Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1885-11-13
scHOOL DTCIPLINE No. p.


Those who had the pleasure of listening to
Mr. Callison's sermon at the Baptist Church
in Oakland recently will remember the clear
and sound manner in which he dwelt upon
there four elements, physical, mental, moral,
spiritual, graded in their order upon an as
cending scale, and developed not simultaneous
y, but also in the order OF graduation.
Now the child may become a giant in phys
ical stature, and yet little more than a brute.
He may become giant in intellect, yet little
more than monstrosity, mental Jumbo like
Carlyle. He may become grand in moral
power, like Howard, or the apostle Paul, be
given to know the deep mysteries that can be
discerned only by spiritual insight. What he
does become depends on three conditions; his
natural tendencies, his natural capacities, and
the instruction and discipline he receives. y
part Of this instruction and discipline he re
ceives from the teacher, whose duty it is to
develop, as harmoniously as he can, the lat
ent powers of the child; restraining this excess,
cuItivating that faculty which is weak or dor
mant, SO as To compensate as far as possible for
the natural defects, and hold in check the
tendencies TO excess, until later on, the child
can discipline himself. The lowest element
in his nature, is first TO develop. The period
OF the teachers care Of him, is that Of physc-
al growth. The. physica forces pushing to-
ward maturity, and the mental forces, which
commenced little later TO develop-a also gain
ing strength, giving him perception, cunning,
power to reason, not logically, but sufficiently
to justify himself to himself for any act his in
clination leads to, while the moral forces are
latent, and often almost wholly dormant until
the physical development is complete, make
him like a locomotive with no engineer.
The physical engine and The mental steam are
already to rush ahead, anywhere, no matter
where if they only go but there is, as yet, no
moral engineer to take control and give proper
direction to these tremendous forces, and reg
luatc the speed to life's grades and curves. lie
must be switched off at onces He is on the
wrong track.
The farther he goes, the greater the speed, the
more destructive the ultimate shock to himself
and society. 1t is ofno use to rouse the sleeping
engineer, to 80 and take control of any engine
that is five miles away, on wrong track, and
running a mile a minute 1t is equally useless
to attempt to control a vicious scholar, by ap-
pealing To moral sense that he has not got,
and will not be developed sufficiently to be
come controlling force in his character for
years to come. Every experienced teacher
knows how strangely disproportionat the
boys moral sense is 10 his other faculties, at
this age. Ii is not usually the largest boys in
school who make the most trouble, but a boy
from the age Of twelve to fifteen years, weigh
ing about ninty pounds, old enough to have
outgrown childish fear and not old enongh to
have much sclfrcspcct, will indicate greater
pressure OF ;'cusscdness to the 81 uare inch
than aught else animate. The only power
that will control him Is a physical force great
er than his own. II little restraint is needed
so much the better II much is needed it,
must be used, and always enough be used to
overcome the weight and momentum of the
engine rushing to its own destruction. 1t is
argued that the moral sense should be so de-
velopcd with the other elements OF the child's
nature as TO make it a controlling power. Al
right, in theory. The only objection is, il
cannot be done. When a teacher is found
who can reverse the divinely arranged order
of development of the child's nature, his ser
vices will be in demand, undoubtedly. Often
the only way that any moral growth can be Sc
cured, is by first subduing the physical and
mental forces that would override all moral
instincts, or ignore their right to existence.
If parents prepare the chd's mind asmuch as
possible for moral control, il they would talk
to it more about duties, and less about rights,
their efforts would tend in the right direction.
Again if they will teach the child that the dis
grace of punishment consists not in the whip
ping, but the wrong act that makes the whip
ping necessary, there will be another point
gained. The disgrace is in wrong doing, not
in being caught at it. When the child has
been corrected, his wrong tendencies checked,
and he is sorry for the wrong doing, then he
is in condition to receive all the moral train
ing of which he is susceptible at his age And
the teacher should avail himself of the oppor-
tunity TO give all the moral instruction posi-
bic. Here return to first principle. The
teacher cannot give what he has not. Here
but judgement and discretion in It's applica-
ton, and a knowledge OF human nature as
we'll. He must be able, wisely and kindly to
counsel the pcnitcnt as we'll as restrain and
punish the vicious. And the cases where re-
straint is needed are constantly recurring.
He must teach his scholars that by whisper
ing they disturb the school, and waste valua
bic time needed for study. That by careless
moving feet and books, they annoy others, and
form habits of impolitcneSs; by inattcntion
and carclessness they lose opportunities for i'm
will tend TO make life failure. He must
teach them ncatnesS, order, studiouSness, po-
liteuess, to be courteous to all, stimulate the
slow and lazy, restrain the ambitious, quiet
the restless, and stir up the inert He must
teach them that life is a serious business, and
upon the manner in which the foundation is
laid, will depend It's success. He should
prune rcdundancics, correct eNtravagant or
stilted manners, teach the pupils to shuu vul-
garity, profanity and meanness. II the pupil
uses tobacco, he should be told that ii will
stunt his growth, rctard his mental develop
ment, stimulate evil passions, and causes the
next generation to be dwarfed and diseased.
II the pupil displays a taste FOR hashy dress
or ornaments, tell him that gaurly dress and
! tawdry ornaments are the badge of the igno-
rant and uncultured. If the girl comes TO
,, school with her hair banged she may be
told that in making herself resemble an IDIOT