Crittenden press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, 1893-10-12
Coming i'm Touch
BY O. G.. W.

Coming i'm Touch.
BY O. G. W.
~ training men and women for the
teachers office, one reform in French
mathod. is described as "aiming at
prsntssional tact rather than erndi.
ton. Here is n fine hint for the i'm
pr femcnt of all our educational pro.
cd, and ofour so-callcd modern cul-
III
net is touch the teacher must be
IL touch' with the pupil. Socially,
tao b scn,ibility a. the presence of.
ot9f persons; II is 70 feeling of them.
psSlng into perception ofthcir quail
iiiSpnd condition, and thu, enabling
ond TO adapt him,cIfth.rcto. Hence
tac Is the ability to see and seize aud
sui1 ihe situation.
|. certainly thi, kind of ability de.
PED Us les upon booklyauing than
npf personal wakeiullnc,s, -clfpo,-
sess Pn, and the quick play of sym
pat b. The teacher must first be
hinskelf; he must have hi, wit. about
hiin; those wits which collectively we
cali ''mother wit" The activity OF
native qualities and power, in himself,
brnsht into sympathetic touch with
native qualities and the powers in the
pupil, will do the business, even if the
pupil is half dead.
But the teachers function is merely
a specialized form Of our general social
activity. Its essence or spiritual prin-
ciple is companionship, the contact
and communion of minds. And the
quality We are considering implies
great deal more than the art of max
ing favorable impressions, or adroit
ways of getting on with the people SO
As to avoid collisions and disasscra-
bIenesses. In it, higher form it Is
human embodiment of divine love and |
wisdom.
In ideal human relations we should |
all be teacher, and should all be learn |
ers for the sympathetic vibrations,
which pass from m'nd to mind imply |
continuous communication, or contin-
uous owing and taking. The super
ior becomes the servant of the infer
ior, the wise of the ignorant, the elder
of the younger. The best teacher, the
most effective preacher, the most valu-
able friend or companion is the one
who is most truly and wholly alive.
But, to be truly and wholly alive,
one must retain, and nouri-h, and
develop his own original qualities,
capacities, and forces he must be
truly and wholly himself and not an
ape nor a machine. Much less should
he he a mere supply pipe conveying TO
another what has never been really |
his own. One helps another, not
chiefly by imparting, but by quicker
ing, And tact implies the twofold
quality of conductiyity, which is an
another name for sympathy
and adaptability, which is sym
pathy guided by insight. Without
such tact learning goes for little,
whether in the school room, in the |
pulpit, or in society aud when We IL,
pend upon it rs substitute for the
richer and deyincr quality, it fails in
gloriously,
The tendency has been TO overload
and clog the facultio- with the knowl-
edg,le and are we not 50 far cucum-
bcred and disabled? We are like sol
diers who carry to the field of battle
all their accoutrements and camp
equipagc or like gourmand whose
overlooking duIls the brain and makes
digestion oppressive, Anybody can
name Il dozen quite well-iniormcd per-
sons who do not seem able to put
themselves to any good use.
We can hardly be said to know too
much, but knowledge itself is kind
of ignorance till it is worked up into
vital power When Wordsworth ,cofs
at science, or when Emerson bids Us
$50, burn our wormy pages, the poet
ic spirit seems to be in revolt against /
the methods of study by which we
disconnect ourselves from nature and
humanity by which we grow sharp
sighted for facts near by and blind to
the large order of the world or by