Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1899-06-01
WHAT ONE TEACHER is
DOING.
Charlotte Perkins Stetson in Southern
Educational Journal.

| Educational journal.
Why one should ever have
imagined that blank, whitewasbed
walls, relieved by level lines OF
blackboard, were good educa-
tional Influences it is hard to say.
La a penal institution, intended
as a part of the punishment, there
is. perhaps, reason for con-
demning the helpless inmates to
the depressing monotony of such
surroundings, or in an insane
asylum it may be imagined that
the clouded intellect Of the
patient is past being injured by
this dreary environment, though
even this judgment is open to
question; but in a schoolhouse,
where the acute young mind, the
eager. open senses are so lii :
tensely alive to all Impressions
why should this dull blank be
presented as a daily influence?
The effect of beautiful sur
roundings on the human soul is
deep and salutary, the elevating.
stimulating forces; of a noble art
can hardly be overestlmated, and
childhood is the period when
these things make their deepest
Impression. Where the homes of
our children are desolate of all
such ennobIing conditions, owing
to the poverty or the ignorance
of parents, it is even more i'm
portant that the school should
embody the highest thought, the
tenderesG feeling, and so teach
the children to make lovlier
homes when they are men and
women.
Education is far larger thing
than can be embodied in half a
dozen school books, and art is not
only means of giving pleasure,
but help to all high purpose
and true endeavor. Our modern
methods of reproduction make
possible wide and cheap dis,
tribution of the best works of
art, and an intelligent community
will be as careful to surround it's
children with good art as it is to
provide them with good food,
clothing and shelter.
Meanwhile, before the CONS
munity recognizes IS its duty, the
individual is doing much, and the
movement for "art in the schools"
progresses promisingly in our
great cities. Not only that. but
in every town and village, in
every schoolhouse in the land,
the individual teacher can do
much. In Goldsborc, n. c., the
graded school has the advantage
of one teacher who is herself an
artist, and she has instituted
method of decoration as simple
as it is impressive. On the blank,
bare walls, with no better medium
than chalk-common chalk in
brown and white-she has. with
her own hands, reproduced some
of the great pictures of the
world. Murillo, Raphael, Van
Dyke, Millet, Kraus, Bouveret,
Botticelli, Andrea del Sartc, she
has brought these great masters
into daily contact with her flock
of little ones, aud they respond
irresistibly to the subtle infu-
ence. The divine smile of holy
motherhood, the child born in
the manger, saint and angle, aud
the sweet pictures Of human life
and toll and Iove-these are in
their daily sight-a constant sug-
gestion Of high purpose and
right living. In the very shallow.
est sense it adds greatly to "a
liberal education" to know some
thing of art aud artists; in the
deepest sense it is the inspiration
of a lifetime to become early
acquainted with the most beauti>
full expression Of the noblest
ideals.
Miss Fulghum is doing a great
work, and the stranger passing
through the country rejoices to
see this one fountain in the wide,
! dry field. Would it not be we'll
for the teachers all through the
country to compare notes as to
what they are doing to bring this
help to their children, to do more
if they are able, and where the
teachers ability fails, surely the
school boards, backed by public
opinion, will furnish what the
teachers cannot. Z
This particular form of free
hand reproduction on the wall it.
self has the primal merit of
cheapness and ease; every school
| in the country could be SO deco
rated as fast as hands could be
found to do it. The summer gives