The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-23


there Tt was then only a few days be-
fore the opening of the school, and since
she had no school and the class had no
teacher, she was engaged to take the place
temporarily.
First Visit to Schoolhouse
On Saturday before her school opened
she went to the little town and visited the
school house You know how desolate
empty school houses can look. They can
be the most uninviting spots imaginable.
Looking at a school house closed for va
vation your most vivid imagination can
not eonjure up a picture of dozens of
children playing about win attendant
shouts and laughter. of busy class rooms,
and of any sort of life and work. This
particular school house had the added
disadvantage of being big and old. 1t
stood before her looking as weary and
forlorn and forbidding an inanmate
thing could look. Nothing about the
building or the grounds suggested well
come.
Was that the realization of her dreams?
Was that to be the setting for the career
as school teacher? Did that Indicate
the attitude of parents and school boards
and city fathers toward education? Was
1t indicative of their estimation of teach
ing? She had thought teaching meant so
much and had supposed that a towns
school was one of its first considerations
the best school buildings in Birmingham,
and she could not expect all school houses
to equal those Maybe the interior was
better. Shattered hope. 1t was worse
The walls Were unpainted. the furniture
was old, the desks were of different styles,
and there seemed to be no equipment And
she had fondly pictured-'I want to
teach" and she still wanted to teach.
That little plot of ground could be made
into a fall garden, the children could plant
mustard; they could sell it and have some
money to spend on their school room. She
would make the room Just attractive
as possible.
The blackboards were fairly good, and
she would buy a box of colored crayons
and decorate them. She would add dainty
white sash curtains.
1t had been intimateds that teaching
would be too great an undertaking for
her. She began to understand why peo-
pie had discouraged her; but she was
just as eager as ever to teach. and she
expected to remain if the school board
were willing to make contract
Monday morning she found herself in
charge of 80 primary pupils. They were
the kind of children that had never had
from good homes, but the most of them
apparently had had very little care and
tenderness. Solemn, mischievous, Just
plain bad lovable inquistive. backward,
precocious, all sorts of children were
there each making his estimate of his
pretty new teacher. The first few days
were the busiest. She had to accustom
herself to working by schedule, she had
to learn all those names and faces, to
try to learn 80 individual dispositions to
grasp the meaning of the formidable
looking course of study, and all this
learning was a mere incident to the teach
ing she must do. Parents were visited,
and the necessity of their children's hav-
ing required supplies was explained again
and again. When the money for these
supplies was furnished she bought them
in Birmingham and carried them to the
school-and she had been accustomed to
sa ying: Please charge and send" not
to carrying bundles. However, prevailing
upon the parents to supply the money for
books and buying and taking them to the
children were minor considerations. 1t
was much easier to secure reader, even
in this roundabout way, than 1t was to
teach the lessons In that reader to a
small boy who had rather play out of
doors
She did not know that teaching involved
so much of pedagogy, astigmatism, skep-
tical parents, tact, tortued nerves, lost
pencils, rowing books, and individuality,
but then she didn't know there was so
much of the other side, until she began
to see that there was a pleasure to coun-
ter balance every annoyance. If one
child walled, II amt got no pencil an
other proudly and painstalSngly presented
a cup of water, or Offered cake from a
grimy little hand, or wrote her an earnest
little love letter. She knew nothing from
textbooks on the subject of teaching, but
she wanted very much to teach and to be
successful. She had had good teachers
and she recalled their methods, she has
tact and sympathy with children. and a
knowledge of child nature gained through
taking care of younger children in her
family Perhaps it is just as well that she
Is using these assets instead of relying
on theory Ind book knowledge of
pedagogy and psychology. She. is teach
ing her little folks to read and to figure
and to spell, to write, to draw and to
sing She is loving them very much and
very sincerely, and she is being loved in
return She reads them stories and tells
them stories.
They like to be read to better than
to have stories told them, a rather
unusual case, She has been reading
some of the appropriate poems from
Longfellow They enjoyed these, most
of all the Childrens Hour. She asked
the children to share the expense and
buy sash curtains, and these are now
at the windowsA She takes the chill
dren for walks after school. They had
never been told anything about the
wonders they could find in the woods;
and they are delighted to go with her,
and tell her that this is an oak and
that is chestnut tree. unmindful
that she is teaching them and that
they didn't know the difference until
she told them. They didn't know
hickory tree from an oak except by
the nuts and acorns.
Makes Them Happy
She Is not at all indecisive with