You look into the face of a mirror, and an image is before
you--more truthful, if less flattering, than that which the
photographer produces. You pass on, and another comes and looks
into the same mirror; but it tells no tales of you, revives no
recollection. A thousand persons pass before the glass, and when
the day is done, it is just as brilliant and just as vacant as
when it made its first reflection. Do we desire a likeness that
shall endure? Science must come to our aid with its camera and
its chemicals; the image must be caught upon a sensitized plate
or film and then fixt so it shall not fade.
In like manner the teacher may hold up a truth before an
untrained pupil. It may be beautiful and inspiring, as reflected
in the mirror of the pupil’s mind. He may understand it, assent
to it, even enjoy it; but he may also forget it as he looks
upon the next picture. To prevent such loss, it becomes the
teacher’s function to see that his pupil’s mind is not a mere
mirror from whose polished surface glide these bright images in
swift succession, but a sensitized plate on which truths may
be photographed and fixt. (Text.)--D. O. S. LOWELL,
“Proceedings of the Religious Education Association,” 1905.
(3178)
=Teacher’s Kindness=--See EFFACEMENT OF SINS.
=Teaching=--See NEGATIVE TEACHING.
=Teaching Sympathetically=--See SYMPATHY IN TEACHING.