''COJVFBSSIOJVS'' OF A TEACHER. 621 



pending its energies upon wortliy subjects of thouglit, it is diffi- 

 cult to see how the results of a given period of study whether 

 two, four, or ten years, or a whole lifetime could be very unequal 

 in the total sum, whether these years be passed in the normal 

 school, or in the college, or in one's own well-furnished library, 

 or in a pioneer's cabin with only a few " best " books that are 

 pored over and pondered till they become part of one's very life. 

 Not that the results would be alike in the several cases. Far from 

 it. But all disabilities have their compensations ; and perhaps 

 the total gain for a like amount of effort may not vary so much 

 as is sometimes supposed. 



For my own school education to make a more personal " con- 

 fession " I had a desire for the seminary course that some of my 

 young friends entered upon (it was before the days of the multi- 

 plication of women's colleges) ; but, in reviewing the results of 

 school life after the lapse of years, I see no reason to blame the 

 dispensation of Providence, which, by making me one of a large 

 family of children, caused the financial straitness that sent me 

 to a normal school instead. The normal school taught me how to 

 study and deepened the desire for study that I already possessed. 

 Even if the school had done nothing else, it would have deserved 

 my lasting gratitude. 



But it did other things for me. It opened before me a definite 

 line of work worthy of my best endeavors. It gave me a practi- 

 cal touch with some of the phases of school work and saved me 

 from some of the crudities and mistakes that hamper a young 

 teacher's efforts. It did not save me from all such mistakes. It 

 has been truly said, " No matter what the training, every teacher 

 needs experience." But I am sure that the normal school gave me 

 some aids to my work as a teacher that I should not have been 

 likely to receive in any other kind of school. 



There is one view of the relation of normal- school graduates 

 to the teaching profession that may be illustrated by the follow- 

 ing incident: A young lady, after graduating at a high school, 

 took the classical or four years' course at a Now England normal 

 school, and afterward taught successfully for twelve years in the 

 high schools of Massachusetts. Then came family changes, fol- 

 lowed by a period of enforced rest. When she was able to resume 

 her profession she first took a year of special study in a private 

 institution of high reputation, without remaining long enough, 

 however, to receive the diploma of the " college." 



She then proposed to enroll herself in the leading teachers' 

 agencies as a candidate for a high- school position. But she was 

 met with the statement : " It is not easy for a teacher to obtain a 

 high-school engagement unless she is a college graduate. Let us 

 advise you to turn your attention to school supervision, or to the 



