The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-28

vive, it will be because it is their best
and most complete expression.
When they are supreme, the nation
! Is strong. Think of Holland under
| William the Silent and of England I'M
| der Cromwell! The statesman must
reckon with them. The wise teacher
shapes his system with special refer
ence to them. Socrates used to main
tain that he never taught men any
thing new but only awakened in them
the full consciousness of truths which
| they had always known. Ideal teach
ing is not the addition, superposition,
or even grating, of new knowledge on
or in the mind of the pupil The new
thought should always be the result of
a growth, stimulated indeed by the
teacher, if 1t is to form any real, vital
and fruitful part of the pupils life.
Would-be refprmers frequently fail be-
cause they strive by dialectic skill or
by sheer weight of learning or argu-
ment, to force a new thought or view
upon the minds of their fellows, in
stead of patiently stimulating growth.
Says Stevenson: IF the poet is to
speak efficaciously, he must say what
is already in his hearers mind. That,
alone, the hearer will believe; that,
alone, he will be able to apply intelli-
! gently to the facts of life. A
man cannot be made to believe any
thing; but he can be made to see that
he has always believed it. And this is
the practical canon"
The man who rests upon such con-
victions will be man of iron will. For
they will rouse him nightly. He is
| tolerant, because he has faith in the
convictions of his fellows File is hope
full and cheerful, even when some new
and contagious heresy threatens to un-
| dermine mems confidence in all the old
arguments for great truths. He gladly
| accepts the modieum of new, or old
and forgotten, truth which the heresy
always brings with it He knows that
| the convictions on which church and
| society rest are founded on a racial ex-
| perience indefinitely older and deeper
| than the arguments which are COM
| monty supposed to form their founda-
| ton. Arguments criticism and apollo
| getics change and shift; the ancient
| inherited convictions We're before them
| and will outlast them.
| Such men and women are stout
| hearted, hopeful, wise, calm, patient
| heroic; "the shadow of a great rock
| in weary land" We dean against
them or rest in their shade We leave
| them refreshed and rejuvenated. They
teach with authority and not as the
| scribes." Virtue, strength, health, cour-
| age and heroism stream from them,
| and infect the whole community They
are the makers of history, for history
| is summed up in their lives They are
the true uncrowned kings and queens
| of society whether rich or poor, learned
or unlearned They live forever" and
| rule an ever-broadening kingdom of
| loyal and enthusiastic subjects. They
keep society sweet, for they are it's salt
and leaven. Some of them stand in
yNn of do he
work in lower places and more limited
| spheres. England neither knew nor
cared about Sergeant Whatisname and
his work in Egypt until after the battle
| of Firkeh. But, though the sergeant
| won no great applause or tangible re-
wards, he had made history.
Though he drilled a black man white,
though he made a mummy fight
He will still continue Sergeant WHAT'S
Private, corporal color sergeant and
instructor
But the everlasting miracles the same.
This everlasting miracle" of life is
the secret and essence of education. ]
think there is more of it in this poem
of Kipling's than in all the books on
pedagogy l have ever read.
Prof. Tyler was followed by Principal
normal
school, who was the next speaker, and
he made a delightful address on
Twenty-Five years experience in the
training of teachers" At the COM
| mencement he warned his hearers that
he should not give a statistic or men
ton Porto Rico or the Philippines, or
make prediction as to the Goth cen
tury.
Principal Russell said in part:
LII "a
things, not artificialities or conven-
tionaHties. Country bred people, other
things being equal, make better teach
ers than those bred in the city, where
they have an afternoon a week in
which to keep off the grass at the park.
Il wish We might devise a system of
rusticating for city high school pupils,
so that they could go to the country
for year and see nature. They have
nature study now, but it is nature
potted and Gagged. / don't agree with
those who think that teachers should
come from cultured and affiuent fami-
lies. The most serious defects I have
noticed in our candidates proceed from
narrowness of view due often to innate
inferiority, which shows itself in fee
bleness of Intellectual grasp, and great
absence of self-knowledge.
They receive their prepa yAtory edu-
cation in the district, gras.mar and
high schools, and, while usually well
equipped, / think there is room for inn
provement. Many of them are poor
takers, writer's and readers of Eng
fish, which certainly ought to be RENE
died. My ideas in regard to the train
ing of teachers have undergone a
change since l began, and 1 lean more
TO the side Of human sympathy and the
| moral spirit than to the prescribed
course of studies
Il have found that the best teachers
come out of superior character. I
think that real ability is often stifad
under the load of prescribed work that
leaves the pupils no time or spirit to
| do anything else. One who wants to
| be teacher should master the idea of
| self-government, and should have faith
| in his calling. / often wish that we
| could have two new members of the
normal school staff a supervisor of
| preparation and a graduates guide to
watch out for the teachers when he is
| transplanted from the nursery of the
| normal school to the bleak outside.
| where the wild urchin is the principal
| growth.
The primary section met in English
| high school hall. Mrs. II. e. Bushnell
! of Gardner presiding. The hall was
| filled. Miss Mary c. Henry, principal
of Upsala street school. gave the first
address on Nature study"
! Miss Henry took the unitarian side of
her subject as well as the aesthetic,
telling of the practical nature study
done in the schools of the city Quoting
the definition of nature study given by
DR.. G. F. Hodge of Clark university.