him because such a small part of what he learns is really transmitted into mental and moral fiber. Time is one of the greatest factors in education, and the teacher should not expect results in a day. She should do her part, plant the seed, cultivate the ground, and be willing to wait for the harvest. Patience that makes one willing to wait is one of the sublimest characteristics in the world, and especially is it of inestimable value in the life of the teacher.

5. Faith. But how is the teacher to attain the ideals here set forth? It would take perfection to attain such ideals, and, surely, teachers do not lay claim to perfection. It is true that the ideals here set forth are far beyond those ever attained by the average teacher; but the very nature of an ideal demands that it be beyond anything yet attained. The Great Teacher commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and most of us feel that it is impossible; but just because we feel that such an ideal is impossible is no reason why we should fail to make an effort to attain it. The difficulty of attaining the ideal should make us more determined to attain it. It should help us to feel our own weaknesses and to remember that, although we cannot of ourselves rise to such heights, there is a Power that is ours if we will but reach forth our hands for it. The teacher, above everyone else, should strive to keep in touch with the source of power that will never fail her. She should realize that without Divine guidance she is but the blind leading the blind. Some one has said that the greatest miracle the world ever saw is the education of a child. It is far greater than bringing sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, or causing the lame to walk. Does the teacher believe she can perform such a miracle without being in close touch with the source of power? Before the

prophet brought life to the widow's son, he wrestled long in prayer, and before the teacher can bring life to the boys and girls under her care, she must also wrestle in prayer. If the Great Teacher needed to go apart to the mountain top to be alone to commune with the Father, how much more do we? If He felt the need of power from above, how much more should we? He felt the need because He saw all the difficulties and pitfalls in his way. We do not see the need because we are blind, and ignorant of the real dangers about us. He trusted his Father's guiding hand from the day He talked with the doctors in the temple until the day when He said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"; but we go in blissful ignorance because we do not see the pitfalls about us.

The teacher should realize that she is shaping the eternal destinies of the children under her care. Every lesson she hears, every word she speaks, every decision she makes, changes their lives, not only for time, but for eternity. She says this little fellow shall be retained in the third grade, that one shall be promoted to the fourth, without thinking very much about it; but such a decision makes all the difference in the world to the child. He will be one kind of a being if he remains in the third grade, another if he goes to the fourth; he will be one kind of a being if she punishes him for his conduct to-day, another if she does not.

It is for this reason that all great teachers have trusted in the Divine Hand to guide them. They have realized that all mere intelligence, shrewdness, worldly wisdom, are nothing unless they are tempered by that wisdom that comes from above. The greatest teachers have been the most humble men and women, the most helpless in themselves, and have always kept in close touch with God's guiding hand.

6. Self-forgetfulness. Thus one of the essential elements in the life of the true teacher is the willingness to be forgotten. The true teacher is not in the business for her own personal gain; but she is willing to lose her life that she may have the life that is more abundant. She has counted the cost and has clearly made up her mind that the eternal riches of her reward as a teacher are to be desired above those other rewards that satisfy only for a season. She understands that the law of selfrealization is the law of self-forgetfulness; that the grain of wheat must be buried and lost sight of, if it would produce the harvest. Most of us remember the story of Palissy in one of Longfellow's poems. We remember how he worked year after year for a new enamel. Hunger and even starvation threatened him, but still he worked on. He used the furniture of his room to kindle his fires, and let his family go in want that he might succeed in producing the enamel upon which his heart was set.

O, Palissy! within thy breast
Burned the hot fever of unrest;
Thine was the prophet's vision, thine

The exultation, the divine

Insanity of noble minds,

That never falters nor abates,

But labors and endures and waits,

Till all that it foresees it finds,

Or what it does not find creates!

Yes, the teacher must have that "divine insanity of noble minds," that "hot fever of unrest," which will cause her to lose her life in the life of the child and to forget self in order that better things may come to him. She must be as eager to find the best in the lives of her pupils as Palissy was to find the choice enamel upon which his heart was set, and to do that she must be willing to

lose sight of self, her own ambitions and desires, and live only for the welfare of her pupils. In the words of Arnold Tompkins, "the theorist or the philosopher may make his mark as such, but the man or woman known, honored, esteemed, and loved as a teacher must become such through an intense sympathy with the unfolding life of others a sympathy that knows no peace except in self-forgetful labor nurturing the lives of those struggling for better things."

TOPICS FOR REPORT AND INVESTIGATION

I. The teacher's preparation.

2. The teacher's health.

3. The teacher's ideals.

4. The teacher's development while in service.

5. The personality of the teacher.

FURTHER READINGS

James, William. Talks to Teachers, pp. 3-14. Henry Holt & Co. McKenny, Charles. The Personality of the Teacher.

Peterson & Co.

Palmer, G. H. The Ideal Teacher. Houghton Mifflin Co.

Tanner, Amy Eliza.
Tompkins, Arnold.
Terman, Lewis M.
Weimer, Hermann.

The Child. Rand McNally & Co.

Row,

School Management, pp. 38-84. Ginn & Co.
The Teacher's Health. Houghton Mifflin Co.
The Way to the Heart of the Pupil. Macmillan.

CHAPTER XIII

MAKING THE PUPIL AN ACTIVE INQUIRER HE teacher must ever remember that it is the child's development she is trying to bring about. Everything she does should have as its motive this one aim. If there is any part of the school organization that does not help the child in this struggle for self-improvement, it is an unessential part of the system, and should be eliminated. The buildings, the equipment, the teacher, the lessons, the rules and regulations, are important only as they help the child to become better physically, mentally, morally, or industrially. The efficiency of a school system can be measured, not by its buildings, its equipment, its teaching force, or its course of study, but by its ability to transform the boys and girls who come to it into strong manhood and womanhood. How does what I am doing help the child? is a question the teacher should be constantly asking herself. How can I transform this geography lesson into mental and moral fiber? How can I arrange the child's play so as to make it count for most in his development? She should never be content to go through with the daily routine of her work, however perfect the mechanism of the school may be or however excellent her methods of instruction, without knowing that her efforts are having a wholesome effect on the child and bringing him nearer to what she would have him be. She should never become so absorbed in the lessons, the textbooks, the rules and regulations, as to let them stand between her and the child. These things are all good in their places, but they should stand no chance when they impede the child's progress.