gratitude is due to our energetic
and accomplished scholar aud gentle
man, Hon. j. p. Wickersham. The
earnest yea, and enthusiasm that have
constantly been put forth in all his
official labors, during the last five
years, in the interest of common school
education at once stamps him as the
great champion of popular education
and the rights of man, christian and
a philanlhropist of the first order, that
well deserves the highest respect and
the liveliest admiration of every citizen
within the borders of this Common
wealth. TO his cxertions is mainly
due our present improved condition
and our onward march and progress in
the great cause of popular education.
A great work remains yet to be ac
complished You need still more new
school houses, better ventilated school
rooms, more properly seated school
rooms, and more better improved
school grounds. You need yet more
better qualified teachers. You need
more earnest conscientious school di-
rectors-men who realize the impor-
tance of an educated and enlightened
people, men who cannot be drifted
about by the winds of popular favor,
itism, men who know the right, and
thus knowing it dare to maintain it,
who will lead public sentiment and not
expect to follow it. You need a still
more healthy public sentiment i'll favor
Of popular education. There can still
be found few old togies who would
gladly stop the wheels of progress if
they had it in their power. Such, too,
can be found in positions where it
should least be expected. where in-
stead the cooperative hand should be
literally extended. But this only
proves how slow and vacillating are
all reforms but nevertheless history,
the experience of the past, points final
ly to ultimate success.
GEO. W. LLOYD.
~ Srpar,nto,lopy