Iron County register., 1882-03-23

-Erchdnge.
Home Reading for Teachers.
! Tread before the last meeting of the Arcadis
| Valley Teachers Association, by Prof. w
B. Morgan.
| This subject, which has been given
! me by the Committee on Programme
though it apparently bears but slightly
| upon the avOcatiOn of teaching, does
| in reality, constitute the esuperstructure
of the professionalism grandeur and
establishment of the whule-and how.
ever firm the foundation may be, ul.
less upon it be raised II superstruc:ure
! that is equal in its substance, and AS
| magnificent in its ornament, it will be
! but as the undiscovered ore of the
mountains-valuable still, hut lacking
the puriiication and establishment OF
art to- portray It's hidden worth.
Let nothing be said in opposition to
the solidites of any profession, nor too
great encouragement to the mere set.
tngs of beauty, for "virtue is like a
rich stone, best plain set;" but let the
stability and the polish be equal
| ''From turrct to foundation stone,''
/ and the whole fabric Will not only stand
the evil of premature decay. but from
the clipping eyes of the critic escape
unscathed
The foundation of our profession is the
| knowledge acquired from text-bonks;
| the SuperStructure is what is acquired
| from II postgraduate course and home
reaiiny, however extensive they may
be; ami the foundation without the SUI
persi iructure is like the unpollshed
Grrciau marble era. Phidias, with ii
master hand. hewed it into form, and
| fashioned from the fair Pentelcus the
| giittering Parthenon.
a teacher may he thoroughly ac-
Qrainted with his textbooks: he may
have sound practical judgment i'm coiI-
nection with Il vigorous and healthy
intellert, and with these may be a
splendid reasoner; but to make his eX-
pi .natio natural, and his illustrations
lif--lIke, he should be at least mndtr-
ately versed in the attainments which
Others have achieved and the many
pictures of thought which miscpllane-
Gus literature produces; and rs he is not
the instructor of any particular class of
science. or of art, his mind should be
sto, Ell with an inexhaustible stock OF
miscellaneous gleanings, SD that he may
never become entirely exhausted and
turn the school room into a monotonOus
routine of rspetition, but every day
bring to the quick perception of his pu-
pills some new fact or newborn illus
tration.
This knOwled ge is not acquired in a
singh. hour, but from the leisure read
ing of years. KnowIedg" is hidCen in
the secret cells OF thought, and long
years are necessary to open u pathway
To ii, but when once found, like the far
distant planet whose light has just
reached us after ten thousand years of
i,t,
sight needed only time to discover it;
but When once beheld, lights us to 9th
rrS still unknown. Labor and patience
make US learned; and he who falls
asleep over the first few pages of some
undiscovered thought or unknown sto-
rv. passes his life like the sleep of
winter snake, awakening only tn pro-
viue for further existence. Teachers
must bend their hrows to thought, and
labor earnestly for what they would
possess; for
The keep their secrets. the earth hides her
And bold must the m an that braves the unknown!
Not a truth has to art OF to science been given
But brows have ached for 1t, and souls toiled aud
strIveD.
No teacher should confine himself to
any single class of reading or study, as
he would rot wis II his pupils to under
stand only one branch of knowledge;
but read and study prnmiscuously John
Stuart Mill for philosophy and gov, rn-
melt, Profs. Marsh and Max Muller
for the origin and growth of the Eu-
glish language, Pr"fs. Tyndal and Hux-
lAy f,r the progress of the sciences,
Sir John Herschel and Others for the
wonders of the heavens, Aristotle and |
Bacon for the science of thought and |
progress of civilization, Hero,iotus,
Thales, Plutarch, Pliney, Gibbon,
Hume, and Bancroft for the footprints
of the past, Dickens, Thackeray, Ell
liot, Hawthorne. and Holland for the
of fiction, Homer, Shake |
speare, Milton, Byron, Tennyson, Long |
fellow for the beauty of verse, and many |
of their contemporaries, whose names
become too tedious, ut present, for me
to write. But teacher should read
such books as will serve TO keep him
posted, brighten his faculties, set his
powers to work, and fill his
mind with such know ledge as every
student needs and thirsts for.
Works which, having due time, have
gaineh no celebrity are best unread.
The critic will stamp upon any new
the mark of worth or the
stigma of incompetency; be it ours to
read and study such writings as have
received more than local reputation,
lest, when read, like the Dead Sea ap-
pie, they turn to ashes i'm our mouths.
Bacon says: "Read not to contradict
and confute, nor to believe and take
for granted, ncr to find talk and dis
but to weigh and consider.
Some books are to he tasted, others to
be swallowed, and some few to be
,hewed and digested; that is, some I
books are to be read only i'm parts, 9TH
ers to be read but not curiously, and