The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1908-07-28

press on the thousands who saw and
heard him, and the millions, who read
his words, the qualities of mind and
heart, which peculiarly At him for the
chief magistracy; but sitting with
him on the platform was one woman
who knows him better than he knows
himself, whom he could mislead by
no deceit of phraseology, on whom he
need waste no explanation Of his con-
duct. That woman is Miss Louisa d.
Horsely, his first public school
teacher.
The formal Acknowledgement of
| his right to the leadership OF a great
political party in popular govern
ment Is a sublime tribute to Judge
Taft; but, measured in the satisfac-
ton which conscientious accomplish
ment brings, It is question for
whom the occasion is the greater tri-
umph, the pupil or the teacher. The
teacher sees before her. meeting the
applauding approval of multitudes Of
his -townsmen and countrymen,
the finished product of her skill and
fidelity. She hears her pupil speak
words, that ring true to those princi-
pies she inculcated In his plastic
young mind. II may be-and herein
must be found a compensation for all
that sacrifice the noble calling of the
pedagogue demands-h may be, she
hears him express In his own words,
ideas that were hers. recognizes in his
attitude on some public question the
ripened development Of bent mind
ne acquired forty odd years ago in
that old school room in the Sixteenth
district of Cincinnati. Some day that
old teacher may live to see a principle,
peculiarly her own-an idea she
germinated-perpetuated o., in some
great policy of state, that shah shape
the destinies of nations and peoples.
bearing the name of her illustrious
pupil, no doubt, but none the less
hers, as truly as the nations hero
must ever remain his own mothers
son.
|v1There is little e1pugh OF glory IN
NE profession Of teaehing; but to the
true teacher the work must afford a
satisfaction to be derived from no
other occupation. The inventor sees
giant locomotive steam out away
from the station and feels something
like the thrill of creator; the au-
thor, the actor. the orator. may live
on the fiattery Of his admirers; but
the teacher knows a pleasure beyond
the comprehension of these. She first
recognized the genius that devised
the locomotive; she guided the hand
that grasps the throttle, she shaped
the mind that conceived great theme
| and set on fire the brain that moves
multitudes with its burning thoughts.
How many OF us have not at some
time in a flash, like intuition, caught
an odd view of a subject. so foreign
to our customary mental attitude as
to startle us Into recognition Of its in
congruity, carrying in its train a
vision of a school room. long since
forgotten with the familiar faces OF
teacher and school mates about US!
Possibly, IL the impression is vivid. II
recalls the scene on the very day the
idea was inculcated, and then one
knows the point of view was not his
own. II was the teachers. implanted
when the mind was receptive and
sensitive, leaving its impression
there, suddenly to appear at some I'M
expected crisis, maybe to utterly ruin
him, or to bring him fortune.
The youthful mind should be the
teachers garden. II she loves her
work, she will study the nature Of the
soil, acquaint herself with the ex-
treme variations Of temperament ana
ascertain the talents indigenous to his
mental zone. She will nourish and
direct those talents, that they may
bear perfect fruit. She will strength
en- those faculties and functions that
are below NORMAL and necessary to
well rounded development and the
ultimate realization of a full yield OF
inherent powers.
1t must have been so with the
teacher OF william il. Taft. and
could any teacher ask for a vlndica-
tion OF her method, more dehnit,
than to be invited to sit on the plat
form and to hear her pupil accept the
highest responsibilities of citizenship
after the most rigid test OF efficiency
in judicial, executive and diplomatic
positions ~
tiinyvef accord the highest award OF
.lmerit to Miss Louisa ID. Horsely, oil
1.-THE Sixteenth district of Cincinnati.