The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-07-31

10 TlMES UlSF ANIL: IOl'
-
schools ell over the country, and
many OF tho teachers do not have as
niausible an avocation as Studying
latin and algebra for college credits.
Another reason for my lassitude In
sobnol work and my dislike for 1t was
nv lack of scholarship. made
much higher grade than the average
amateur, yet was deficient IN scno!ar-
ship in spite Of that. Whlle scnoiar-
ship is not the warp and wooi OF ecu
cation, 1t is a very essential part:
one Of tho most conspicuous traits OF
the child mind Is Its boundless GU
riosity. II want to know" Is It's
shibholeth. and the child would for
ever retain this curiosity II we older
folks did not dull 1t and freeze IL OUT.
We shut him off by telling MIN ina.
he Is not old enough to understand
this or that; or. IL we undertake to
answer him. our reply is SO evasive
and SO Incomplete. so much expressed
in hieroglyphics, that the child Is
misled.
A little girl Just turned seven. with
life and Joy dimpling her rosy cheeks,
asked me one day where the flower got
it's petals. She did not call them
petals, but she happened to have in her
know where the flower got them.
told her that God made them that
way--because at that time did not
know how the bees and the butter.
flies helped to shape the flowers and
to give them color; or, rather, how the
flowers had colored and shaped Them
selves so as to attract the bees. did
not know then that at one time the
petals, the sepals. the stamens, and
the pistils were green leaves and that
nature had found 1t profitable to
change their shapes and hues. II
had only known 1t. and II had only
told the little girl something about
1t, what world OF sympathy and
beauty 1t would have opened up to
Aer! It would have made her watch
full for specimen in which some OF
the petals were green. having re-
verted to the mother type and thus
given the secret away. She would
have known why the bees and the
butterflies visit the fiowers-that they
! go not only for honey. but also to
| help the flowers along in their love
Affairs.
| My answer sealed up tho avenue to
| ner mind. for the reply was meaning
less. It would have been Just as In
furious perhaps for me to have told
her that did not know. If I had
\ only told her little OF the secret
Of the flower. she would have been
wideawake when she looked at the
II next flower. She would have known
that 1t had a secret, too, and she
would have been wild to find 1t out.
When she saw the next flower she
certainly felt no impulse to examine
1t, for it would have no secret for her.
She would have thought God made 1t
that way" and let it go at that.
If parents were constant students II
they did not settle down when they
get married. there would not be sc
much need for schools. Think of try
ing to pillow with pillow that would
not scour. or to cut grass with a
sickle that would not hold an edge
Then think you that 1t is strange thai
boys and girls grow UP with no love
for knowledge? The minds of theil
fathers and mothers are growing more
and more rusty all the time. The
minds of teachers are very little bet
ter If any. for they cram for the en-
animation; having passed that ane
secured their certificate to teach, they
drop all studies until time to cram
again: as for following some syste
matte course OF investigation. suct
things seldom enter their minds. i
such teacher arises, he Is ambitious
to secure some better position thar
the country school; SO, by the time HI
becomes proficient he leaves the coun
try school. and the country boys ant
girls take the beginners, or those who
are not competent to command bette
positions. In the city schools Their
are head teachers or superintendent
and principals who have more or les
!, ! professional interest and they keel
/. nagging the subs to exertion. Their
: is more doing, more to discuss, an
J the subs feel that they must study
that perhaps sets the standards
. little higher yet I am not sure bu
> that it makes for greater formally
s I think there are more investigator
] among the city teachers; then, Their
} is little more inducement from tn
$ standpoint of salary and permanent
: of position. The standards of life ar
j higher in the city than in the couu
+ try: the city teacher is more refine
: and on the whole is better educated
8 So many country teachers are in tt
8. work to earn money to take thel
v through college, to help them pay o,
$ on small piece of property. or
ID make little money to establish the
: in business. OF the fourteen teache
Is who were teaching in my home tow,
l. ship twelve years ago, only one
70 teaching to-day. and he intends
,e leave the schoolroom as soon as
le raises the mortgage on his farm.
m remember asking my father OF
"a time why the woodpecker pecked Il
r. tree. He said that he did not know.
asked my uncle. and he did not kno
ke then asked my teacher. a sweet 81
n teen whom dearly loved. She laugh
e- and told me that she did not kno
at and added that 1t wasn't very impor