The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-01-05

waited virtue. The system rests upon a per-
maDent endowment of SSH, 3l9 so. which
can not oe impaired, but is constantly and
/ rapidly increasing. 1t rests also upon the
generous support OF a willing and prosper
Gus people In addition to the interest from
! the endowment fund, the people contributed
during the last year, by taxation, to the sup
port OF the schools more than one and half
million dollars.
To the people, so generous and free In the
cause OF education, you owe il to strike a
blow at waste and extravaganza whenever
tney may come under your observation.
Economy Is essential to the permanent favor
OF the system with the people.
| In this connection 1t il proper for
me to refer to the death of the
Hon. Milton B. Hopkins. which
took place during the past year. 1t was
conceded that he stood at the head of the
cause OF education In the state. and off,
cially he WAS at the head of our common
! school system. He was your earnest and
true friend. BY his devotion he contributed
10 the dignity OF your profession. Capable
earnest and efficient he accomplished much
| for the first cause and highest interest of the
state. was gratihed that great
/ honor WAS shown to his memory
You are here as representatives. You speak
Tor 1000 persons who are engaged as teach
J ers. i may not undertake any comparison
between the influence which they exert,
and that OF like number engaged in any
OtucH pIOlcSSiOu OF et0plOym6n6. such a
comparison can not be made. They influence
all other pursuits. They are felt throughout
the entire framework Of society. Church
and state, trade and commerce, agriculture
and the mechanic arts, are all modified and
Influenced by the modest lsbors of those
whom you represent.
The taste for the flowers that ornament
the country home, good cheer and skill in
the workshop, fidelity in the LAWYERS Office
honor In the PHYSICIANS call, devo-
ton to the one great cause in the
pulpit, and integrity in office are guaranteed
in the family circle and in the common
schools, else they have no vigorous growth
in the future.
| am glad to believe that our common
schools are free from the touch and influence
of party and of sect. And / am confident
tnat you and those whom you represent will
see TO 1t that there shall be no departure
from that policy. The schools belong to all
the people. Persons of all shades of politics,
and of all systems OF religious faith alike
contribute to their support. 1t
would not be right that any
class shcnld seek to impress
its theories of government, or tenets of re-
ligion upon the minds of the children In the
common schools, and thus to control the
politics or the religion of coming genera
ton. The training should seek To estab.
lish proper habits of thought, and the
right use Of all the mental faculties,
judgment upon such questions. Public
policy will BOT allow your prerogative to go
so far. Otherwise the usefulness of the sys-
tenn would be impaired and its permsnence
endangered. / hope that this, your annual
meeting, will be attended by great enjoy
ment To yourselves and benefit to the cause
of education.
THE ADDRESSES AND GENERAL BUS
MESS.
THE EXERCISES OF THE DAY-PAPERs BY THE
PROPS "-oTHER MATTERS TOO NUMEROUS
To MENTION.
The association assembled Wednesday
morning as per adjournment. After Is min
utes of devotional exercises, Prof G. w.
Hoss was introduced, and read paper on
''The Educational Power of the Teachers
Character" After few preliminary re-
marks. he said, in substance, as follows:
Character is what we are and reputation is
what people think we are. Considered mega
lively words are rot character. Gentieness
and purity may be in the words, when Sc
verify, sensibility or malignity is In the
heart. Neither are good impulses character
Peter under noble impulse declared him.
self ready to die with his master, vet In a
few hours denies him again. Surroundings
are not character. Many determine a mans
character by his nationality, by the Office he
holds or the title he bears. These though
outward signs leave In degree untouched
that inner and finer essence called character.
Scholarship Is not character. In word
character is the man. There are three distinct
processes in the work of education. l. in
forming; 2, training; 8, developing. The
first furnishes facts and principles for
rrrlfA a
products of the first, gives skill. The
third develops power. thus giving
character. The first is tributary to the
second and both to the third. The third is
the crowning glory of the other two. The
laws under which character educstes. are
LIST. like begets like. This law holds in
physical nature, hence by analogy should
in mental and moral. Teachers, as surely as
face answers face in the mirror, or form pro-
duces form on the face of the camera. so
surelyis your character reproducing Itself
in your pupils. Your courage is
thence; your candor. candor; your
veraclty, Veracity your magnsni-
nifty, magnanimity, and also il the contra
ries OF these are found they are producing
their likes. A second law is we grow like
what we contemplate. 1t is well known
law that natural scenery modifes character.
Men look and are modified by what they
see. The pupil beholds with admiration
the noble traits in his teach 1
er's character. and thus beholding
he is changed into the same. A
third law Is that a teachers character
becomes pattern or model. A sequence
follows in conclusion. The need of closer
personal intercourse between teacher and
pupil. History and experience sustain this.
Our present system of wholesaling in edu-
cation, giving from forty to sixty pupils to a
teacher, thereby necessitsting large classes
and haste, is not favorable to such develop
ment. Character development requires the
teacher to aid the pupil in forming
ideals. The ideal modifies and shapes
the real. The real is what he lives,
the ideal is what he hopes and seeks. The
teachers can and should do something to
impress this IDEAL in the minds of his
pupils. This should be done by a judcious
revelation of his own character by direct in
struction. portraying so nearly as may be
by words, the subtle essence OF character
and the subtler essence of his ideal In