Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1907-07-26
Compensation for Teachers.

| DiOnysius, the younger, deposet
from the throne of grandeur. wealth
and absolute power, became poor
but happy schoolmaster. he sceptel
gave him only disappOil nent, The
birch brought infinite satisi tion. The
tyrant of Syracuse learned in his de
clining years that the teacher enjoyed
compensatiOps not weighed in the
steelyards or balanced in tie ledger OF
the merchant.
How impotent is mere wealth to
purchase the comforts of religion or
the enthusiasm of patriotism. Yet we
all know how real and priceless are
these compensations and how utterly
intolera BILE life would be without them.
Satisfaction and cOntentment are the
chief ends of human activity. 1t is
for these that every rational human
exertion is expended; for these men la
Dor incessantly; for these they make
war and conclude peace; for these they
explore the uttermost parts of the
earth and follow the Intangible spirit
of the mighty ocean along its tfackless
trails to it's mysterious haunts IN the
brooding deeps; for these men sacrifice
comfort, health, friends, and family
to engage in ceaseless struggle for
wealth and power, even tho, when they
b I'VE attained them, they learn the
satisfa ction and cOntentment they
hoped to purchase is far beyond the
power of their buying. Every where
satisfaction, like the pronunciation of
Demosthenes, is the first, the second,
aud the third thing, and happy indeed
is he who so orders his life that salts
,ctiOn comes at his bidding to sit at
his table and to share his bedchamber.
The teachers best fortune is of that
invisible sort that makes the pOssessOr
happy, content, and unenvied. Than
this life has no higher reward for any
man. Measured by sentimental con-
sideratiOns bis rewards are substantial
and enduring. ''To give subtiIity to
the simple; to the young man knowl-
edge and discretion,' lie the divine
C )nmission of the scaOOlmaster, and
he who sincerely sets his heart TO the
developing and uplifting task imposed
cannot fail to reap a rich return Ct
satisfaction as he beholds the magical
fruiting of his honest planting
The complacency due to the develop
ment of the intelligent and moral citi
zen, the exhiIaratiOn wrought by the
expressed gratitude Of pupils, the joy
and the success Of those whose lives
have in sense been nodded by his
h ands, are deIectable commodities in
his store, not purchasable in the coin
of the realm. Bacon put it well when
he said, "The pleasures Of the intel
lect are greater than the pleasures of
the senses,'' and these intellectual
pleasures are in peculiar degree to be
reckoned among the schoOlmaster g
HE who teaches is best taught, "and
the opportunity afforded the teacher to
parfect himself in scholarship is no
small element in the extra financial
compensations of his position. The
teacher who does not daily find his life
richer IN intellectual attainments,
while with pride and JOY be watches
the intellectual unfolding of his pupils,
has wretcnedly missing his calling"
Sordid gold is the lowest and mean
est measure of success. Ii gold be the
standard, then the teachers profession
is meaner than the ditch digger's.
But gold never was the standard OF
che measure of cOmpens alton in any
exalted vocation for longer than brief
period. Who would ask hos much
money Socrates earned, or 1t was
the wages of Plutarch, Plato Caesar,
Crom we'll, Washington, Grant or Lin
coin ? No one has ever been SO worldly
as to think of these great characters
in connection with money making. No
one associates the success ct any
teacher with the sum of money he has
earned. The most exalted, the most
highly respected name i'll history is
that of the Great Teacher who had not
where to lay bis head. Yet who would
exchange the undying fame of Naza-
rene for the gold of a Rockefeller