River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-07-15

sion, and who spent very few years of
his youth in attending the ministra-
tions of its members, the converse of
all that was asserted ought To be true
of the profession. Inthe first place,
it has a right to the title profession"
as much as either of the other profess
sions. Its aims are as high, and its
responsibilities as great as either of
it's congeners. 1t has in its keeping
the moral, physical and political wei
fare of the youth of the land, combln-
ing in itself the functions of the other
three professions. If the name be a
matter of pride the faithful teacher
may hold his head as high as any
judge. or any divine, or even any
practitioner, for to whom is coniided
the practice of these sciences certainly
pertains as great honor as to him who
processes and often begins and ends his
career with an NJ. d.. or an Esq, and
which is only illuminated by the red
ink with which his parchment title is
UNDERSIGNED.
In regard to the assertion that
school teacher is not at home among
his social equals. If he is not, il will
scarcely save him from invidious criti-
cism TO charge his profession with his
social or mental deficiencies. If his |
professional groove requires a knOwl- |
edge of Magma Charta, he certainly
has the ability, and ought to take the |
time, to acquaint himself with the |
principles of the new Magma Charta |
which the people of Ireland are asking |
of the British government, and which |
Mr. Gladstone is endeavoring to Sc |
cure for them. Ii the principles of |
constitutional government and com
mon law are taught in his school |
hours, he ought to acquaint himself |
with the local application of some of |
its practice by leaving the "close
season for brook trout and pinnated |
grouse. IL natural philosophy or
physics enter into Lis curriculum, he
might scrape an acquaintance with |
the engineer of the local train, and |
get some points that would not only
keep him in his "rut" of work, but
would help him also to entertain a
chilly ''sociable" or amuse an evening
party. In short it would seem, still
to an outsider, that a man who knows
all that is i'll the books ought to know
great deal that never gets into them.
good points in their school work with
little items OF experience or observa-
ton, that could never have been made
with the dry distractions of the text.
books,
Mr.. Pond asserted that teacher
who had an engagement in a public
school could not vote as his conscience
dictated for fear of dismissal by a
partisan school board. May the Lord
have mercy ON such man! May he
never be hired to teach the boys of
River Falls, or any other boys! A
man with as curly backbone as that
would indicate, ought to become a
man.milliner, or enter some other
peaceful ayocation where he would
never be thrust into the society of
rough and aggressive men. There is
little wonder that such a man should
not feel at home among his social
equals.
In conclusion, it occurs to me, still
speaking from the standpoint of one
who doesn't know anything about 1t,
that if the profession of teaching is
only one-half as uninviting, not to say
degrading, as one of its leading men,
beers pictured it, almost unchallenged,
before an audience comprising the
flower of Wisconsin teachers, then il
is time that the Normal Schools of our
state were closed; and instead of in
viting men and women to enter the
ranks as teachers, and educating them
specifically for that work, the field
should be left to those whose humber
aspirations, or whose necessities, lead
them to voluntarily adopt so uninvit-
| ing an avocation. @. b. NJ.