Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-11-19
!. he country in which the natural

states. How dfIefcnI sucH api'Ie-
,.;ation from that received by women
teachers twenty five years ago!
put enough of this. We have but
20 look around to be convinced that
n the twenty five years which have
al,nsed since Horace Mann spoke
hrave words for education, the Tea
obar has been rapidly and constant
T. nearing the front. 1t is true that
teachers are not yet appreciated at
.hair full value, either in financial,
social, or political sense. We have
not vet ali learned to think that, as
Intelligent labor will accomplish
more than the dnllness or stupidity
81 IGNORANCE, the teacher is promo
tine the aggregate wealth OF the
country to as great an extent as he
who deyotes his energies to material
enterprises; we have not all learned
that the influence of the schoolroom
iigbtens the burden of taxation, in
that it decreases the number of
prisoners and criminal courts; and
We have not felt the full force Of the
fact that our schools promote patriot
ism and public virtue still gather
srom the report, for 1873, of Hon.
Alonzo Abernethy, Superintendent
of Public Instruction, that we pay
men an average of $36 and women
1924 per month for teaching in the
schools of Iowa. Although this may
rot be a sufficient equivalent for the
work done and the talent employed,
still it indicates that we have reached
point in our educational history in
which States paying men from $40
to Sl3 per month, and women from
S. to SIS per month for teaching,
would hardly be called pattern
States" unless it was meant thereby
PATTERNS OF MEANNEss.
Though in some particulars our
acts may seem to belle our profess
ions, still there are but few who fail
to recognize in the modern teachers
some of the best specimens Of man
hood and womanhood. Occasionally
there may come to the surface a de
generate son of working age--in
which there is 10 room for anybody
but real men--who can Irvine his
fancy little cane between his fingers,
shake affectediy the pet locks which
he has spenta life in cultivating, and
laugh cocl1ney laugh at the man or
woman who has q will for WORK, and
mission on earth. And there may
be some creature of fashion, who,
having graduated at fashionable
boarding school, where in a listless
way she has picked up a little me-
chanical music and poor French, who
looking out from a home that costs
no toll, or a fashionable resort, the
luxuries Of which are too easily APP
preciated to be enjoyed, has nothing
better than lackadaisical sneer for
the brave girl with brains and mis-
sion. But why should the girl of
good sense and honest intelligence
care for the sncers of shoddy or shall
lowness? She perhaps has worked
her way through the State Universe
ty, or Iowa College, or the Agricultu-
raj College, or the Normal Academy,
and is now earning money to edu
cate younger brother Or sister; or
torepay the small sums with which q
hord- working father had aided and
encouraged her while at school; or
may be is supporting widowed mo-
Their: labors of love which afford the
highest pleasure to true soul. Why
need / speak her praise? as to life
of such devotion there comes the
consciousness Of noble endeavor, and
the applauding recognition of the
good and true the world over Such
is the girl with a mission. COP
BLESS HER. She is worth thousand
of the butterflies who futter in the
sunlight of fashion without single
ambition beyond being admired.
To young men / would also pay
my respects; but all the world Ex-
Poets MEN to work. cannot believe
that any one who assumes the high
responsibility of a teacher will fail to
meet the demands of the age.
Finally, my friends, having detain-
ed you too long already, / shall pause
but moment to say, that the infiu-
ence of your teachings will not cease
with time. Some one has said,
Did | wish to project my name into
the middle of the coming century, l
would impress myself upon the
children of the present. The child
rem who to-day accept your teach
ings VII, influence their entire lives.
In outward experiment they will
watch 10 initiate a teacher they love;
they will bow as the teaci.er BOWS;
wave their hands as the teacher IS IN
the habitai performing this gesture,
they will stand as the teacher stands,
and sit as is the cnstom Of the teach
er. You will transmit these minor
habits to the children of this genera
finp m Ia hx, than HANDED down