The Penn's Grove record., 1921-06-17
THE REWARDS OF TEACHING
Julia Thompson

THE REWARDS OF TEACHING
Julia Thompson
Let me but do my work from day to
day,
In field or forest, at desk or loom,
In roaring market-place or tranquil
room;
Let me but find it in my heart to say,
When vagrant wishes beckon me
astray,
This is my work; my blessing, not
my doom;
"Of all who live, | am the one by
whom
This work can best be done in the
right way"
Thus, in the words of Van Dyke,
does the teacher contemplate the value
of her work.
The joy which she receives comes
from her association with youth, from
the fact that her work is worth while.
The teacher feels the inspiration of
youth, the open-eyed wonder of it.
This is strikingly portrayed in the
conversation between a primary teacher
and one of her pupils. After hearing
her mother repeat the %proverb,
early to bed and early to rise, makes
you healthy, wealthy and WISE" the
child asked her teacher:
"Wealthy? What does that mean? ?"
"That means you will have money!"
was the reply.
"Well, then, what does wise mean p
"That means you will know a great
deal"
So we e the primary teacher u
furnish much information which older
children may get from books.
The teachers interest, consequently,
is aroused and this interest carries her
onward through days and years.
The teacher is the determining fac
tor of the future of the race. We
learn in Problems of American Dem
ocracy that one of our foremost ideals
is. General recognition and applica-
ton of the principle that the safety
and perpetuity of our republic rests
upon the education of all its citizens"
Perhaps it is the fact that has so
forcibly impressed the members Of our
class with the result that forty per-
cent of them intend to enter the pro-
fession.
To the teacher her work is a pleas
ure. a blessing. not her doom. The
teacher lives way off yonder in the
sublime future. Hers is the great
life. the higher ideals of the race are
hers. Her purpose is pure, EXCHANGED,
exalted above the plane of common
existence by her willing, sympathetic
nature, her desire to push onward
into greater fields as the pathfinder
for the instruction of youth.
To the outsider, to the person not
taking part in the game, education
may easily seem a very drab-colored
enterprise, a mixture of m%onotony,
naughty boys and final disillusion-
ment, but to the person who partlcl-
pates in the game and puts her heart
and soul into it, there is not in all the
world a drama half so exciting or lnl-
portant as this yelled drama of educa-
ton. The person who has spent her
life in the profession has a whole
some. kindly personality which richly
entities her to her halo of apprecia-
ton.
We are told that the teacher is out
of touch with affairs, but she is more
likely to be in touch with the affairs
of her community than the average
person, for her positions demands that
She be alert. Her social position is as
good as her personality and character
warrant.
While teaching is worthy as a life
occupation many find it a satisfactory
stepping stone to other professions.
For example, Frances Willard, Gar
. field, Taft, Foch, Mckinley, Clemen-
ceau and Wilson.
DR.. Seeley, professor of Pedagogy,
in the State Normal School, at Iren-
ton, writes, "The noblest reward is the
sublime consciousness in the teachers
W soul that she has done her duty
and that she has been a blessing TO her
fellow-men. Greater than the eXter-
nal evidences of success in life and IN
the school room is this inner conscious
ness.
After meditation upon these COM
pensations we may conclude:
Then shall l see it not too great nor
small,
To suit my spirit and prove my
powers;
Then shall l cheerful greet the labour-
+ ing hours,
And cheerful turn when dark shad-
ows fall
At eventide, to play and love and rest,
Because | know for me my work. is
best.