The citizen., 1920-05-13
President Frost's Welcome Address at the Rural
Educational Conference

gospel ministry, or the vocation Of the
artist. Paul did not preach and Mil
let did not paint for money. Each
had message and was distressed till
it could be uttered. The artist and
the evangelist are enthralled by SYM
pathy with the crowds that they teach
and by awe Of the truths which they
impart.
o, my fellow educators, let us hold
up this same standard for our pro-
fessiop. How shall we kindle the love
Of children and youth, how inspire en-
thusiasm for those cosmic truths
which il is the teachers chief duty to
impart? These greatest qualities of
the teacher are overlooked because
they are not weighed or certified to by
any university. just as a theological
professor finds it easier to tell young
preachers the speculations on the
authorship of the Psalms than to
make them feel the spirit of Hebrew
religion, so the teachers in a Normal
School are almost sure to lay more
stress on theories of psychology than
upon ways and means for kindling
love of study or a passion for fair
play. We have no masters degree
for the attainments of Florence
Nightingale, no doctorate for the
qualities of Horace Mann. But these
are the attainments and qualities on
which our profession really rests. God
seems to sow them where his Spirit
blows, and we do have some Florence
Nightingales scattered among the log
school-houses of the mountains, and
we may find here and there a country
Horace Mann, just as we find a
village Hampton" as the poet has
said.
1t is for us, if we are to be not
merely prominent" educators, but
leading educators, to identify and en-
courage, yea to beget teachers with
these inner impulses. When a young
person has sympathy instead of con-
demnation for wrong-doers, love for
the inexperience of childhood, fellow
feeling with those who grope-that
person has "a Divine call" to be a
teacher. When a young man or wo-
man feels interested in making the
truth clear and commanding, when
there is forgetting of self in the
zeal for spreading right ideas, when
one feels a rising of purpose and de-
sire that can meet all hardships and
surmount all obstacles, that person
may not recognize the source of these
soul-stirrings, but he is really moved
. by the Divine.
This Conference will be success in
> proportion as it promotes these higher
things. Each one of us, from the
most experienced chief to the youngest
), cadet from the backwoods, may bring
some contribution, and in the contact
q of mind with mind some new ideas
o may be actually born in this Chapel
o And we shall share the visions and
attain the commanding viewpoints Of
those who have the gift of insight
9 and the estimate of relative values
:, But above all we should here generate
: a spirit of devotion based on the see
a ing of what is really precious ant
: weighty, an enthusiasm, a thrill from
the nobler motives and indictments
y that will be truly food and refresh
ment to our souls, and that will maxi
all that is best in US contagious a.
:, we go back among our friends whit
y are not here.
S So if the present hour is the propel
n one for the utterance of some key
> note sentiment, let it be this:
g The greatest equipment for
e teacher is Divine call.