The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-05-03

"This truth came borne with bier and pail
| felt it when sorrowed most,
| IT'S better to have loved and lost,
Than never TO have loved at all"
So it was the poet Tennyson consoled him.
self for the early loss of beloved friend and
comrade And so it is that many friends and
comrades and disciples of Col. Geo. L. Balch, the
| founder of the flag salute and the teaching of
patriotism in the public schools, will console
themselves to-day.
COL Balch is dead he died in the harness.
No soldier who persisted on the battlefield was
more truly martyr to his countrys cause.
| His was most unselfsh devoted service. A
bread winner through long weary days, he
gave his nights to the devising of plans and
| compiling of works that would exalt his coun-
try and honor her fag
When death came and with the swift stroke
| of apopexy put an end to his earthly labors. he
was at work upon patriotic address to the
women of the Relief Corps, whose ardent
espousal of the cause he loved, and for which he
sacrificed his life, he so greatly appreciated.
He had expected to meet the National dele
| gates at Pttsburg. Il have said to my COM
rade, Wallace Foster, that will be there if
| have to walk" were his words. And now he
is gone; gone to higher plane, aud tears are
| III all hearts.
| Noble soldier. pure patriot, pioneer in the
| glorious cause of patriotic education, American
of Americans patriot of patriots, he has, alas,
gone. But he has left his work as pre-
cious legacy let us take it up and carry it for
ward to completion.
COL. BALCH's LAST MEssAGEs.
Among the last letters of Col. Balch were sew
eral addressed to the Editor of this department,
expressing his gratitude for assistance given and
saying that he had received more encourage
ment in few months from the women of the
Relief Corps who had taken up the work, after
its presentation in THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE,
than he had in the eight years during which he
had been combining his efforts to the teachers of
the land.
1t is pleasant to know that this grand old
man was permitted to taste of the fruits of his
labors before his death. The accounts appear
ing from time to time in The NATIONAL TRIB-
UNE Of the patriotic awakening the country
over, particularly the formal adoption of the
flag salute by the 60 San Francisco schools,
gave him great joy.
But even more happy was he in the assurance
that the flag salute would be introduced into
the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home,
Xenia, o.. saying that Certainly both teach
ing patriotism and the Declaration of IndepeDd-
ence should be accessible to the children of
those who gave their lives to their country"
Following are extracts from letters:
"Our whole system of school training for a
century has been un-American to the last de-
gree, and is largely so today. But we are fast
waking up to the fact that our Government
and all our experiences are different from those
of monarchical governments, and all our teach
ings should be different.
Ito give MY ideas form spent six weeks in
May and June, 1891, visiting the 81 schools of
the Childrens' Aid Society, training, drilling
and talking to the 5000 children of Ia nation
alities. To-day 1900 children in these schools
salute the National flag with great fervor each
morning.
- / am preparing the draft of letter which
| propose to address to all the Department
Presidents of the W.R.C in regard to how best
and practically take up and carry forward the
mighty work they have undertaken, and the
word mighty is not lily chosen, for the work
OF shaping and fixing the habits of thought of
l5,000000 school children is a mighty problem
and vast responsibility, and that is precisely
what this action of the W.R.C. means.
" / have for years been looking to the teachers
and the educators Of the land for sympathy andJ
aid IN this work, but have made more prog
ress through tn. zeal and inspiration of the few
women who have been touched with the pat. !
riotic fire during the last two months than in
my previous four years of labor with those
whom we suppose are the ones to look up TO.
You may rest assured. therefore, that / am
heart aud hand with the W.RC. and the loyal
women OF the u. S. A."
In closing this letter Col Balch promised an
early copy of the address to the W.R.C. he was
preparing also sketch and photograph of
himself for The NATIONAL TRIBUNE. al
have not" he said, had photograph taken
for years, but as The NATIONAL TRIBUNE is
kind enough to consider it worth asking for, /
will accompany the sketch with picture"
AS Mrs. Col. Bach, 80 Twenty-second street.
New York. is arranging to carry out her SOL
der husbands plans we shall hope that all
these promises will yet be fulfilled. that we
may say that He being dead. yet speaketh."
LOOKING AHEAD.
Col. Balch had unbounded faith in the
Woman's Relief Corps az an agency for dis
seminating knowledge of patriotic teaching
and the flag salute aud he thought he saw in
the W.R.C a medium for the enlistment of
every body of patriotic women In the same
high cause. In his very last letter he wrote as
follows:
Sooner or later, say, when the WRC. have
become conversant with the new duties grow
ing out of this new work in the schools, they
must call in, unite in one great body, on the
common ground of patriotism, the other socie-
ties Of women throughout the country, such as
Ladies of the GAR, Daughters of Veterans,
Daughters of the Revolution, the Colonial
Daughters Loyal Women Of American Lib
erty, and all others.
/" / certainly believe the W.RC. will make
the patriotic work magnificent success but if
100000 public-schoOl teachers have failed as
yet. to make any marked impression in the
direction of 15000,000 public-school children,
10000 members of the W.RC. will not en-
trely, indeed cannot, occupy the whole field.
Hence, the need Of cooperation with others.
Please think this matter over, SO it can take
form at Pittsburg in September"
In the following geographic sketch Wallace
Foster, the co-worker Of Col. Balch, gives
summary of the patriotic work our ilustrous
exemplar has accomplished.
SKETCH OF COL. BALCH.
By Wallace Foster.
The earliest suggestions and practical appi-
cation of patriotic education and teaching
patriotism in the schools of America first
originated with Col. George T. Balch, Auditor
of the Board of Education of the City of New
York whose death from apoplexy has Just oc.
Cured. He deservedly earned the credit and
honor Of being the first person to introduce q
ritual for saluting the National flag in schools,
and was the author of the Methods of Teach.
ing Patriotism" in which he has received the
highest Endorsement from the United States
Commissioner of Education, and many of the
best-known educators in the country
In 1887 and 1888 Col. Balch first commenced
the patriotic work. As result of more than
a years study of the "tenement-house system"
OF the city of New York. his attention was
turned to the subject Of patriotic education
While investigating some aspects of the sub
| ject, his mind was UNEXPECTEDLY directed to
| that form Of education for American citizen
| ship which refers more particularly to the va
| rious relations of the child to the town the
| State. and the Nation.
1t was about this time he made the acduaint.
ance of that great philanthropist, Charles
1 Torinu Rrapa fnun6ar nf ha A "a