Milford chronicle., 1906-01-26

lens Of life and solve them arlght, lha
brain must have exercise. 1t mus
learn to be independent. 1t cannot b
carried around as valetudinarian by
scholastic nurse. Thus the secon'
great duty Of the schoolteacher is to in
spire in the minds of his students tn
realization that they can do something
'No truth is really our own" saiC
Ralph Waldo Emerson, until we dis
cover it for ourselves"
I was never more impressed with this
fact than when talking some time age
with one of the members of my churcL
who is the principal at the Detention
home of Los Angeles. He said to me
..rTbe greatest work of the teacher is tC
inspire in his pupils confidence in them
selves. Now, in our Detention home
have had this theory well tested. There
we have what is called the garbage pile
of the youths of this city If a boy will
not study and seems to be an incorrigi-
bic he is sent to me- l inevitably find
/ him a doubter Of his own abilities.
When / can dissipate that doubt can
always make something good out Of the
| boy When boy comes into our home
l say to him, What can you do, my
SOM Nothing he generally answers.
'Whatr I say. Nothing. Oh, yes; you
must know somethingY Nope he an
swers. nothing. Well, what do you
know about arithmeticY Nothing, l
told YOU he again answers. Nothing
Then say, Well, what do you do for
livingY Sell papers, We'll, how do
you buy your papersY I gets them at
the office for half a cent and sells them
for a penny Indeed I say. Then
how do you make change when you sell
those papers unless you know how to
count? With that the boys eyes will
begin to open, and he will begin to see
that making change is arithmetic and
buying papers is counting figures. And
thus lead him on until he realizes that
he himself can count and do some
thing"
Not Sponge.
The human brain should be some
thing more than a sponge. The brain
should be able to give out as well as
take in. The brain should be like a
mountain side, gushing forth with
brooks and springs. rather than a great
cavity or reservoir. capable of holding
lot Of water. which in time becomes
nothing more or less than stagnant
pool. It is just at this point that
Friedrich Froebel the great German
educator, has been able within the last
few years to absolutely rev0lutionize
the educational system of the world.
The gist of his teachings is this: ITO
have found one-fourth of an answer to
a question by his own effort is Of more
value and Importance to a child than
it is to half hear and half understand
that answer in the words of another"
Thus we find the average schoorOOm
for our children a far different place
from that we used to attend. We there
find the children playing games and
building blocks and working at car
penter benches and bending over kitch-
en- stoves and drawing pictures and
singing songs. They work with their
heads; they work with their hands and
fingers. The schoolroom is a place
where our children are taught not only
theories, but practicalities. That is
true education.
And here let me state something di-
rectly to the parents in reference to
this law. Every father and mother
ought to be the public school teachers
assistants They ought to supplement
the work of the scchoolroom in the
home How are they to do that? BY
inspiring their children in every way
possible to do something for them
selves. Buy them all the games they
are able to play. Checkers and domi-
nos and parcheesi and authors and
chess and croquet and golf and tennis
are not time wasters, but brain devel-
opers. The striving for the mastery in
games develops the power to succeed
in life. When the Duke Of Wellington
was prime minister of England he paid
a visit to his old school of Eton While
he was watching the boys play football
upon the field he said to the principal
1.-The battle Of Waterloo was won
here" If Arthur Wellesley had never
cOntended for mastery upon the play
ground he would never have been able
to conquer England's greatest foe.
Training the Child.
I sec the teacher training the prac-
tical child. l see him also training the
aesthetic child or the student of the
beautiful. l hear him saying to the
young student: young man, there is
something more in life than planting
a cabbage patch, or hoeing corn, or
digging an oil we'll There is some
thing more in life than in owning a
mortgage upon your neighbor's farm
and squeezing him out of his property
in hard times There is other litera-
ture in life than that found in the
stock columns of the daily newspapers.
There is something higher than the
rattle of the miser's gold" The true
teacher tries to lead his scholars into
the higher realms Of the beautiful. lie
inspires them with the harmo-ies of
nature, Of sound and of color. lie gets
the best pictures he can and hangs
them upon the school walls.
He tries to do for his class room what
Mary A. Livermore did for her schol-
ars when she was a teacher in Dux-
Mace Cbo 1fI mot rro into bar