The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-09-28

''' L
Can Improve National
arlyS Schooling
II remember the school I went to
as a boy. 1t was a public school. We
were far from being angels. That
school had its quote Of so-called bad
boys'-children of the types for whom
all sorts Of uncomfortable ends are
predicted. :
A Disciplinarian of Old.
But the teacher we had-lame.
old time-was a good man who. felt
his responsibility for. our welfare in
the future. and never tagged in his
industry for our moral training. He
regarded it as his duty to insttll into
US h homely. practical virtues, not
simply In passing. as a perfunctory,.
monitor might have done. but regu-.
might not overlook the full signi1-
canoe of every example he adduced
for u instruction.
las ! review the boys who were
under that good man, T cannot recall
n who fulfilled the grim prophecies
made for him in his youth. Not
proved incorrigible: all. of them turn
N~S~S "ols ANoWp WllCll Sou sup "
reflect that this amounts to 100 per
cent Of human salvations amid the
temptations and struggles Of so many
long and active lives. and note that 1t
amounts to ordinary perfection-at
least among the number who were in
that school-the evidence is truly
wonderful In the way Of proof that
worthy, excellent citizens Of all the
heterogeneous humanity that came
under his care. I give the credit co
him and to his teaching Of the vir-
tues, for the human material he.
worked with "a no better or worse
than humanity as we find 1t in the
schools at large.
teach. IN the public schools. anything
That can Undue us with more respect
for the law and for the rights of our
fellow men. In my opinion, one of the
best ways to teach retpect for the law
IS through biography! /.
Here, In concrete form. the in
structor has numberless examples Of
Iali TO serve as heafons. ifprs the grown
not not" the s" bare ,a1 pr re g a f 5ste!s: The he1 pre Is
cept is always apparent, but it is en-
phastzed, incarnated. illuminated, dra.
matted. In, the man who comes before.
the. minds eye. p. :.
The imagination OF the child is
reception and assimilation. Give it.
dry husks. and 1t strives =. to. clothe
them with life: but give it the living
ieures.- n It reconstructs a whole
drama, enters into the sensations Of
the story. lives the situation itself.
we grown-ups are no different in
kind; IT. ts chief happiness to re-
through the imagination. I can never.
read the life Of Lincoln without feel
ing the uplift that comes of. nearness
TO a mighty spirit. To us, these ro-
mances of the real which appear in
biographies are stimuli. both emotion.
AZ and moral; but to the. child they
are splendid professions Of crises. into
and soul. The impressions they make
on him are i~neffaceable. They be-
come part of his being, due to arise
IN their original force, Of impulse. to.
ward the right, the brave and the
true when in after years the crises
ON to him.
Great Men. for Companions.
This. however, is the obvious, the
poorer aspect in which to view the re-
suits. 1t is not in the crisis that 3
are fashioned; that comes in the
daily. hourly attrition Of the spirit.
what 0 powerful. ..unfailing sup
port, ever present. ever guiding, can
youth ask than the constant COM
partnership of such characters as Lin
coln,: Robert Lee, WASHINGTON? Think.
Of what Andrew jackson became:
study the lives Of a Hawthorne and a
Whittier. - : i, :
There is no one-sidedness to the
resources of interest that are to Be
y In. biographical teaching; the
vaFities Of types, of environments. OF
situations. are infinite. There is no
age OF childhood and youth for which
the specific instances are lacking. The
simple. powerful virtues exemplifed
IN some careers are admirably adapt
ed to the sheer. downright. judgments
OF .tne,young; the more intricate COM
pltcations OF other famous lives can
De. analyzed for the behoof Of the old.
er students. But with all. ages there
cannot fall to be present that element
OF unf1agging interest which. is so de-
siraple In. the instrction of the young.
i VIII not go so far as t o say that
instruction in biography will meet all
the requirement. which present them
that should not be disdained. read
recently an article on StoneWall jack
Son and Robert e. Lee. When I laid
It down I could not. refrain from
thinking what these men did and from
needing the instructive admonitions as
TO n carr with which one nus con-
sider and frame his own conduct, IL
is 50 with the child.
II, oy some such. means, we can
ply get the idea Of duty constantly
before h eyes OF The schoolboy at the
age when his spirit is most imnres-
sionable we will have accomplished