New-York tribune., 1905-06-25

'I am red hot against married women teach
ers." said this principal emphaticaHy on IN
the case OF whose family cares are thlnS
Of the past II is different but want no young
wives mothers in my school / dlsapprove
entirely Of a teacher marrying and going on
with the work. some of them do. When a
Inarries 1t means great change in the
conditions of her life; 1t is a period Of readjust-
ment; she has no mind to spare for arithmetic
and the discipline of class and the capitals Of
Europe. And even more absorbing is young
motherhood.
At had one married teacher in my school,
or, rather, a widow, and she had two little
children at home The children fell sick.
She kept teaching, leaving them to the care
of some relative. but. Of course, her MIND was
them: what would you expect? I dare say
that she sat up with them nights. She would
appear in the morning nervous and tired out
and of course, she was fretful and her class
felt the effect of her tension. and what with
that and her laxed control they grew more and
more obstreperous until-well that room gave
me trouble than all the rest of the rooms
together. I was sorry for that teacher; prob
ably she needed her salary: but that sort of
thing is not particularly good for the schools
The innocent outsider might inquire why,
when q teacher does poor work, that teacher is
not dismissed. It might be hard on the indi-
vidual, but still there are considerations more
important than that. But the outsider does not
realize how difficult IL is to cut the Gordian knot
when it is composed of red tape. Remove a
teacher" Miss Williams exclaimed when the
question was put to her. You don't know what
that means. Charges have to be preferred. and
then there's a trial, and if the decision is re-
moval the teacher appeal, and so the case
may drag on endlessly, and meantime there you
are with that teachers class practically on your
hands" 'It takes" a Bronx principal re
marked in discussing the matter the votes Of
two-thrds of the forty-f1ve commissioners TO
put a teacher out, and there's rarely woman
who can't work on the feelings of enough OF
them to carry her point, If she really tries
One of the most vivid opponents Of married
women teachers is Mrs. Belle Smith Bruce,
principal of Public School No. g. in Yonkers.
That does not come under the head of the
schools of New-York City, to be sure, but
Yonkers is celebrated for it's fine schools, and
the opinion of of its principals ought to be
OF value. 'I have use for married women." "
Mrs. Smith Bruce declared, Sin this school, and
Il any Of my teachers should take q husband
would request her to resign. It is true l was
my marriage. I cannot understand these young
women who marry and continue to teach;
cannot understand how they reason-if they
reason at ali. If there is any time when a
woman wants to be attractive to her husband, 1t
Is during the first months after the wedding.
Now, when a teacher goes home at che end OF
her days work, II she has worked as she should,
she hasn't particle of energy left, and think
OF her charging herself then with the extra task
Of pleasing q husband!
mo, ell that is in the teacher belongs to her
work. The State has right to demand ner
whole strength. OF course she can shirk, as did
a teacher in New-York whom ! saw when
was visiting a school there: she would get her
classes at their hooks. and then she would sit
lack and study shorthand. 1t showed rather
poor supervising. So married teacher can en-
ploy dve-eighths of her brain In looking after
her home and husband and teach with the re-
naming three-eighths: but that isn't my idea
OF the service should give. 1t IS quite an
other thing, of course, when woman who mas
left teaching TO marry, being widowed, goes
back TO the work-that is all right, II she can
bring her full energy TO IT.
'I believe IN marriage. and believe there are
certain employments woman can carry en-