The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1877-03-15
THE TEACHER.-HIS LABOR
AND REWARD.

u n
AND REWARD.
Labor 10 light in the budding nelds,
Where life's tides flow fast and free;
Where the sky 10 clear and the breeze Is
bland,
And the hours glide pleasantly.
Where each easy task has its "ready pay"
Each sweep OF the hand Its power
To wipe from the soil some poisonous
mold;
Or cherish some fayorte flower.
Where the world applauas and the angels
smile
As their light wings cleave the air:
But not for workmen In grounds like
these
Arc the sparkling crowns they bear"
Aud ii is not i'm grounds like these
that the teachers work falls but away
OH the needy commons of life, where
his strokes in the soil are only wei
coined by the ring of the fretted rocks,
and where for many long and weary
day, perhaps, it is only through faith
that he can catch y glimpse of the
golden sheaves, and hear in the dis
tance the reapers song.
The teacher Is certainly workman:
and should be an efficient one; to be
this, considering the many duties in
cident to the profession, involves con-
tinuous, well directed, systematic
labor; and a large share of this labor
must be done out of school hours.
Every teacher, it is supposed, has
spent some time in preparation for his
work before beginning, but be that
time and preparation little or much,
he must after he has begun his career
continue to build up, and also to
strengthen and brace the structure
which he may find has been built too
hastily.
The Master has given to US no duty
SO responsible as the culture of our
minds. Therefore while we recognize
the Importance of other professions,
as the physicians, the lawyers, the
mechanics, knowing that they are
necessary to the welfare Of society,
still the practice of their duties relate
more nearly to temporal things than
does that of the teacher's-for teaching,
in its broadest sense, aims to instruct
and develop in man all those faculties
and powers with which the Creator has
endowed him, to enable him to fill
that place among men and angels for
which he was designed. When the
teacher recognizes the importance Of
the work which is put i'm his hands /;
when he stops and considers carefully
and soberly the responsibility of the
work, and the amount of labor conse-
quent upon the faithful discharge of
the same, it is not strange il at times
his heart sinks within him, and the
burden laid upon him seems greater
than he can bear. And may not add
here if there is one in the ranks Of the
profession to whom such moments
never come, he Is certainly in the
wrong place, for it Is only through
such feeling that he will reach out
into the beyond for clasp Of that
hand that can lift him up, tighten his
burden and point out TO him bis path
which winds upward to the end.'
The teachers labor does not consist
alone in acquiring a great amount Of
knowledge which he is to dose out as
occasion seems to require, but he must
devise the best methods for imparting
instruction, and for awak ksning q thirst
for knowledge, disposition on the
part of the pupil to investigate, to find
out for himself many things which
pertain to his education. BY educa-
ton is meant not only mental but
moral training. When education inn
plants within the student o genuine
love and appreciation of the good, the
true and the beautiful, and fills him
with high ideal Of human worth,
human perfection and human destiny,
it cannot fail of good results. This is
not to be accomplished so much by
long and frequent lectures upon
moral excellence, "the higher life,"
the education of the soul F" ETC., as by
directing the attention of the pupil to
examples furnished by history and
literature, which may very naturally
and properly be brought in, in the
course of a recitation, by few words
judiciously spoken now and then, rs-
membering that words we'll chosen
are like apples Of gold in pictures Of
silver" and last, but not least, by the
example of the teacher himself. /,
would seem that the teacher, in COM
mon with great many persons In ali
the other walks of life, is many times
apt to undervalus his position and his
influence. This surely is not we'll /;
the natures with which he has to deal
are very plastic ones, 80 that day by
day he is in measure moulding hu-
man character and human destiny.
His manners, his actions and his
words are unconsciously initiated to a
greater or less extent by his pupils.
Some one has beautifully said, They
are his plants to watch and care for,
make bloom, bud and bear fruit. Let
him take care then that no weeds
spring up and check their growth and
no wrong culture mar it. Let him re-
member as the great oak retains the
scar which marks the wound received
centuries ago when tender sapling,
so the young soul hurt by a careless
hand in teaching may never heal"
Then l would repeat and emphasize
this: Let not the teacher amid his
labors lose sight OF the fact that his
eue,v ,Uord aud action has its influence
in determining the character of his
pupils. Furthermore, this is not con-