The Montgomery tribune., 1906-05-18
BY MARGARET e. sANGsTER.

lne IaSt page susan looked at Pene1Ope
and sighed.
There" she said, that is ended.
We shall recite tomorrow to dear Miss
NJ, 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 b.
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. | wish | could be Rip
Van Wrinkle and sleep straight through
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. II have seen Miss B. num-
ber Of times, and she looks HARM
less. | 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. 1T is only her own
girls to whom she is a tyrant. You
have not lived here very long, but
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
have. Everybody breads Miss B."
Penelopes dark eyes grew thought
full. We'll, Sue," she said, my IA
ther has always taught me to value
fair play, and 1t does not look to me
like fair play to begin in new class
with ones mind made up that she is
going to dislike the teacher. That cre-
ates 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 a har.l
road to travel, If the girls do not trus,
her before they have given her the
slightest trial. I, for one, shall do my
work in the best way | can, and
shall try to love Miss B. and to make
hre love me-"
Susan gave her head toss. II pre-
dict, Penelope, that you will be a ia.
vorite," she said, scornfully.
mot at all, but have a conscience,
and am going to give my teacher the
benefit OF chance. l wish you would
join me. Perhaps II you and l take
the lead, some of the others will fol-
low, and Miss B. for once may have
the pleasure Of teaching a 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 a teacher
before her marriage, and she has told
me good deal about the seamy side
OF teachers life.'
Penelope had in her girlish wisdom
caught the thread of a clew that had
tangled itself and led far back into
the years during which the unpopular
teacher had occupied her chair. Miss
B. was exceptionally well equipped.
student painstaking and profound,
the graduate Of one college and the
successful prize-winner in post-gradu-
ate work in another, she lacked the
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 diffidenco
and shyness made her seem stiff and
stern; she encrusted herself as diff
dent people often do in a chain-armor
of reserve. She recoiled from tho
unspoken criticism of the girls who
sat before her, and though she hon.
estly tried she was seldom able to
make them feel that she cared for
them personally. They supposed that
In her view they were so many pegs
in row or pawns on a chessboard, ],
and they resented the impersonality
of her near-sighted gaze. Girls ara
sometimes very heartless, and instead
of feeling pitiful when occasionally
they saw quiver of pain cross Miss
BIS countenance, such token of SEN
sitiveness on her part only made them
dislike her the more. In her endeavor
to be just and to exact the best work
OF which the class was capable, she
often went too far and marked too Sc
verely any failure. If right relations
are not existent between teacher and
scholars 1t IS very difficult for either
to accomplish much. Often 1t would
be for the benefit Of all concerned wero
the teacher to be transplanted to a
new environment where she could be-
gin unhampered by unfriendly tradi-
tions.
If teacher in the depths of her
own soul Is aware that she is no dis
ciplinarian, she probably makes Of
forts in the direction where she Is
weak. and the result is continual
conflict between her class and herself.
The resistance may nat be open, bur
1t is always ready to break out like
a sInoaldering fire, Nothing on earth