Litchfield enquirer., 1879-03-13
CONFIDENCE BETWEEN BOYS AND
 TEACHERS.
An Address by F. w. Gum, of Washing ton, Conn.

How TO WIN AND KEEP THE CHILDREN-BoYs
 RIGHTs-A PRoFEssoRsHIP OF FUN-SeUNI SENSE AND RIPE EXPERIENCE FOR PARENTS
 AND TEACHERS.
 This confidence ought to be like that be tween boys and wise father. The teacher must often stand in the place of parent, as II the case of orphans, and those who are 1a' from their homes. say aoise father, for who does not know that many children have parents so un1cise that their lot is worse than that ol orphans? That firmness, that discretion, that patience. that love which the happiest chile enjoys, but which so many fail to meet else where, these we must afford to all. or else wt fail to fulfill our mission. Confidence in the childs heart is not so much matter Of reason ing as of instinct it should not be thing o1 growth, but of spontaneous impulse. The child should look into his teachers face anC find his hearts home there.
 How shall confidence be inspired? Bywha subtle art, by what study and discipline. iron what books, by listening to whose lectures, 1T what Normal school shall the young teacher prepare himself to enter into the generous con fidence of the good, and the more guarded often suspicious, but at last self-surrenderna trust of the evil? .. lQeTe cdU bt DIG Ollc dLiS"Ci to 9hio 4USo tion. There is but one way. We must be worthy of this confidence, for it can repose only on realities. A generous boy heart may rest on heart as generous, and on nothing else. You are mean, selfish, stingy, perhaps Yeu attempt to control school of boys. But the boys have found you out; they have nick name ready for you. Or you are sour unlov. ing, even unkind; do not dare to ask the lov. ing trust of young hearts. My friend, if you aspire to teach and train the young, first sci your own heart to school; learn the great les son of reality; be yourself that which you would train your boys to be.
 WE TEACH WHAT WE ARE
 suppose very mean person may teach little ones successfully many things which they ought to learn the alphabet, the multi. piication table, etc. But his efforts cannot go far; soon his pupils are stunted in some ele- ment of symmetric growth. There is an un' conscious influence mysterious, silent eman. ation going out from tho personality of every teacher which is one of the strong forces of na ture. Silent as the force of gravity, more powerful than the will of man, this influence works like the unnoticed electricity of the at. mosphere, and makes it certain that every teacher will actually teach that which he is. How, for example, can narrow, selfish, pinch edup man, make good readers of class of boys? The noble sentiments of poets and philosophers are naught to him. His intellect cannot receive his soul cannot contain them his cold lips cannot give expression to the voice of love, of heroism, of tender pity and generous grief. If you would teach children to read the grand periods of Milton, you must,
 in the act 6e Milton yourself. Therefore, l say, # you would enjoy the loving confidence of noble boys you must, first of all, make of thot oopfidapan at own conscience serve as examining committee, and enter the school room only with first class certificate
 My fellow teachers, far be it from me to judge how many of us can safely abide this test With humble head 1 must confess that though spending my life in teaching the young, and receiving all along many tokens of that loving confidence of which speak, yet trem. ble every term lest condemn as unworthy the confidence I do enjoy.
 GET NEAR THE BOYS.
 I remark again, to influence the young get near them. Here, as in the world of physics, the force of attractionwaries inversely as the square of the distance. Often the feeble, the inferior in capacity, in attainments, exert a greater influence than their superiors, because they get nearer the object to be moved. You propose to act on child's heart which is set on quite sublunary things; and you, true student of nature, have your head among the stars. Perhaps you feel your own importance in the universe of worlds. and, looking aloft and studying high themes, you fail to notice and to understand the little urchin at your feet. Or if you understand. you cannot con- descend to get upon your knees to teach him. Your younger brother, who is still half boy and not yet through college, has won the hearts or half the school in day, while you have reached only dozen in month. Why stand upon your dignity? Yeu have these characters to mould and shape into the fashion of divine manhood follow the example of Paul. who made himself all things to all men ; and of Jesus, who took upon him the form of a servant. To get into boys heart, you must first get the boy heart into you, then bring him up with you into the thoughts and feelings of man.
 THE BOYS RIGHT TO ''FUN."
 am convinced that there is an immense amount of soul-power lost because teachers hold themselves aloof and above their focks. ''Aim high' is good motto when you turn your telescope upon the stars but General Putnam's order, "Aim at their wristbands" is often more practical For one, I am not ashamed to have been and to be a boy among boys. And here comes in some consideration of boys rights. We have secured, in some good degree, the rights of the slave. We are laboring, not without hope, for the right of woman to the vete-when she wishes It but how few, even of the teachers of the land, ever make any ado about ''The Rights of Boys?" We provide schools for their intel lectual training, and urge them to fidelity in their studies, stimulating their ambition by appliances that are, to say the least, of some what doubtful propriety but what school has fitly provided for the amusement of it's pu. pills?
 Our Declaration of Independence enumer- ates among the inalienabie rights of man, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness But boys, with their scantY vocabulary, sum up all their desired rights in one expressive word. Strange that one small word could convey SC much of meaning to the boy-ear! Fun Boys have an inalienable right to their fun. Our Puritan forefathers thought all fun was devil worship, and they put it under the ban they drove it from the family; they belted il out of the school-h house, and left it enly to harbour in the village tavern and the country store. Till within a few years cards have been forbidden 1n our Christian homes l would not admit any amusement that has the least taint of vice; but I do charge you, young teachers, let the boys have their fun; nay, provide it, preside over it. protect it from dis Slpallol, prevent only tHe excess; put uO not bar the thing itself, rather share it with them How much of boys life is comprised in that one word How much of healthy discipline of both mind and body, it may bring! While sharing, directing wisely. and cheerily helping on the fun without any lowering of your higf moral standard or of your cherished dignity you may easily find your way into the boy heart. 1 am persuaded that very much of dis sipatien, the contamination of bad company the frequent corruption of taste and manners | and sometimes loss of all-that is mourned ir | our higher institutions of learning would bt | avoided if some rich and wise friend of each col 1 lege would endow therein Prefessorship of Fun. think it might go far to prevent tn. hazing which, in some colleges, has become barbarism, if some genial tutor or professo | had it for his care to prepare the Sophomor | class to entertain with suitable plays, games and even theatricals, the incoming Freshmen An evening thus spent in social and friendl, way would tend powerfully to establish jus and kind relations between the classes an'
 bring them to acknowledge every student as
 brother. But if not necessary for the youn surely the boys should have their fun.
 z LET THE BOYS HELP GOVERN. ~4 Nf | I must refer to one more tonic where Ithink