Mr. Hall's Address 199 



teaching the individual product of the teacher him- 

 self. I should like to see every school with a 

 speciality. Perhaps one man may be fond of insects, 

 another plants, another fruit-trees, and so on, but let 

 each work out his own individuality, find a line for 

 himself, and he will teach best if he interests his 

 children in the thing he is keen about himself. What 

 I would say to the teacher who asks for a subject is, 

 just cast about, read one or two good books, and you 

 will get an idea of something that interests you; 

 think that out for yourself, use your eyes, do a few 

 experiments during the remaining session, and you 

 will be in a position to begin to take your children 

 along those lines as a teaching- course next year. 

 The work demands a certain sacrifice on the part of 

 the teacher it means giving up time and thought, 

 and it means a certain amount of hard personal work. 

 Have we any right to call upon teachers, burdened as 

 they are with multifarious duties at school, to make 

 this sacrifice of time and attention to a new subject? 

 Well, I think you will agree with me that that is a 

 point of view the teacher will repudiate. If he can 

 convince himself that this kind of teaching is going 

 to help his pupils as citizens in their lives afterwards, 

 I think he will give it. There never has been a 

 teacher worth his salt who did not feel at the bottom 

 of his heart that a great deal of his work was a 

 matter of self-sacrifice, and when he was doing his 

 best he was giving something that was not in the 

 bond and was personal to himself. If I can only 

 convince some of you that there is value to the mind 

 and to the soul of our children in this kind of work, 

 I know that I shall not appeal to you in vain for the 



