Show Give the Y po Teacher Chalce j BY MARGARET GARET E SANGSTER Two bright bea heads were bent together 1 over the th same saime pa Aa the last page Susan Suan awed at Plops Peael and sighed There she wild that is elided We shan shall recite tomorrow Yv to dear deal Mies M J JM M and then we week k se see US In Miss Bs B s classroom n and to good times for six months Every girl who has ever been with MisS Mies B fairly hat hates b r unless she he happens to tobe tobe be one of the pt She has pets and they th tray y do 00 anything but the root rest of the lass class are always getting de dem demerits m merits rits and being scolded And made to todo do extra rk r I wish I bp be Rip Van Winkle and n sIe sleep p straight through the next ada Miss M W V who has the clasS b higher gh r th than n Miss n IL tM a But one cant react her lier with without out ti th undergo unit the m of M thE da class s b bArent below Arent you exaggerating asked Penelope P I 1 have bave seen areen MiI Mi a B a num i of times and she looks harm lea I understand why she is isso so 90 unpopular The teachers appear tri to find her pleasant Oh she Is pleasant enough with ith them and with visiting parents Barents ex exclaimed exclaimed claimed Sue HIt It 1 is only her own girls to whom she be is a tyrant You have not lived here verY very long but I have gone through this school from the kindergarten UP and so have my sis sister sisters ter Luc r and Mildred and their friends have the same opinion that I have Every y dreads Miss B dark eyes grew thought thoughtfuL fuL Well Sue she said my father has always taught me to value faIr faIrplay fairplay play and It doss does not look too to me like fair play to begin In hi a new class with ones mind mad up that she is gOing to dislike the heber er That creates a false situation at the outset Why should we blindly accept t what other people say without ng to see for where the truth of the mat matter matter ter lies Poor Miss B has a hard road to travel t If t the girls Ld l f trust her before they have given her the slight slightest st trial I 1 for one shall s all dp my work in the best Way ayl I can and I Ishall shall try to love Miss B and to fo make her love mo me Susan n gave her hAr head a a toss r I pre predict dict Penelope that you will be a a fa favorite she said scornfully Not at all U but I have a conscience and I am going to give my my teacher the benefit of a chance I wish you would join meo me Perhaps if you and I take the lead some of the others will fol follow follow low and Miss B for once may have havethe havethe the pleasure or of teaching a class who are not determIned to misunderstand her intentIons and who are not doing what they can to make her work hard hardI I believe In making my teachers end easy if I can Mother was a teacher before her marriage and she has told me a good deal about the seamy side o of a teachers life lifes s s Penelope had in her girlish wisdom caught the thread of a clew that had tangled Use itself and led far back Into I the years during which the unpopular I teacher had occupied her chair MIss B was exceptionally well weIl equipped a student painstaking and profound th the graduate of and the successful prizewinner In postgraduate work In another she Jack lacked d the magnetism which In Itself makes some women adorable and adored In truth she was more and more afraid of the girls she taught her native diffidence and shyness made her seem stiff and stern she encrusted herself a diffidEnt diffident dEnt people often do in a of reserve She he recoiled from the unspoken criticism of the girls gi r wh who sat before her and though she hon honestly estly tried she seldom was able to tomake tomake make them feel that she cared for them personally They supposed that In her view they were 50 so many pegs In a row or Dawns on a chessboard and they resented the impersonality of nearsighted her gaze Girls are some sometimes times very heartless and instead of feeling pitiful when occasionally they saw a quiver of pain Dain cross Miss Bs B s countenance such a token of sensitiveness sensItive sensItiveness ness on her part only made them dis dislike dislike like her the more In her endeavor to tobe tobe be just and exact the best work of which the class was capable she often went far and marked too severely any failure If right relations are not existent between teacher and scholars it is very difficult for either to ac much Often it would be for forthe forthe the benefit of all concerned w were re the te teacher h r to be transplanted to a new envIronment where she could begin unhampered by unfriendly traditions If teacher a in the depths of her own soul Is aware that she Is no disciplinarian disciplinarian she probably makes efforts inthe in inthe the direction a she Is weak and the result is a continual conflict between her class and herself The resistance may not be open but It Is always read ready to break out like Jike a fire No Nothing on earth Is harder to vanQuish than a prejudice and the less reason reasonable res on able it be the more stubborn It probably bly Is In maintaining Its ground I wish I could persuade girls to Imi Imitate imitate tate Penelope and be faIr to the un unpopular unpopular popular teacher In whose Interest I am holding a brief She may not be happy and at ease In her home life In the background there may be an ailing fa father father ther or mother whose welfare Is a mat matter matter ter of deep anxiety to her ber and whose care robs her of sleep For instance I know a teacher rather unpopular in the class room who for several years lost half of her nl nights ts rest In sitting up with and ministering to an invalid sister sis sister ter There was no one else to take her place and In consequence she brought I with her to school an atmosphere of fatigue which made itself felt without her know knowledge b is often born of w ss a Girls are by the way of worshiping teachers because of little externals that h have e not very ery much to do with the teachers efficiency A teacher who has lovely eyes and beautiful hair and the suspicion of a dimple when she smiles or w who o wears pretty things and nd Is v very ry attractive as to waists and stocks has bas hasa basa a great advantage over her plainer associate as associate who Is indifferent to dree On the whole I sympathize sympathise with girls In admiring the teacher who Is i bly immaculate and tidy and who has bas about her the bright attractiveness of perfect health and the beauty that Is typical of womanly goodness It is our duty whether we are girls in our teens or women beyond them always to look lookas as charming and to behave as amiable as we can When the unpOpular teach teacher er forgets this fact or Ignores f it when she is wilfully eccentric or lapses Into mannerisms that are awkward and un ungainly ungainly gainly she sacrifices part art of her capital and makes It a foregone conclusion that she will not succeed as she ought But I put It to every one of you Is it fair to start new Work with a new teacher without beIng at least willing to fo give her your confidence Or If you are already dY in a class cia and do n not t like your tow her is it nevi r worth while to be h nest and candid and tn inquire re if you are not just a little bit to blame for the state of yourselves In this thil world g 8 lot of 01 trouble springs from Om mis mi misunderstandings understandings th that t might as well J er comp com to th the front and people wh should he good friends stand aloof loof and never get acquainted because they let leta a 8 trifling and nonessential thing keep them Apart A VH very thoughtful writer has baa sari that in every hum human n would there Is an innermost room and that lf if we could discover it t we should learn secrets that we never find out when we are only in inthe inthe the outer courts This my may be too philosophical for you dear clear girls but I wart want you to beliEve that there is some something something thing very sweet about the most un unpopular unpopular popular teachEr yoU have hav ever had if you will take pains to search for It Theres so much good in the worst of us usAnd usAnd And so much bad In the best of us That It III behooves any of us To talk about the re rest t of 11 us CoPyright 1906 1 by J h B Bowles |