Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-05-25
Nixon Waterman on Good teachers

| In Good Cheer a bright little maya
zine edited by Nixon Waterman, we ind
| "ltedactorial RIdiations' by the gifted
| Cuitor:-
y good "schooma am is rather to be
! chosen than great riches. She Is the
enid $ second best friend, prcsumimg ma
! the enid Is so fortunate rs 10 have a
good mother. |; il has not. then she is
/ its best friend There are old maid
! Srnoul teachers who come nearer IL tul-
| filing many of the requirements Of an
! ideal mother tn more children, than haV.
/ any duZcn married women | have ever
met outside OF a Schooiruom. Sweet, gen
| tie. sanity souls are they; who through
! their long. long years of school work give
! to every one of the many boys ana girls
who come into their zone OF influence. Il
| hopeful. helpful portion OF their Sunshine
"readn', ritin' and 'rithmetic' but the
morals and the manners that make the
men and women who lift the world Tow
ard right thinking and right living.
/ know a woman.-thc mother Of noble
SuuS.-who for thirty Years has been =
| blessed foStcr-mUthcr to tho members OF
as many classes OF boys and girls grad
| ultvd from tho high school over which
! she has presided. Men and women in
every corner of the world recall the days
spent in her cheerful presence as a golden
memory TO he fondly cherished 10 the
sunset of their years She has seemed
| like garden of roses making fresh ana
| irdGraut the lives OF all VINO pass tina
/ way. She has been as iount OF light
and love. whose volumes lessons not
| though many come and drink deeply.
| Have the boys and girls who have lis
| tened to ncr CounScls ever guessed the
magnitude of their Indebtedness to this
good and gracious woman? Have the
| parents of those boys and girls rcaiiz q
! how Verv much they owe her? Does the
| city. state and nation feel that the mere
| matter of the money rald her can ever
discharge in fan their entire obligation To
! this teacher whose life work stands for
| good citizenship and the pcrpctuity 81
all that is good and enduring IN our sys-
| tom of government.
| Ii is the teachers ana not the preachers
| in whose keeping are the morals ana con
sciences of the people. 1t is they who
when the boy and girl has stepped be
| youd the more Immediate influence ~
| the home circle. must leave the most
lasting IMPRESSIONS on his or her mind.
| If ii SO happens that President Mci\in,
ley shall come to me ana say Now y.
| govcrnmcnt?' ! will reply, certainly,
with pleasure. First of all employ the
best school teachers you can Ect ana
pay them well for their services, even
| though YOU bud and man lew less
warships per annum IMAM you are now
planning ON doing. Lot the teachers IN IN
| derstand that after they have gwen ypi
\ Years of faithful public service you VIII
see to it that in their old age, they shaii
not want for the material comforts 81
! life. Construct plenty Of iafEt: nSh'
IbcautifuIIy surrounded school buildings
| eulirucd with every means Tor advancing
| the work of teacher and pupil; thlnh
I
| will honestly tax the property "i al per
| sons under your flag. increasing Inc tax
rate as the wealth of any one person of
i trust or corporation increases. DO this
| and the otncr essentials OF good govern
! ment will come pretty near looking aitci
Incidentally might inbiiatc with th'
president over the tact that our congress
Is rapidlv giving us the most maGniilcen'
| array Of fiyc-miIlion-G dollar war ShII$ II
| Tho world but | would not feel just llh'
| telling him in the same breath That ever
| in the great glorious. brain-bul@1ns com
| mouweal;h of massachusetts ana aliloS'
IL eirht of the towers of Harvard CoilcSt
| ,hcrc arc good, faithful women teaching
erhooI for the sum of eight dollars
week. from which amount thcy mus
bouse beard and clothe themselves, buy
books and papers th2t th"v may red'
| nnd tecD ui) with the intellectual al
"nuccmcnt of the times. put by enough
to snnport them through vacation sea
cons and try to provide something !,
Lenn them out of the poorhousc III thel'
declining years 49,, ,,,,..,, g..
7 do not dare to presume mat these u
limos will jar the nation violently, Dut
wish they might In every department Q
nur public schools, city and country
G 9rnm the lowest grades to the highest
r, toa hers deserving of Il lot more o
ane;dpration than they are now rece!V
49, ar if thew are not so they Shoul'
,n asi,e way for others who are. 1t cost
inss to properly educate Il people thah l
| 80 In do the otner thing.