The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-02-17
The School Mistress

AEss ~IeuS were UdIAuCiuS tueWstISes
upon the catalpa twigs by the south
window. We r member how weary she
looked as she passed along the street that
last day of school few steps behind the
prim little calicoed misses and the hi
larious young brats in button-ups. She
steps more lightly now, as she goes
smiling to the work and worry of a new
term. The pale cheeks that she took
away with her when she went out to
Kansas to spend her vacation have
gained color from the pink and russell
tinting of the rich pla ms sunshine; and
the new light in those eyes, which seem
ed 60 dull and sad three months ago,
looks like surprise of blue sky through
the mist. like veil that serves the double
purpose of concealing her freckles and
protecting her against the ill.mannered
stares of street loafers. She still dresses
in material that can be washed and
"done up" and wears that inevitable
white apron, and the brown kids frayed
at the finger ends; but not the Helen Of
the Iliad, "clad in the beauty of a
thousand stars" was so fit to be en-.
shrined in immortal song.
We owe her a right royal welcome,
the returning September school-mistress.
She is emphatically one of our things.
We might better spare the whole race OF
politicians than this modest, earnest,
even-tempered step-mother of every.
body's children. She 1t is who, in her
quiet and patient way, sways and fash
ions the Grant forces upon which de-
pend, not merely the rise and fall of ru-
dimentary knowledge, but the security
and growth of all that preserves and ex-
ats society and gives to popular gov
eminent its progress and its glory. Nine
tenths of our children get the most OF
their education in the public schools;
and there can be no higher mission in
such country than that of the meek
faced woman who, with no crueler
weapon than a bunch of belsted mari
COLDS or copy of the last st. Nicholas,
brings the boys and girls, who are to be
our future men and women, safely and
clearly through the decisive expert.
ences which, more than all else of life,
fix the bent of mind, Of manner and Of
morals. According to the sincerity and
skill of her labors, must be the character
of the schools; and as the schools are,
80 will be the citizens-which is but say
log that so will be the Nation, for hon
or, for shame.
The returning school mistress will
End things much the same as she left
them. She will see some new counte
nances among her pupils, to be sure, and
perhaps new series of text books, also;
but there is no alteration in the general
outlook, and her work is ready to be re-
sumed just where she dropped it. A
week hence, she will have the business
of her school reduced to a system that
no civil-service reformer could improve.
She will know, not simply the name,
age and scholarly standing of every
child under her charge, but also all their
individual tastes, habits and prejudices.
tits this admirable faculty of discover
ing and utilizing the peculiar character
istics of each mind with which she has
to deal that makes the school mistress of
the period such a pronounced success.
With her, to impart instruction is not to
turn the crank of machine. Instead
of adapting her pupils to her teaching.
she adapts her teaching to her pupils
She sometimes has dozen methods of
presenting and enforcing the same thing,
not one of which is to be found in any
book. If Johnny stumbles in his syn
tax, she does not refer him to printed
rules that are. ten years ahead of him,
but explains his error to him in the
language of the playground; and if lit,
tie Susie gets mixed in her multiplied
ton table, she is set straight again by
some homely illustration which is worth
a whole days study to her. 1t took US
a long time to learn that teaching is the
special sphere of woman. The school
mistress has won her place in spite of US
And, having won it, she is entitled to
our grateful recognition as she appears
again after her vacation (Which, let US
hope, was pleasant and profitable), to
remind us that September has come and
schools called"
Our September school will be
making wife of herself one of these
days. She always gets married. There
$ pl ace for her matrimony, just as
there is in education. A widower, with
five or six children, is somewhere con
stantly waiting for her. She could no,
eyade him if she vould p6&hans she