Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1877 — Appeals. [ARTICLE]

Appeals.

I wonder if young school reacners know how much influence they lose every time they appeal to a higher power. When a person asks another to do for her what she ought to do for herself, people are apt to think her either indolent or inefficient, usually the latter, and children think and decide about these things as readily as those who are older. Before a superior should be called, I would exhaust all the ingenuity I possessed, all the advice of the wiser and more experienced, and all the methods suggested in the professional books and magazines at hand. A teacher who meets, and in a determined way, grapples with every difficulty, is soon recognized as the “ruling power of the realm,” and her wishes will no longer be questioned. As a general rule troublesome cases need not be decided at once. It will be better for all concerned if a little time be taken for thought. Occasionally, an ambitious young girl will carry this principle tod far, ana try to conquer by physical force pupils larger and stronger than herself. Such an endeavor may end in the teacher’s victory, it will be more apt to be concluded by a most disastrous defeat. We are all coming to believe in the “ still small voice” rather than the earthquake or whirlwind. The subtle, persuasive force there is ip self-possession, “ gentle and firm,” comes as often from the weaker as the “ sterner sex.” 1 We once heard of a man—a teacher—who had little faith in the work of woman, who thought, in fact, that women never ought to teach beyond the first few primary His reasons were given as follows: “ Women cannot teach for three reasons; first, tAey have not the height," —here he straightened up his manly form in am impressive manner, for he stood six feet two inches in his, boots. “Second, they have not the etrength”— and he clenched his strong right hand and shook defiance to an imaginary foe. “ And third, they have not the voice.” The deep bass on the last few words made the argument for the time unanswerable, and it only remained’ to be shown by his. practice that his theory was not one of the wisest in the world.— JPdueational Weekly. Something like’epizootic is killing New York horses off, and a still worse disease is attacking the Canadian equines. The saw-horse is the only safe hdrse. '