Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1873-05-29
The Coming Schoolmaster.
By LOUISE v. BOYD,


The schoolmaster OF the past. and by
the past we mean those not good old
times when our grandparents were
school boys and school girls, was almost
without an exception foreigner, often
an freshman.
lie was stout believer in corporeal
Pu"i .hment. and made np il, tho sever-
NY OF MS discipline what he lacked in
the knowledge OF human nature, or the
science OF governing. Ii learned and
leiined he was yet an overbearing tv-
rant, 1t illiterate aud vulgar, which
sometimes happened, he was u monster.
In all cases we might say of him in the
language of Wadsworth:
Pull twenty times was Peter feared
For once that Peter was respected
But the rod OF his power is broken,
and over his grave, moistened bv but
lew tears, the shadow of forgetfulness is
deepening year by year.
The schoolmaster of to-day is not
known by that appellation, but is called
the professor. l have attended his ex-
aninations and exhibitions and have dis
covered him to be fossil or ghost
from the shadowy past, cropping among
the mists and shadows of darker ages,
and eternally harping on the greatnes )
OF Greece and the splendors of Rome.
He confines himself TO his textbooks.
and when he would edify or entertain
his classes with more than his wonted
sprightliness, he delivers lengthy dis
scrtation on the imperishability Of the
sayings of the seven sages of Greece,
those &C lebrated maxims justly deemed
worthy of the places assigned them as
hn al
Hear them, oh, you wide-awake,
dhre, American boys-listen while your
heart beats quicker AS though you heard
the ring OF clarions and the voices of
trumpets: Know thyself, (Solan) !:
Consider the end,'; (Chilo); 'kn ~
thy opportunity,' (Pittacus); Most
men are bad (Bias); Nothing is i'm
possible TO industry (Periander) !;
Avoid excess (Cleobutas); Surety
ship is the precursor of ruin,' CThales. J
Ah, boys these have lost their original
flavor.
admit that this wisdom of a past
age is still wisdom, but have these old
Greeks u pre-emptive right to all our
reverence! Does the schoolmaster, that
is the professor, of o-day, expect to
lead the young American up the steps
OF the highest usefulness BY the faint
glimmer Of the burned-out lamp Of
Greece, to the dying echoes of her
heather utterance? Vain expectation
useless expenditure of effort the bows
of to-day are marching ahead of the
schoolmaster.
But let us come now to the coming
schoolmaster. Aye, gladly, for he will
know that we have utterance from men
of our land, worthy to be pondered ov err
and acted upon till they prevade the
whole structure of society. The coming
schoolmaster has in his boyhood been
Thoroughly Instructed in-that is to say
received smattering of-the lore Of
ancient Greece, but he has asked himself,
where was the Greek whose spirit ever
caught the faintest CLEAN of the grand
truth first uttered by Thomas jefferson,
All men are born equalv He will
know that in Give me liberty or give
me deathP Patrick Henry even tran
scended the severe simplicity of the
classic ages.
He will declare the saying of Benja-
min Franklin, There never was coed
war nor bad peace is more than
worthy Of place in the Delphian Tenn
pie, aye, worthy to be motto in the
temple of Christianity. He will apos-
trophize thus: oh, shades of the i'm
mortal thinkers Of Greece! the mind of
your godlike philosopher never scared
to reach such height as this reached by
William h. Seward when he proclaim
ed, There is Q higher law than the Con-
sti tuti0n.'
He will show how in the stern SIM
plicity Of his pure patriotism, Henry
Clay would say: 4 would rather be
right than president He will tell how
the rough, outspoken backwoodsman,
David Crockett, gave a. the true metal,
though the coin was too hastily struck
to be perfect in its finish. when he said:
BE sure you're right, then 60 aheadl'
The emphasis and pluck Of this phase
could never have been uttered in any
land but our own, being an outSrowth
of the circumstances Of the New World.
Nor will he neglect the umforQo ten
sentence OF poor, half.romantic. half
vagabond Sam Patch: Some thing
can be done as well - others which
homely phrase teachiug ofthe feasibility
Of all things, b. the fitting wasOhword
for the inventor and aavenfarer, who