, 1901-01-16
THE SCHOOL MARIN.

ShS hhoV hA0lSp w LAolC, bC
more, and suffer more than any other
breadwinner. She must know every
thing in heaven above, the earth be-
meath, and the waters under the earth.
She receives no special credit for know
ing them, but woe be unto her If she
knows them not.
She must teach physiology with all
the skill Of a physician, but without
his opportunity of hiding mistakes.
She must teach civics with all the
learning Of a lawyer, but without his
library.
She must teach virtue and goodness
with all the zeal of a minister, but with
out his bible or sectarian bias.
Under the head Of Mature Lessons"
she must teach the elements of all sci
ence known to man, but, unlike her
sister in the high school, she must do
IT without a text book.
She must teach music, drawing, PEN
manship and physical culture with the
ability of a specialist, but must give
the supervisor all the credit for sue
cess attained.
She must give direct instruction in
moral and manners or the school will
go to the deminition bow-wows.
She must teach the effect of alcohol
and narcotics or the women of the w.
c. T. U. will have conniption fits.
She must spend from eight to ten
hours a day in the unwholesome atmos.
phere Of a poorly ventilated school
room, and one to two hours more Sc
lecting material and copying it on the
board, to be copied again by the chill
dren, thus exhausting her vitality and
running the eyesight and the penman-
ship Of her pupils to please the fool
fancy of some saphead superintendent
who thinks he is carrying out an orig.
inal scheme.
She must carry out silly experiments
of young and callow principals who are
learning the business empirically, and
with whom she dare not differ.
She must govern wild and wicked
children even when parents fail. She
must be wise as Solomon, patient as
Job, strong and enduring as Caesar,
and tender as Maecenas. She must be
more even tempered than the Almigh.
ty for the Almighty was "wroth with
the wicked" when He punished them,
but alas for the teacher who loses her
temper! She must be a model of pro
priety in all things, for are not the
eyes Of the whole community upon her?
She must know the usages Of the world
and Of society, but must stand aloof
from both. She must have humility,
confidence, infinite tact, perfect health,
common sense in abundance, a medi.
UNI Of wit. a world Of wisdom, and a
little wickedness. She must endure the
foul air, the nerve racking confus.
ion, and the thousand annoyances Of
the school room. She must submit to
the thoughtless criticisms Of the igno.
rant, the unjust abuse OF disappointed
parents, the Establishments Of those
who would help their children by pat
ronizing attention to the teacher, and
the %domineering dictation of self-seek.
ing politicians.
She must spend hours upon hours
making reports, compiling statistics,
striking balances and averages and
tabulating foolish answers to silly ques-
lions with the machine-like experiences
Of a trained accountant to make more
formidable and less readable the sup
erintendent's report and impress a con
fading and gullible public with the com
plicated machinery necessary to a
system of public school.
And for all this she receives a salary
which enables her to live in poverty
or on the charity of her friends If she
falls i'll, offends the powers that be, or
loses her pull.
knock on the pupil who annoys her,
on the superintendent who o~verworks
her, on the parent who %ignorantly crit
icises her, on the Photographer who sa-
tires her, on the alleged funny man
who makes sport Of her, on the school
board that u%nderpays her, and on the
thousand Of single fools who do not
marry hers. B. Todd in the Cumber-
land (Wisconsin) Advocate.