Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1914 — IS STILL TEACHING THO’ OUT OF SCHOOL [ARTICLE]

IS STILL TEACHING THO’ OUT OF SCHOOL

Grown-Ups Impressed With Margaret Hill McCarter’s Appeal for the Little Ones.

Few more delightful occasions, have been held in Rensselaer than the one of Friday evening at the home of Mrs. Mary E. Thompson and Mrs. Ora T, Ross, when Mrs. Margaret Hill McCarter spoke to an assemblage of about one hundred and fifty, her subject being “The Heart of a Child.” The Ladies' Literary Society, through Mrs. George E. Murray, who was a contemporaneous teacher with Mrs. McCarter, then Miss Margaret Hill, had asked her to come here and address them. She expected to have “Abraham Lincoln” as her subject, but after arriving here and learning that the me*i as well as the women, and the school teachers and a few jOthers were to- be .her auditors, she changed her subject, as she said, because the men could not have understood her Lincoln speech. For fifteen years a school teacher and for almost twenty-one years a mother, and all the time a student of the needs of the child, her lecture, for that is what it must be called in spite of her disclaimer that it was such, contained so many splendid practical suggestions that no one who listened to it intently could fail of much personal benefit. She held that the child is influenced to dishonesty and untruthfulness by those with whom it comes into contact, often the parents and the teachers, because of thoughtlessness and indifference on the part of those who should exercise every ,care to guide them aright. She painted the child possessed of every virtue and held this to be an age when the child iwas..to be studiec and given a square deal. Mrs. McCarter related several childhood stories that brought ripples of the happiest laughter and also spoke of instances of childish neglect or discrimination that brought tears to many eyes. Greater kindliness toward the little ones, whether your own or not, and more thoughtful consideration of them in relation to their future lives is a lesson which the speaker impressed upon all who heard her. The gathering had somewhat the appearance of a reunion, as there were among those present a number of Mrs. McCarter’s former pupils and many of her close friends during the years she taught school here, from the fall of JBB4 to midyear of the tern* of 1887,88. Miss Mary Washburn, of Washington, D. C„ and Mrs. Frank B. Lyon, of Delphi, were two of tlie outside guests. Miss Washburn was never a pupil of Mrs. McCarter, but Mrs. Lyon, then Dora Healey, spent two years in the high school during the years she was here. Mrs. J. H| Chapman, a former pupil, introduced Mrs. McCarter, following a very delightful musical program consisting of piano solos by Mrs. M. D. Gtwin and a group of songs by Mrs. Virinda Rainier Barnes, which were so much appreciated that she responded to the applause. Mrs. McCarter will remain here until Wednesday, being Mrs. George E. Murray’s guest and a luncheon in her honor, was given by Mrs. Murray at 1 o’clock today, about sixteen ladies being guests.