Litchfield enquirer., 1881-09-01
A Teacher Gone.

The marked public notice which the recent death of Mir. Frederick w. Gum in Washing ton, Conn, called forth has only one interpTe- tation-that good teachers are exceedingly scarce among us Mr. Gum, we are told, was in DO sense great scholar neither did he send lads out of his school distinguished for any exceptional amount of knowledge. For what was he noted then Simply for mak ing. by certain peculiar and original methods of his own, men out of boys placed under his core for quickening ther apprehensions, strengthening their moral force, for inoculat- ing them with that unsuitable hunger for knowledge which is the most incommunicable of human traits, and also placing within their reach the means to acquire that knowledge. The boy sent out of MT. Gunn's training was unable to tell lie, or shirk duty; whether he was dull or clever he at least wanted to learn, and knew intelligently how to learn.
 There have been hundreds of thousands of teachers in England andt the United States, and out of the vast undistinguishable crowd half a 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 num- Der is 30 small There have been hundreds of clergymen, of lawyers. of physicians, and of artists who may justly be called great in their several callngs. Is it that the science of teach ing demands an exceptional faculty or more profound study than any other Is it not on the contrary, that the great body of so called teachers either use their business as a make- shift. stepping stone to something better, or totally misapprehend the purpose of teaching altogether They look upon the scholar as an empty pitcher to be filled with certain mum Der of facts or rules for mental operations Some pitchers are of very small capacity; others hold all that is poured into them. The success of the teacher is popularly measured by the capacity of the pupil; hence he values those who will do him most credit. The dull boy in a school is thrust aside; he is there on sufferance. Yet his responsibility or hls place in the world is as large as that of the clever lad. The teacher who was born to his calling, like Arnold or Gum. recognizes in every boy material for his skill; the immature mind placed in his keeping is not an empty vessel to be filled with matter extraneous tl itself, but live creature to be stimulated, restrained. trained and fitted for it's future work. Such 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 boy; he must have the temper of sixty and the temperament of sixteen to penetrate the barrier which every boy raises instinctively against ''the teacher" He is like the young divinity student who breaches to world of whose temptations, truths and errors he is ignorant. The material on which they both work is, ny sheer force of their position, un- known to them.
 Such men are rare Hence, when one of them dies. the world of hoys and those who love boys put on mourning. It is pity that those of their profession who are left behind do mol study the secret of their success and try to each sthnething of the spirit which gave them their peculiar power. ". r. Tribune