The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-02


/ nave changed, and the schoolmaster ard
his work are becoming more PRACTICAL
| 1a:t recognized by the United States in
! the selection OF Angel, Schurman, White.
Low ard others for positions of respon-
| sibility But learning has not been ON
| pletely entano ipated. The first mail Ct
| hoa n to Queen Victoria receives annual
ly ten Thousand pounds, while the poet
laureate Of he. ma esIy's empire rece -e-
one hundt:, pt upds; the president of Lee
land Stanford university receives ten
| thousand dollars annually, and the head
| jockey Of the Stanford stables receives
the same amount The question of sal
aries is a hackneyed one, and perhaps
should not have been touched upon; but
the measure of value. in America at
least, is money, and the right to discuss
the value Of the teacher no one will dis
pute. =
DO not misunderstood me. The school
master is not an inferior man, but the
atmosphere in which he lives has inevita-
| bly, its influence upon him; and he does
too often lack a certain subtle force, be-
gotten of self-confidence and contact
with the world by which men impress
their lives upon their fellows The school
master needs contact with men. In his
daily work he meets inferior minds only
and he is robbed of the development in
cident to the work OF men in other voca-
lions. On the other hand, the school
master is in constant danger of becoming
egotistic and pedantic because Of the
fact that his word and opinions must be
taken by his students as law.
''The objections commonly urged
against teaching are the uncertainty of
tenure and the fact that it does not pay
as do other vocations. These objections
are valid ones; but in my judgment,
they do not compare with the one to
which 1 have just referred-that of re-
moving the teacher from the arena of
strife where men measure swords with
their equals and their superiors. There
are hosts of exceptions, but the school
master is weak in this respect. He lacks
that occult something without which a
man cannot command the respect of his
fellows. Few teachers fail from a lack
of knowledge of books; they fail because
they lack a knowledge Of men and
things. They fail with their pupils and
with the parents of their pupils; and,
what is worse, they become each year
more disqualified to engage in another
vocation should it become desirable or
necessary to make a change. There is
but one remedy for this evil. The school
master must meet mon, in a social way.
and in business way. 1 am not blind
worshipper of clubs and lodges, but l do
believe that if any man needs the infiu-
ence of a good lodge, that man is the
schoolmaster; for in the lodge he meets
men.
1.-TWO years ago man became princi-
pal of schools in a Kansas town of 1000
inhabitants. Before the school year closed
he was asked to resign. 1 asked prom
inent citizen of the town why Mr.. A had
to leave, well" said he, 81 think the
trouble grew out of the fact that he went
down his back alley to the school build
ing, was never seen on the streets, no
one knew him, and there was no one to
defend him against the attacks of the
disgruntled element which hound the life
of every teacher" A little time spent on
the street and in places of business meet
ing his constituency will pay the school
master as it pays the politician. I am
not advocating loafng, for the school
master must use his time judiciously and
must maintain his dignity; but his posi-
ton is public one, and the people in
sist upon their right to know him.
But have said the schoolmaster must
meet men in q business way. This leads
me to touch briefly upon phase of life
which is ordinarily ignored by the school
master. I refer to the laying up of money
against an evil day, cid age. Few men
on salaries save money. This Is not be-
cause they cannot, but because they will
not The schoolmaster is no exception to
the rule. He spends what he makes. If
his salary is increased he rents a better
house, buys more books, takes more ex-
tended vacation trips-in short, raises his
standard Of living. and again spends all
he makes Brethren, these things ought
not so to be. The schoolmaster who
teaches five months at $50 per month can
not save money, but the teacher who re-
can save little money, and ought to do
So If this small amount is properly in
vested, and added to each year, there IS
no reason why the expression ''as poor
as q schoolmaster'' should not become
obsolete. The competency Of the lawyer
at 50 is not the accumulation OF fees,
but is the result of a few judicious in
vestments; the same is true of the ply
sician Why cannot the schoolmaster fol-
low their example? I make this plea
because the accumulation of property
gives standing in the community and
lends dignity and independence to man
hood. Let the schoolmaster use the pru-
dence in preparing for the winter Of life
that God demands of the insect, and his
influence over human life will be in
creased and men will cease to call him
impractical.
8
For fear the spirit and purpose of this
address may be misunderstood, let ms
say. in conclusion, that The author Of
this paper does not take a pcssimistic
view Of the schoolmaste-'s profession,
neither does he u Cer-estimate the val,
of he schoolua ser to society-to civ'iL-
zation- The saying is trite, but none the
less true, that the perpetuity Of the re
public rests upon the intelligence of the
people. It nay Dc a coincidence, but it IS
interesting % know that Dr. Harris has
found, after careful investigation. that
in the prisons OF the United States the
number OF niterates IS eight times the
number who can read and write: Il may
have been q coincidence, merely, but il is
an interesting fact nevertheless. that
during the spanish war the only state