The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1885-06-18

EDUCATION OF THE EDUCATOR
The following is the full text Of the
excellent address delivered by Governor
John A. Martin in the assembly room Of
the State Normal school last evening:
Mr.. President Ladies and Gentlemen:
In one sense. at least, the State Nor.
NAL school is the most important Of our
higher educational institutions. The
others educate, each year, q number OF
individuals, and necessarily q limited
number, who are, individually, to Ill
various positions on lIfe's battlefield
The State Normal educates the educa-
tors, and thus its influence, It's system,
Its method and thought, reach and
shap the minds Of many thousands.
There were, last year, S.34S teachers in
the public schools of Kansas, and they
controlled and instructed an army of
306 600 children-an army larger than
Grant, or Napoleon, or Wellington ever
commanded; an army far more difficult
70 direct than were theirs; an army
whose drill, discipline and instruction
Will exercise, through all the coming
years, a larger and q far more important
influence over the material and intellec-
tual we'll being OF humanity than did the
The Office of teacher has not, until late
years, been regarded as other aVocations
are. Men were educated 10 law, or
medicine, or theology, or learned the
trades of craftsmen, because they ex-
pected to make practical use, during
their lifetime, oil the knowledge and
skill they acquired. But men and Wonl-
en- drifted into the schoolroom as teach
ers-and in too many cases still
do so-not because they expected to
make teaching their business, but because
for the time beng, they could find moth.
ing else 10 do. Many of these teachers
were and are undoubtedly well quail
fed for educational work many of them
have achieved marked success In this
work, and, growing to like il, have con-
tlnued in 1t. But many others, and by
far the largest number, fear, of those
who engage IN teaching as q mere tenn
porary makeshift, do not fairly earn
even the poor salaries they are paid. No
one can succeed at anything, If he does
not put his heart and mind into his work
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do. do
it with thy might" is q lesson which q
teacher must take TO heart, or his or her
teaching will come 10 naught.
And surely there can be no more I'M
portant work than that of an educator in
the schools. Year by year this fact Is
Strengthening in the public mind, and as
q result the teacher Is growing in public
appreciation and pecuniary value.
The underlying spirit, the clear pur-
pose OF the State Normal, Is not to edu-
cate lawyers, or doctors, or ministers, or
| tradesmen, but to educate, train and 1T
men and women tor the profession of
| public educators. They who enter this
institution with any other purpose In
view, are guilty of fraud on the gener-
osity of the state. The general govern
ment educstes young men at West Point
and Annapolis for the army and navy.
1 pels them, after graduation, to
/ enter either branch OF the sers ice.
But there is an unwrItten code, which
appealing to their personal honor, is
l stronger than any statute, and which
cOmpels these graduates of the nation g
schools to serve two years in its army OF
navy. They may then resign, but in the
event of war they must promptly tender
their services to the government.
Some such code OF ethics should gov
ern graduates of the State Normal. They
are educated by the state, as teachers for
the purpose Of elevating the standard and
qualifications of Its public educators
and they should feel In honor bound to
II
And surely there can be no nobleI
ambition than to be a really great teach.
er-such teacher, for example as Ar
mold OF Rugby or Horace Mann. TC
rule and shape human minds, to mould
and fashion children ami youth for the
highest and noblest duties of-life is no
this work which should enlist in its ser
vice the best heart and braIn-of all this
landg
Last year, in q quiet hamlet In Penn
sylvania an old man died. For more
than sixty years he had been a teacher
He had taught in nearly every
long aud useful life was spent
and half the men of that county. unde
sixty years of age have been his pupils
More fully than any other person l have
ever known, he was my ideal OF what
schoOlmaster should be-the con
trolling spirit of a school; it
master literally as we'll as name
firm, strong, just man, encour.
aging the diffidenl, Furnishing the vic.
ious and inspiring all; fully six feet ii
stature, angular, with immense reach o.
arms, large hands, a noble height AMI
breadth of forehead, and steel grey eye
sparkling under bristling eyebrows
the heaviest that ever adorned a human
4 luCo-nC Wdot III Tue SSuOOl EOOul, q lOE
/ mIdable figure. Even the later-dal
"hoodlum," with his reckless Impu
: dence, would have regarded him will
awe. He was a strict disciplInarian. H
had no mawKish sentimentality abou
corporal punishment. He delighted,
think, TO deal with vicious, disObedi
ent boy-one of the half-animal an
, wholly perveIse kind, as full of cruelt,
and meanness as an egg is of mea
: When one of this class was enrOllel
among his pupils, it was wonderful hoy
soon all the perversity of his nature wa
reduced to subsection.
Yet this old master was not a schoC
room tyrant. The we'll disposed anon
his pupils held him in affectionate II
3 gard. and even the turbulent respecte
a the justice of his decisions and the firm
, ness and sincerity OF his rule. He di
not take pleasure in inflIcting pam; b
d "trounced" bad or unruly boy becaus
4 he regarded "trounclng" as a necessar
/ and wholesome discipline which woul
q Il make him a better man and better CT
lzen and the punishments he inflIcte
were rarely If ever undeserved. He wa
as just as he was stern.
AS an instructor, he had mastered th
# branches he taught. He rarely held
v book in his hand while hearing a class
With the range of text books then In US
he was thoroughly familiar. Every rul
or principle or fact they contained VIZ
C at his tongues enc. He had a real low
g for his work, and an effectionste intere
In the progress of his pupils. The ole
weather beaten brick school house on Il
commons" with ITS rude pine de 81
u and benches, whitfield by the jacI
!, knives of more than one generation
boys. and its painted black board on th
\ wall was the soul of his earthly interes
and ambition.
Amid such surroundings he lived f
= more than sixty years, engaged in
laborious. often perplexing aRd wear
: some, but always useful work. He ser
out into the world thousands of mel
disciplined, instructed aud moulded b
his firm but kindly hands-men who al
=, scattered, to. day, from ocean TO oceal
and many of whom have achieved th
most distinguished success in life. FC
D among his pupils were James G. Balm
' Senator MCMILLAN of Minnesota, e.
Congressman Townsend of Ohio, and
host of others eminent in law, IN med
cine, in literature aud in business.
He reached venerable age, dying 1
81. And l am sure that his pupils
wheresoever they had wandered, T,
ceived the news of his death with pro
found sorrow. For the mention of hl
/ name would call up q thousan
recollecuons of him-of his tai
athletic person, of his massive head an
shaggy eye brows, of his homely but II
tel.ectual face and his keen and kindl
> eyes, of his quick, firm dOmlnatln
voice, and Of his T, lish for every physi
, cal as well as mental enjoyment. Flo
the stern master of the schoolroom wa
! 1 on the commons" Q boy with the boy
THE surest catch, the strongest hand q
| the bat, and the sWiftest runner of ther
all. Remembering Master Joshua
Gibbons thus, Is 1t strange that his oil
pupils, grown to manhood and scatter
ed far and wide, should hold his memor
= in reverent and rendered recollection?
l sincerely hope and trust that tn