The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-15
MANNERS AND MANNER1sMs.
Children Are Quick to Note Tricks of
 Behavior in Their Teachers.

Behavior in Their Teachers.
 A little girl on almost her first day at
 school, was finding so much difficulty
 with the lesson assigned her that a child somewhat more proficient was
 given the privilege of helping her.
 After they had been working together for some time the principal said to the
 young pupil: Are you getting along
 nicely?" "Oh, yes" was the reply, 1 Daisy is just as cross as g. teacher"
 In this mind, with seven years ex- perience of life and less than
 a week of school, being eacher and
 being cross were virtually synonymous 1 terms.
 Was she right? Would our sharp
 tones, our exactions and reprooofs
 sound cross to urselyes if we heard
 them given by a lawyer to his clients or by pastor to his parishioners? Our pupils, standing in much relation, de- serve no less courteous treatment. Se- we're we are sometimes obliged to be, and firm always we ought to be- but if we have the self-control requisite for successful teaching our habitual man. her is pleasant
 | But some of us whom the most cri- | tioal pupils would not think of calling : cross have mannerisms that work Us no little harm. Perhaps it is because our work calls for so much repetition that we fall into mannerisms more easily than people in other callings | They are painfully common among us, and far more detrimental, believe, than we realize.
 A few illustrations will serve to bring many to every readers mind:
 A college professor of wide reputation and suparior talent loses in power be- cause he has the unfortunate habit of rubbing the end of his nose with the back of his hand. In the most forceful period of his lecture, at the most cri- tical point in his demonstration, this movement is made, and with it there always comes to the class the sugges- tton of uncouthness not to say vulgar ity, Another professor whose eyesight Is defective loses much of the respect that is her due by giving a squint that is little short of idiotic as she takes her place in the recitation room, A third professor has so halting and limit a gait as he enters the room as to in- spire nothing so strongly as lack of con- fdence. A certain teachers satirical repetition of a pupils answer if not exactly correct, intended probably to show to the ear where the error lies, has grown into an offensive mannerism
 -one that pupils not only dislike, but dread.
 It is perhaps point to call moodi- ness mannerism, and yet is suggested | in this connection. The teacher who is patient and pleasant and reasonable | to-day and just the reverse tomorrow 1 Is the most unendurable. Scholars who are so fortunate as to have parents and friends of equabe dispositions are often at loss to understand teachers 1 of the moody order. They soon learn to avoid them as much as possible. The uncertainty of how a request or question will be met leads them to shrink from venturing either. Such a fault-for serious fault it surely is- teacher Is bound to correct. He has no right to appear disagreeable be- cause he feels so.
 l A wise woman whom know is con- vlnced that grown people are satisfied with what they are. Whether they avowedly accept the idea that Or ganization is fate or not, they live | and act as if they accept it. When a mentor like herself tells them of their faults of character or bearing they seldom change. If she is correct, 1t is useless for me to write what I am writing; but I hope she is wrong-that in some of us there is a possibility of reform.
 If, however, what say is of no avail for teachers themselves, 1t may suggest fresh vigilance with pupils in whose manners and bearing they are intensely interested Every day we note tricks of manner In them which we ought to try to correct. We see lines depening in foreheads that ought to be smooth twenty-years hence. We note certain pertness (that was doubt less the source of much amusement in the family, and, thereofre, unchecked in the little child) growing into am ist offensive manner in the girl sixteen. W notice that a boy Is taking on a swag ger that he ies very likely mistaking for manliness. These and many other tendencies may easily become manneri- lsms or worse, and the causes of no end of trouble to other pupils in later years.
 A teacher from New England eonce told me about his first experience in country school in the Northwest Of not over fine manners himself, he was shocked at the lack of good breeding among his pupils. T made up my mind the first day." he said, "that would teach them some manners, whatever else I did; almost anybody could teach them geography and gram mar, but this might be their only chance to learn the first elements of proper conduct"
 Many teachers have had like experi- enees, probably, but in extreme cases of this sort, where every pupil has glaring faults of manner there is less likelihood of the teachers falling in his duty than in such cases as those I am considering where minor faults need to be overcome. It is not a pleasant duty to take pupil aside and tell him of some unfortunate expression or gesture