Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-05-17
To the Teachers Of Iron County.

very important paper / will ask tho
Teachers Of Iron County. especially
those who have finished their schools
Tor this year, if they are reading any,
IT so. what Authorsp What course of
study are you pursuingP Are you any
the better teacher for the experience
you have had in your last school?
how many expect to attend the
Teachers Institute? How do you ex-
pect to he benefited by it, except to
get your certificate?
Have you ever studied ont any regu-
ular rule to work by in the InstituteP
You would require your children that
so to school to do so. Now let me
! give you one. Note the mistakes the
teachers make and the remedy.
Then every evening when you go to
your room think back over your past
! work and call up some of the school,
room mistakes you have made, and
put some of them to the Teachers and
get their view on the subject. All
along write down the points that are
good, and if after the Institute work is
done, you acting as your own Judge. il
you are not better teacher for hav-
ing attended the Institute, you had bet
ter give up the position and go at
something else.
We are too apt as teachers to over
look the true philosophy of a mistake.
Do they not in fact make up the most
of life's experiences? Will not NOM
ent's reflection reveal to US that we are
almost entirely controlled by themp
The most of our efforts, that are worthy
the name, are either for the correction
of those we see in ourselves, or pre-
pairing to avoid blundering in the fu-
ture, and the truest success comes just
in proportion as we are profited by
our mistakes. The thoughtful teacher
can easily trace this principle in his
school, for the school is largely what
the children composing that school
make it. All along the path of truth
may be seen the fragments of error and
the present is the result of correcting
the mistakes of the past, and whatev-
er we have, as individuals. that is
worthy of possession, has been brought
about by the same process. The arts
and sciences are full of illustrations of
this principle, and one of the best in
dications of the advancement of the
race is that any new discovery finds n
welcome Immediately upon its being es-
tablished as true.
This most desirable condition is tho
direct outgrowth of the mistakes OF
other generations. Less than CEN
tury ago many of the wise men OF his
day laughed at Robert Fulton for land
ing s.his steam-wash-tub" in New York
bay, but the laugh of the world of COM
merce to-day is different. Many re-
garded the electric telegraph as only
the idea of deluded brain. but the
click that speaks to US with wonderful
rapidity is no delusion. How can the
lightning from the clouds be made to
transmit the news is question no one
asks to-day. Forty years ago who
thought it possible to stretch cable
across the sea? Was Cyrus d. Field a
mistake? Let the every days press re-
ports of the Old World news answer.
Now fellow teachers, the point have
in view is clear: profit by mistakes.
To blunder is no disgrace, but not to
profit by our blunder is to thoughtful
mind; errors in judgment seem to be
one of natures methods of teaching, and
when we can see the fundamental priL-
ciples upon which the philosophy of
mistakes is based, our view of life as
sumes different coloring; our horizon
broadens until we can catch glimpses
of it's true meaning. NELLIE.