New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-08-26
4 TEACNER CONE.

The marked public notice which the recent
death of Mr.. Frederick w. Gum in Washing
ton, Conn, called forth has only one intcrprcta-
tion-that good teachers are exceedingly scarce
among us. Mr.. Gum, we are told was in no
sense great scholar; neither did he send lads
out of his school distinguished for any cxcep-
tional amount of knowledge. For what was he
noted thcn2 Simply for making, by certain
peculiar and original mciho is of his own, men
out of the boys placed underhis care for quick
enng their apprchcnsions, strengthening their
moral force, for inoculating them with that in
satabe hunger for knowledge which is the
most ncommuncable of human Traits and also
placing within their reach the means to acquire
that knowledge. The boy sent ont Of Mr.
Gums training was unable to tell lie or shirk
a duty; whether he was duh or clever he at
least wanted TO learn, and knew intelligcntly
how to learn.
There have been hundreds of thousands of
teachers in England aud the United States, and
ont of the vast undistingushable crowd half n
score perhaps stand out known of all men as
born to their vocation. We can all call them
over and we all probably should begin with
| Arnold of Rugby. Why is it that the number is
so small 7 There have been hundreds of cer-
gymcn, of lawyers, of physicians, aud of artists
| who may justly be called great in their several
callings. Is it that the science of teaching de
| mands an exceptional faculty or more profound
| study than any other I Is it not, on the con
| trary, that the great body Of called teachers
| either use their business us Il makeshift II step
| ping-stone to something better, or totally
miSapprchend the purpose of teaching alto
gether2 They look upon the scholar rs an
empty pitcher to be filled with a certain number
OF facts, or rules for mental operations Some
! pitchers of very small capacity others hold
! all that is poured into them. The success of
the teacher is popularity measured by the
capacity of the pupil hence he values those
| who will do him most credit. The duh bo, in
a school is thrust aside he is there on suffer
ance. Yet his responsibility or his place in the
world is as large "a that of the clever lad The
| teacher who was born to his calling. like
| Arnold or Gum, recognizes in every bow ma
| terial for his skill the immature mind placed
III his keeping is not an empty vessel to be filed
| with matter extran"ous to itself but live
| creature to be stimulated, restrained, trained
and fitted for Its future work. Such IA man. to
! carry out his work successfully, must have keen
and broad human sympathies he must be in
thorough fellowship both with the anxieties of
the parent and the incapacity of the bow: he
must have the temper of sixty and the tempero
ment of sixteen to penetrate the barrier which
every boy raises instinctively against "the
teacher" He is like the young divinity student
who breaches to a world of whose temptations,
truths and errors he is ignorant The material
on which they both work is, by sheer force of
| their position, unknown to them.
| Such men are rare. Hence when one of them
dies, the world of boys and those who love bows
| put on mourning. 1t is pity that those of
THEN profession who are left behind do not study
the secret of their success and try to catch
something of the spirit which gave them their
| peculiar power.