Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1941-05-16
"SOME BY-PRODUCTS
OF LIFE"
BY EBEN HEARNE
No. 5

New Jersey, / returned to my home
for the summer. In few weeks, l
accepted the Principalship of the
High School in a small town in my
native Worcester County, eleven miles
from my home.
The change of location, had made,
had many advantages. The greatest
advantage was the fact that I could
spend a weekend at my home often
er than could during the time / was
employed in Philadelphia and New
Jersey.
l spent four busy and pleasurable
years in my new position and the
memories of the friendships formed
and the work accomplished still lin
ger to gladden. and to while away
many a leisure hour, now that old
age has arrived.
My classes were large and the pu-
pills took great interest in their stud
les and it was very gratifying to
watch their progress. I have often
thought of that class of boys who
seemed so anxious to make advance
ment in their studies, that asked per-
mission to come to my room at my
boarding place evening after evening
to study and to take advantage of
their opportunity to increase their
knowledge and mastery of their stud
les.
It was also a wonderful uplift to
me and to the school that we had the
hearty cooperation of the three other
teachers of the school, the trustees,
the parents of the pupils, and the
citizens of the whole community.
That cooperation resulted in making
the work of the Public School (out-
side of the work of the three local
churches) the biggest agency for &C
complishing good work in that i'm
mediate part of the county.
I made use of the improved meth
DDS, I had learned in my two former
positions, and the results were very
encouraging. A teacher should al
ways bear in mind that he is still a
student himself and constantly strive
to add to his knowledge and keep
up-to-date with the most improved
methods in his PRECISION and make
good use of every help obtainable.
Take penmanship as an example:
I think it has been sadly neglected
in many schools, both private and
public. am very proud of the re-
cord in that art that was attained
by many of the young people under
my charge during many years of my
teaching. 1t was a pleasure to study
and to teach the Spencerian System
of Penmanship. There are other
systems that may appeal to some,
but I think the Spencerian has its
advantages over other systems. Every
letter of the alphabet, both the small
letters and the capital letters can
be formed by the correct combination
of the seven characters or principles,
the name of which are as follows:
Slant, Right Curve, Left Curve, Loop,
Oval, Reversed Oval, and Capital
Stem. These principles can be very
intelligently and effectively illustrat-
ed and analysed by blackboard les
sons and a good handwriting can be
acquired and thoroughly mastered in
a series of one hundred lessons.
To encourage the pupil, it is best
to have him or her to write out a
specimen of their writing at the be-
ginning of the school year before they
take up the study, this specimen to
be preserved for future comparison.
AS the lessons progress, it is essen
tial for the pupil to write speci-
men about every ten days, and by
comparing the specimens from time
to time, the improvement the pupil
has made can be easily discerned.
Some of my pupils, especially the
girls, became so proficient and their
penmanship became so nearly perfect,
and one pupil wrote so much like an
other and could so nearly reproduce
the copy, that unless each pupil sign
ed her specimen copies and her es-
says from time to time, ] was not
able to distinguish one from another.
Even in these days Of the nearly
universal use of the typewriter, pupils
should be taught to write legibly, as
most letters of friendship especial
ly) are written in what is common
ly known as "long hand". Other by
products of those four memorable
years will be described in another
chapter.
To be continued