Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-10-13

er are recognized by him as natural
penalties of his conduct. He regrets
that he did not heed the warnings of
his teacher; he sees the necessity Of
self control, and thenceforth avoids the
course which has brought disgrace up
on him. But if. as often happens, the
teacher, anxious to prevent his falling
behind his grade, has scolded him, or
detained him after school to learn his
lessons; hs has been robbed of the nat
ural and salutary consequences of his
conduct. The responsibility of his
progress has been shifted to his teacher.
His punishments seem 10 be the result
of chance, which may let him offend
tomorrow with impunity, but which
to-day mas made his teacher, now be.
come his enemy, cross, and given her
leisure to torment him. He loses sight
of his own fault, and longs for man.
hood to free him from restraint. In
the good time coming that moral edu-
cation which, except in unusual cases.
contents itself with indicating duty and
seeing that every violation eff duty is
followed by its natural penalty, will
not only make better and happier chill
dren, but also better men; tor children
accustomed to their own moral guild
ance will be better prepared than they
could be by any other course to exer-
else proper self control amid the temp
tations that manhood brings In that
time, too, there will be such physical
education as will make the best intel
lectual and moral education possible.
To do this work, which we have
failed to do, there is teacher coming.
But of what does his superiority con-
sist? Is not the comidg teacher fed
with. the same food, hurt with the
same weapons, subject to the same dis
eases as teacher now is? IF you
poison her will she not die !? If she is
Ike us ia so much. in what does she
differ from US? TO get negative au-
swer to our question is easy. A teach
er of positive nature acts upon certain
minds like a magic lantern so arranged
as to make two images of the same OBJ
ject, one image being much paler than
the other. Ofthe mental photographs.
one represents the teacher as she is the
other, in the background like the shad.
owy figure in the so-called spirit pic.
ture, as she would be without certain
seeming faults Holding the second
in his mental vision, the observer tells
what in his opinion the coming teach
er ought to be. But the coming teach
err is no dim reflection. On the con.
trary, she. herself makes a shadow
which some few have seen. There are
even those who have had occasional
glimpses OF Ler behind her shadow
These are men who, id their high
watch towers where they have watched
for years, are constantly peering
through the clouds in search of some
sign by which to mark her progress.
Often the clouds obstruct their vision
sometimes she has disappeared behind
some lofty peak; but ever and anon
their comes fash of sunshine, and,
on long and rugged pathway strewn
W th stones and turned aside by noun
tains and by rivers, they see her hope
fully overcoming obstacles, and steadi-
ly pressing forward.
That the reports Of our observers
vary is not surprising. Looking
through different telescopes and from
different staud-points, they sometimes
see different things; but We are con-
cerned only with those points wherein
there seems to be general agreement.
Education, now the only necessary
qualification for teacher, claims the
first attention of those who come to
ask what these far sighted ones have
seen. We are told that the coming
teacher is student, marked as such
by nature. and ever true to her voca-
ton Though student more Of ma
ture than of books, yet she has appro-
priated, as one uses and throws away
crutches ON toilsome journey, num-
Der of books that would appal tie
greatest book-worm among the teachers
of to day. She is a lover of knowledge
loving it not for the certificates that
enaear it to teachers Of the present
time, nor wholly because it is prepa-
ration for her work. Loving it for its
own sake she seeks it diligently, but
with an humble spirit; never afraid to
say, II do not know" never unwilling
to give up old theories when they are
found inconsistent with the truth. A
new study is joy to her; though she
may not comprehend it as Newton is
tabled to have understood geometry
with the first reading, yet she feels
within her The power to fathom all its
mysteri es. Each of her faculties is a
delicate instrument, of which she has
learned the use. Her interests and
sympathies are as wide as the worlds
activities. There is breadth to hel
requirements which make them seem
universal to her pupils, who find in
her whatever is lacking in themselves
Even for her younger pupils, teach.
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