The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1897-09-16
THE SCHOOL-ROOM.
OUR TEACHERS WORK.
A NATIONS FUTURE.
Some Rambling Thoughts.
RY ssNENIOO
A NATIONS FUTURE.
BY "NENlO."
Copyrighted by Dave & Tabor.)

10 TEACHERS AND PURPosEFUL PEo
PIE That faint little tap on you
desk for "attentiOn" at the first session
this term, will, to some of you, soune
as ominous as the tolling Of death.
knell. It will conjure up the pleasures
OF the weeks OF rest, and then they will
all vanish under lurid cloud out o1
whose gray body Will peep visions ol
children who insist on being stupid
when the superintendent appears, OF
who are triumphantly mischievous
| when your back is turned and strange
ly angelic when you wheel round to de-
tect them. Really, there is little Won
der it your heart sinks within you, as
you remember that to keep up the
standard of the school you will need to
be alert, not once week. but every
hour of every day. can quite under
stand feeling akin to nausea, when
the familiar backs of the old familiar
books tell you that, this year as last,
you will have to go over the seIf.same
simple lessons to a new set of simple
listeners. Then, if you are a woman a
little feeling OF angry protest will arise /;
for you know full we'll that the average
man of your town, however free he
feels to point out your defects, would
prefer week Of the hardest toll to one
day OF attempting the control of twenty
of your sprites and, if you are male
teacher, criticised for your severe dis
cipllne, you need no telling that no
mother out of a captious ten would be
able to govern such a heaped-together
family except by free and ,ndiscrirni-
nate slappings.
Altogether you feel little gloomy as
the duties begin to burden your shoul-
ders again.
But do not undo the good of your
vacation by frettlng and fuming. To
a certain extent the laborious character
of your work is recompensed, in that
your rest time is longer and your hours
of labor shorter than is vouchsafed to
the general run of braln-workers. Take
courage from that, and stand up to du-
ty in your chosen sphere as bravely as
your favorite historic character stood
up to his. But as for yearning for full
appreciatlon,-sweep the temptation
behind you else you will be unhappy
No good work is ever full
ly appreciated. This you probably be-
lieve in theory, but your difficulty
comes in adapting the theory to fact,
and that fact your own career. 1t is
painful to discover that you are the
living counterpart of the man who fell
thieves people of your com
munity pass you by without bestowing
any more than a Thought on you, and
it is left to me, distant and impover
ished Samaritan, to pour In the oil and
The wine upon your troubled spirit.
We expect children to place them
selves where their heads can be patted
but well-balanced men and women new
ar do this. I will even dare to suggest
that if halt of your good efforts were
fully praised, your head would be turn
ed, and your heart too, away from the
very things that first brought you ap-
plause. Not tithe OF ali the good
work of life Is done where men may
place garlands of esteem upon it; it 1t
we're so, how would our bridges or our
houses weather a single storm. Out
of-sight work counts in the great bal
ance sheet OF the Almighty; if you
are tempted to doubt 1t, say it over and
over again until you reach the point OF
glorying in the doing of duty though
no witness be near The faith you
demand of the scholar, who Is urged
by you to believe that though his
well-done task is wiped from the black
board, it remains part OF his mental
gain.-that faith must be yours, I'M
pelling you to a royal giving up OF
yourself to your work, though every
shred and particle of effect seem to
utterly disappear.
***
THE HIDDEN LIFE.
A gentle flower in the forest grew,
Where never soul its sweetness knew
And its upturned eyes with beauty
bright
Meier glowed with responsive loves de-
light.
II withered and died, unmarked, un-
sung,
When low in the sky the pale sun
hung;
Still the wild-blrds called on joyous
wing,
So It's lie seemed but wasted thing.