Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1879-06-19
Written for the AyANT COURIER.
EDUCATIONAL TALK.

If talk could rule the world, and hasten
the millennium, our planet would be abun.
dainty ruled. and the good time coming
would not be long On the way. Vast sys-
tens of iniquity are periodically attacked
by organized bands of paid orators, who
in set phrases and orOtund delivery, demol-
ish the strong holds Of evil, and right the
wrongs of an abused world, by the strong
force Of convincing logic. Patient and re-
spectacle congregations, clothed in silks
and fine linen, faring sumptuOusly every
day, listen with delighted attention to the
vivid pictures Of want and sin outside
their warmed and beautiful synagogues.
but not one of those satin-covered feet ever
treads tie floors of those ;ebodes of misery
neither does single eloved or GiamOnd-
decked hand ever lift glass Of cold water
- the parched lips OF a bed-ridden pauper.
When disease. misery, and want even dares
to obtrude its wan and wasted form in
their presence, they beckon the horrid
| spectre away with a note to the committee
of charity. whose special duty il is to dole
oat cold pittance TO those who can prove
themselves eminently worthy to receive its
patronage.
1t is work, rot talk. that lifts up this
world. 1t is good thing to know how to
talk well, but it is much more useful
thing to know how to act well We need
more intelligent. enel getic actors, and less
lazy orators and essayists. We have many
more eloquent preachers than good pas
tors. and tliousand-fold more self-pleased
teachers than aggressive organizers. Ii
our systems Of instruction are to be i'm
proved, recognized, uplifted. we must stop
resolving. and go to working. Legisla-
lures are composed of men who care very
little about education in the concrete. Let
Il Horace Mann. or Horace Greeley go
after them. and they will stop and listen,
ard do something; but they care just as
little about string of resolutions. engross-
ed or engraved, as about the rights Of The
heather Chinese.
There is a duty which belongs to the
teacher TO perform. which. too often, is
sadly neglected. Every teacher should
feel i. cncunibent upon her TO educate the
bodies As we'll as tie minds of her pupils.
1t is not right that this duty should be
neglected on tie plea that it belongs TO the
parent. The child is sent 10 school in or
der TO receive there 4 proper education 4;
and it is just as essential that it should re-
3eive a physical education as i; is that it /
should receive mental education. If we
nope to see a generation OF healthy men
md women growing up around us, we
must teach them something more than the
hree Rs. Without exercise, and plenty
II it, the body, any more than the faculties
If the mind. will never he fully developed.
children. il not held in check. will run in
o the widest excuses. Tie teacher. then.
must observe moderation. rs too much
f anything is as ia;GIioas rs the lack OF it.
One OF the most frequent errors Of teach /,
rs is the assigning of lessons without |
heir accompanying explanation. No teach $
r should set scholar at work without G
rst directing him how 10 study, and what 4
D study. Tell him what you viii expect {;
i'm to know. when he comes to recite, and
how him where lie will obtain the most I
id in performing the task. Do not send ?
our pupils to the fields TO bring you flow G
IS they have never seen. ard give them no L
struction whereby they can recognize S;
lat tor which they are sent. al
GEO. II. SCoTT. o