Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1879-06-11
THE SCHOLARSHIPS CON-
QUEST,

QuEoi.
Bronson Alcott, Of Boston, once
told Joseph Cook and Joseph Cook
lcld everybody he met that he made
it regulation in his school that II n
pupil violated n rule, "the master
should substitute his own voluntary
sscridcial chasiisement for that pupils
punishment, and this regulation al
most Christianized hls school
"One day." Mr.. Alcolt said, 81 call
cd before me pupil who had violated
an important rule. All the school
was looking on, and knew the rule
and the penalty. lput the ruler into
the offenders hand, | extended my
own hand; told him to strike. H.
s,antly | saw struggle begin in his
face. A new light sprang up in his
couptenance A new set OF shu,tles
seemed to be weaving n new nature
within him, kept my hand extend
ed and the school was IN tears. He
seemed to be in q bath OF fire which
was giving him n new nature. He
seemed transformed by the idea that ]
should suffer chastisement in place Of
his punishment, and ever after was
the most docile pupil in the school.
though he had been at first the rud-
est."
Now this is very affecting and rea,
sonablc and striking. No one can
read the incident and very readily for
get it and il contains a lesson which
every school teacher can certainly
read with profit. The incident came
to the knowledge of Willis X Stod-
dard, who for some years past has
been teaching a district schoolin Flint
river township in Iowa. He read
this extract from ono of Joseph Cook S
lectures and never forgot the great
moral it conveyed And indeed he
privately informed a clergyman who
called upon him during critical
period of his career, and with whom
he was very intimate, that he didn't
think he ever would forget it. Young
Mr.. Stoddard had some few pretty
hard boys in his school. They were
big and noisy and rough and turbu'
lent. He had reasoned with them
he had expostulated; he had begged
and wept. He had whipped them
until his arms ached, and director.
had threatened to dismiss him for un
necessary severity and absolute cruel
ty,.and the boys grew worse and worse
every day. But when he was at his
wits end and was seriously thinking
of running away and losing all his
back salary rather than stay at schoo
another day, he read this incident, ane
it gave his troubled mind new light
He treasured it up and thought il
might help him.
TIe had treasured it up probably
half day, when one bright June
afternoon, Samuel Johnson, the biges
and strongest and worst Of all the big
bows, violated all the rules of thu
school, one after another as fast as ht
could think of them, and wound VI
by tearing seven le'ves out of his
geography. These he crammed into
his mouth, and when he chewed them
into pulp, he took the "wad' in hi'
band and propelled the whole mass
with great violence INTO the ear o1
Ellis Haskell, who, although also biz
and bad-a little bad-was not pos
sessed of sufficient presence OF mlnt
to look calm and unconscious unde
the avalanche merely because tn
eye of his teacher was upon him, ant
be accordingly signiied his very nat
ural dismay and astonishment by
tremendous howl
/ And the school howled in responslv
chorus. Not only because the scholar
were delighted to see Ellis Haskell
: with his larboard ear full Of pspe
mache, as though he was going t.
take a cast Of it for the physiolog.
class, but also because they knew th'