Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1899 — EDWARD THRING—HEAD MASTER [ARTICLE]

EDWARD THRING—HEAD MASTER

A Most Remarkable Man in the Science of 1 d.icatior. Soon after the death of Edward Thring, thirty-four years head-master of Uppingham School, a member of Parliament said to his biographer: “Thrlng was the most remarkable Christian man of this generation. Because he was the first man in England to assert openly that in the economy of God’s world a dull boy had as much ■ right to have his power, such as M is, fully trained as a boy of and that no school did honest work which did not recognize this truth as the ba-1 sis of its working arrangements.”*. When Thring became head-master of Uppingham, a “falre, free grammar school” founded in 1584, it had twentyseven pupils. On his departure from his life-work the school numbered over four hundred pupils. The schoolmas- • ter, as he called himself, had a passionate conviction that education was, In a special sense, a work of God. That conviction was his startlug-imint for school work. One night he had the gratification of hearing a statement that cheered him greatly because it disclosed the formative influence of his teachings. A gentleman, lecturing in the schoolroom on “Education,” told an anecdote illustrative of the value of a teacher’s influence. , A boy, traveling on foot in France, full of spirit and life, bad been asked by Ids companions to start early on Sunday to have a long dny. The boy refused. Being pressed, he said: “No, 1 will not do it; the head-mas-ter will not like it.” The other boys laughed, and said that the head-master was five hundred miles ..way; his excuse was nonsense. But their jeering did not change his purpose. Then the lecturer turned round toward Mr. Thring, and said: “That boy was from Uppingham; that head-master was you, sir.” The school cheered. The headman-1 greatly moved, rose and said, “I I am sure you will all thank the lecturer; I you must feel what I feel deeply. 11 thank the school for giving one such I boy. I think there are many such boys I among you."—Youth’s Companion. |