From a Trachku's Window, 307 



To apply the well-worn story of Dr. Temple at Rugby, he may be a 

 beast, but he must be a just beast ! In the third place a master, to 

 be successful with South African boys, needs, in my opinion, great 

 patience, especially with the backward or dull boys ; in a worrl, he 

 must study individual character. Again, he should never lose his 

 temper. If you lose your temper you are lost : in the case of a new 

 master especiall}'^, boys are eagerly on the watch for this, and they 

 know that the victory lies with them if they can succeed in putting 

 the master in a temper, or making him lose his self-control. It is 

 unnecessary to elaborate this ; all experienced schoolmasters will bear 

 me out on this point. Imperturbable good-temper has a most para- 

 lysing effect upon the insubordinate schoolboy. It seldom fails. 

 Humour is also a most useful weapon in the schoolmaster's armoury ; 

 and by humour I hasten to disavow any idea of sarcasm, the latter 

 being a contemptible and unfair weapon. How often do we see a little 

 saving humour or humorous view of things clear a strained " situation," 

 and relieve tension. A little quiet humour goes a long way in solving 

 difficulties. Then, again, a master who wishes to get the best work out 

 of his boys, and to make the wheels run smoothly, must show sympathy 

 with the boy. He nmst try and remember that he was a boy once 

 himself and must come down to the boy's level, not try and show off 

 his own superior knowledge or cleverness. He must interest himself 

 in their work and in their daily games and interests. Boys will work 

 for a master who does this, who will not do a stroke for the man they 

 regard as a tyrant or a pedant. Again, I firmly believe in trusting 

 boys, and I have seldom known it fail. There may occur isolated 

 instances where the trust is abused, but these are rare, and the balance 

 is soon redressed by public opinion ; boys like to be trusted and tliey 

 respond to it. Punishments pure and simple are, to my mind, the sign 

 too frequently of a weak master. The best men never need them. 

 Impositions are senseless, and also defeat the end in view. In five 

 years I have only set one in school, and I am sure they could be done 

 aAvay with. They are, as a rule, the refuge of a weak master. Patience, 

 humour, trust and fairness will biing about with complete success and 

 absence from friction what thousands of "lines" will never accomplish. 

 Another safeguard with the colonial boy, and this applies more to him 

 than to the boy in England, is to fill up his time in school ; have a 

 definite scheme of work, and work at a good pressure all through the 

 hour. The boy soon falls into line when he sees that it is to his own 

 benefit, and out here what " pays " commands respect. 



In conclusion I must ask the indulgence of my hearers if this 

 paper has been too discursive and if I have run off the track too often. 

 I do not claim for it that it has treated the subject scientifically, and I 

 have not attempted any very minute criticism ; but what I have put 

 before you is the outcome of my experience gained under happy 

 circumstances and aiuid enviable surroundings. It comes from my 

 heart and, if I have not shown enough discrimination or scientific 

 analysis, I can at any rate claim, I think, to have treated the subject 

 with sympathy. The title of my paper is the Schoolmaster, but I am 



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