If one desires to do so it is perfectly possible for him to become a
better teacher for the sake of those whom he instructs. For it is in
desire, after all, that action is born, and that which one greatly
desires he will seek after. To help the girl in her teens see the best
in life and desire it, we have said, is the business of her teacher.
Through the physical, mental, and spiritual sides of her nature, the
teacher is to lift the girl to the place where she can see for
herself.
There are so many girls all over our country, and in the farthest
corners of the earth, to-day rendering splendid service to the world,
sometimes in the shelter of their own homes caring for their children,
sometimes in great hospitals, or lonely outposts as nurses, sometimes
as teachers or missionaries, often as servants of every sort, who are
living with a broad outlook and deep, sympathetic insight, because
somewhere, back in the teens, by the patient effort of teachers they
were lifted out of their narrow selves to the place where they were
able to catch a glimpse of the real meaning of life.
Finding it impossible one day to make my way through the crowds on the
street waiting for a procession to pass, I stopped, and standing back
a little from the curb watched the eager faces gazing up the street.
Right in front of me stood a group of men in their working clothes,
and in their midst a tall, broad-shouldered expressman, explaining the
reason for the “parade.” In a moment the sound of brass instruments
burst upon us, a line of policemen swung into sight, the crowd of
small boys following close beside the uniformed men, their eyes on the
flying banners, and keeping step as only boys can.
Suddenly above the noises of the street, above the commands of the
officers and the music of the band, I heard a little, thin, shrill
voice from the crowded corner where the men stood, cry out, “Lift me
up so I can see!” It was a street child, a little girl, whose dress
and face showed that neither money, time, nor thought had been
expended upon her. She looked so tiny as she stood there trying to
peer through the crowd at the procession in the street. But she was
not afraid. Again it came, “Lift me up, I say, so I can see!” Eager,
insistent, filled with desire, the voice attracted the attention of
the men. There was a moment’s hesitation, and then with that look one
loves to see upon the face of a strong man, the expressman stooped and
picked her up. As he held her there, high above the heads of the
others, one little arm went round his neck, and she “held on tight”
while the other hand pointed at horses, banners and men, and she
called out again and again in her joy and delight, “Now I can see, I
can see everything!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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