The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1906-05-11
BY MARGARET E. sANGsTER.

dence. l.9
BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
Two bright heads were bent together
over the same book. AS they reached
the last page Susan looked at Penelope
and sighed.
There" she said, that is ended.
We shall recite to-r,orrow to dear Miss
M, and then next week will see us
in Miss BIS classroom, and good
by to good times for six months. Every
girl who has ever been with Miss 3.
fairly hates her, unless she happens to
be one OF her pets. She has pets.
and they may do anything, but the
rest of the class are always getting de-
merits and being scolded and made to
do extra work. I wish [ could be Rip
Van Wrinkle and sleep straight throug..
the next grade. Miss W., who has
the class higher than Miss B., is n
darling. But one can't reach her with
out having to undergo the misery OF
the class below"
Aren't you exaggerating?" asked
Penelope. Il have seen Miss B. num-
Der OF times, and she looks HARM
less. l cannot understand why she is
SO unpopular. The teachers appear to
find her pleasant"
'Oh, she is pleasant enough with
them and with visiting parents" ex-
claimed Sue. cit is only her own
girls to whom she is a tyrant. You
have not lived here very long, but l
have gone through this school, from
the kindergarten up, and SO have my
sisters. Lucy and Mildred and their
friends have the same opinion that j
have. Everybody breads Miss b.
Penelopes dark eyes grew thought
full. well, Sue,'' she said, my ia
Their has always taught me to value
fair play, and it does not look to ME
like fair play to begin in a new class
with ones mind made up that she is
going to dislike the teacher. That Gre
ates a false situation at the outset. WHY
should we blindly accept what other
people say without waiting to see for
ourselves where the truth OF the mat
ter lies? Poor Miss B. has harl
road to travel, if the girls do not tr,ls,
her before they have given her the
slightest trial. l, for one, shall do my
work in the best way | can, and j
shall try to love Miss B. and to make
hire love me- ~ = .'
Susan gave her head a toss. II pre-
dict, Penelope, that you will be a ia
vorite," she said, scornfully.
Not at all, but have conscience,
and l am going to give my teacher The
| benefit of a chance. I wish you would
| join me. Perhaps if you and / take
| the lead, some of the others will fol-
! low, and Miss B. for once may have
| the pleasure of teaching class who
are not determined to misunderstood
| her intentions and who are not doing
what they can to make ner work hard.
/ believe in making my teachers end
easy, if l can. Mother was teacher
before her marriage, and she has told
me a good deal about the seamy side
OF a teachers life
| Penelope had in her girlish wisdom
| caught the thread of clew that had
| tangled itself and led far back into
the years during which the unpopular
I teacher had occupied her chair. Miss
B. was exceptionally well equipped
a student painstaking and profound
/ the, graduate OF one college and Ihe
successful prize-winner in post-gradu!
ate work in another, she lacked tbs
magnetism which in itself makes some
women adorable and adored. In truth
she was more and more afraid of the
| girls she taught; her native diffdenc x
| and ShyneSS made her seem stiff ani
stern; she encrusted herself as diff
dent people often do in a chain-armo.
of reserve. She recoiled from ths
unspoken criticism of the girls who
sat before her, and though she ho1l-
est1y tried she was seldom able tc
make them feel that she cared fol
them personally. They supposed tina
in her view they were SO many peg
in a row or pawns on a chessboar )
and they resented the impersonalit,
of her near-sighted gaze. Girls ar,
sometimes very heartless, and instea.
OF feeling pitiful when OCCASIONAL,
they saw a CULVER of pain cross Miss
BIS countenance, such a token Of sen
sitiveness on her part only made then
dislike her the more. In her endeavo
to be just and to exact the best wor:
of which the class was capable, sh
often went too far and marked too Sc
verely any failure. If right relations
are not existent between teacher an,
scholars it is very difficult for eithe
to accomplish much Often it woul,
be for the benefit of all concerned wer
the teacher to be transplanted to
new environment where she could be
gin unhampered by unfriendly tradi
tons.
If teacher in the depths of he
/ own soul is aware that she is no dis
l ciplinarian, she probably makes eff
l forts in the direction where she /
. weak, and the result is continue
r conflict between her class and herself
= The resistance may not be open, blu
it, is always ready to break out Xix
l smoulder1ng fire. Nothing on cart