Connecticut western news., 1918-12-19
WORDS OF APPRECIATION
OF MRS. JOSEPHINE ROOT
Written by a Former Pupil
Who Tells of Her Sterl-
ing Qualities

The death of Mrs. Josephine Root
must be to many the severing of D
link binding them to childhood
whose early recollections are all
connected with her. AS long as she
lived, her former pupils felt that
they were not wholly grown up, des-
pite the years that had passed, for to
her they were always children, and
her interest in them was ever fresh.
The longer the prospective as they
look back upon the days spent under
Mrs. Roots care, the more deeply
they realize how great is their debt
to her, and how gracious a person
atty guided their first years in the
schoolroom.
Learning seems never to have
been a conscious process under Mrs.
Roots direction, for by her methods
lessons were joyful excursions into
new and UNEMPLOYED paths. What
ever she asked was undertaken with
happy zest, and certainty that it
was the best thing in the world to
do.
Inseparable from her instinct for
teaching was her musical ability. In
looking back, it seems as though all
her work was set to music, and be-
fore the minds eye arises a familiar
picture of her, sitting at her organ,
playing, as the children sang and
danced through their multiplication
tables, her fingers improvising little
tunes as readily as her mind fur
nished recitations adapted to parti-
cular occasions.
She taught many things not in
cluded in the curriculum of that
time or of any time, for she put her
whole heart and life into her work,
and what she thought and what she
was went out daily to her pupils. AS
far as good breeding may be mat
ter Of instruction, Mrs. Root impart-
ed it to every child as natural part
of her training. For example, in her
school-room it was ever taught that
to turn the head to discover the
tardy conner was an act of which no
lady Or gentleman would be guilty.
Although never strong in health,
she would not leave her room at the
noon hour for warm meal, but ate
her luncheon with those pupils who
were obliged to stay at the school
because of its distance from their
homes. It was a sight not to forget,
to see the children seated about q
long table just below the teachers
desk, where she sat, giving by exam
pie and precept kindly guidance in
matters of table etiquette, doubtless
in the cases of some of the children
the first and last they ever received.
Before the meal, hands were folded
and every head was bowed during
the grace which she taught them to
say.
No one who was her pupil could
question her deep and broad piety.
Her morning religious exercises
were adapted to every creed, but of
reverence that was bound to make
a lasting impression on each childish
mind.
hung Froebel's motto, "Come, let us
live with our children, but surely
no teachers life ever exemplified it
more than hers. Her life was bound
up with the lives of those little ones
under her charge, and when she was
obliged to retire from active service
she said, eff l can have a class of
little angels to teach, shall be happy
in heaven"
Her influence was a wide one, and
from California to France there will
be hearts to mourn her passing.
Truly, her children arise up and
call her blessed.
G. F. E.