The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-09-18

! llOIlS Ol llllS week ana I ne coming MONT II
of professional toll will prove cxacting
that both the Immediate and the distan
future will he traught with duties To TIA!
our physical endurance and put to TIN
test our moral courage, that no device o
Subteriuge of ours can render homes
work and honest service easy; what theI
is the true philosophy and wisdom
that Will best lit us to meet and master
the inevitable? In shaping our course o
action for that future, let us recognize
and frankly face the truth, that dutie:
done III the pcrilinctory spirit arc dutic:
| sighted; that the SureSt way to keel
| ourselves i'll Il condition of professional
slavery, and under the bondage of pro
| teSSlOnal demands is to meet those de
mands with spirit of discomfort, with
mind that grows FESTIVE under the
hard requirements of life and living, with
an attitude that does because of the in.
exorablc must.
II life is ever to bring to most of us any
considerable amount of pleasure, that
pleasure must be found in and extracted
from our work. Why not then as a
matter of pure sclf-interest, aye of self.
protection, learn to love our toll, and
thus Tighten its burdens and shorten its
hours by virtue of an interest and an
carnestness that absorbs and forgcts:
He who comes to the beginning of the
day feeling that he is approaching the
monotonouS treadmill Of an everlasting
nartyrdom, will have so keen a con-
seriousness of every moment set apart for
labor, that each minute will seem an
hour, and every hour a slowly dragging
day.
The true philosophy of happiness and
contcntment in work, is to approach It
and perform it as daily opportunity to
devote the best that is in us to the
worlds service, and to do all this with
selfiorgetfulness so complete that no
time will be left for the thought ofservice
as an imposed indignity. Work done
with constant feeling of resistance and
resentment, leaves in the heart and
i'll the life a hardness and a bitter
ness that the world will not fail to de-
tect and condemn; but service rendered
with a sweet and gentle graciousness
cannot and will not fail to find its ulti-
mate recognition Its unstinted recon-
penSe
We are here, my fellow teachers, not
only to receive. We shall perform scarce
ly half our duty if we fail to give. The
economist divides the world into two
great classes, producers and consumers.
1t even for single day, all the former
should cease to produce and continue to
consume, the result would be utter stag
nation, commercial and financial
paralysis, and all the horrors of bodily
starvation.
What is true of the physical world is
just as true of the intellectual and the
professional. Poverty of intellect will
just as surely come to him who always
depends upon the thought of Others, as
poverty of body will afflict him who waits
for the world to feed him. We cannot
continue to be recipients unless we are
willing to be contributors. Whatever Of
knowledge, of power, or of skill we take
away from this Institute will depend
upon what we bring. Iverily believe that
the teacher who brings into this deliber-
ative convention nothing of interest, of
thought, of earncstness will take nothing
Of value away. Measure for Measure"
is the stern law that will control today,
tomorrow, and every day, our profes-
sional relations, our professional at
titudes, and our daily deliberations on
questions of policy and practice. What
then is to be our attitude, our frame of
mind, Our purpose while here?
If each believes beyond question that
his or her method is better than any
other discussed or suggested, then the
edge of interest and inquiry will be dulled
and bluntcd; if each feels that he or she
is unable or unwilling to do or say any
thing to aid. enlighten, or stimulate
others, then the spirit of helpfulncss is
not to dominate our assembly; if there is
to exist among us desire, or Il passive
to have someone else do all
the work, bear all the responsibility or
display all the enthusiasm, then are we
doomed to a week of dull and liStless
Let us assume that here assembled are
125 teachers, then every one of you is
the complement of 1914, and without you,
and you, and you, this body is incon-
plcte.
Are you teacher of vast and valuable
Then so much greater is
your value and your responsibility as
unit of the perfect number Are you a
teacher of little experience? Then by the
law of inverse ratio, the greater is your
need of guidance and direction by those
who have mastered your difficulties and
solved your pcrplexing problems. Have
you never taught? Then fortunate in
deed are you to be brought into social
touch and intellectual contact with those
who can give you the treasured knowl-
edge of many years.
We are here to consider ways and
means. We have not only to discuss
theories. but we must weigh and meas
urc and test those theories in the broad
light of practical experience and ultimate
results. We are not here to sway and
swing with every wind of doctrine. but
we are here to prove all things and hold
fast to that which is good" 1t is our
solemn duty to seek and if possible, to
find the best method of doing all our
work, but above and bevond every
or device, or process, is the one
supreme duty and obligation to do, as
we'll as to know,-and to do as we'll as
we know.
| fear that sometimes we fail to do the
best we can with the methods we have
learned. The spirit behind the plan is
mightier than the plan, and the whole
vast psychologist and pcdagogic digest is
nothing more than huge mass of inert
and ineffective rules and directions, unless
beneath them, and above them, and III
them are the moving power, the intense
energy. and the devoted life of the skilled
and faithful teacher.
Not to know is unfortunate; to know
and not to do, is culpable, ifnot criminal.
shall trust you all this week to bring
to the work your hearty cooperation,
your kindly and generous sympathy, your
kecnest interest, and yourhighest activity.
,,.1,N fo,I l.. -,
any part of these shall be disappointed.
will make no apology to you for doing
my whole duty. nor shall | ask you to
condonc my offence if fail to meet you
even more than half way in the per
formance of yours.
Let us be honest with each other, honest
and fearless with ourselves, then rest
assured we shall be just in our account
OF service to the public and the world.
Teachers, believe that you have a.
and then believe in your mission.
Imbued and inspired with these two cs-
sential beliefs, you possess creed, that
will lift you above all sense of drudgcry,
and impart to even the most exacting
duty touch of gladness and ofprivilege.
The time has come for work. When
that hour strikes it bchooves every one
OF us 10 nave maze at least an honest
effort to be ready.
Now as we are about to face the duties,
the trials, and the pcrplexitics of another
year, extend to you all the
earnest wish and hope that its progress
and its close may bring to you a happy
and an abundant realization of your
l0ftiest ambitions If those ambitions
are noble. predict that you will succeed.
If ignoblc, prophesy that you will meet
with ultimate and ignominious failure.
Eo,,.I Mz.kL CIn mn