The Story of a Great SchoolmasterWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
History
The Story of a Great Schoolmaster
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Sanderson, F. W. (Frederick William), 1857-1922; School principals -- Great Britain -- Biography
'And boys will go out into the factory, or mine, or business, or
profession, imbued with the spirit of the active love of humanity. Some
will be called to lead, as Moses was called. They, too, will plant
the "Tent of Meeting," the "Temple of Vision." A return with a new
view-point will be made to the temple of ages gone by. The Assyrian
frescoed his walls with sculptures of the deeds of his hero-kings; the
Franciscans frescoed the walls of their chapels with the life of Jesus
as told in the Gospels--the life of the Divine builder, of Him who came
to restore a kingdom, by whose life and death a new world was created.
'But the Temple of Vision of to-day; the new Tent of Meeting. What
of it? The new home of vision will be frescoed with the thoughts of
to-day, changing into the thoughts of to-morrow. Generations of workers
will go up into the mount, and to them, too, will be shown the pattern.
"See that thou make them after their pattern which hath been shown thee
in the mount."'
§ 2
Now this is a very great and novel idea, the idea of a modern temple
set like a miner's lantern in the forefront of school or college to
light its task in the world. It rounds off and completes Sanderson's
vision of a modern school; it is logically essential to that vision.
But meanwhile what was happening to the school-chapel project?
For, after all, in the older type of school, the chapel with its
matins and evensong, its _Onward Christian Soldiers_ and suchlike
stirring hymns, its confirmations and first communions, was in a rather
dreamy, formless mechanical way undertaking to do precisely what the
new House of Vision was also to do, that is, to give a direction to
the whole subsequent life. But was it the same direction? The normal
school-chapel points up--not very effectively one feels; the House
of Vision was to point onward. Sanderson had a crowded, capacious
mind, but sooner or later the question behind these two discrepant
objectives, whether men are to live for heaven or for creation, was
bound to have come to an issue.
His mental process was at first syncretic. He began to think of a
school-chapel, not as a place for formal services but as a place of
meditation and resolve. He began to speak of the chapel also as though
it was to be 'the tent on the mount,' the place of vision. He betrayed
a growing hostility to the intoned prayers, the trite responses,
the tuneful empty hymns, the Anglican vacuity of the normal chapel
procedure. Had he lived to guide the building of Oundle chapel I
believe it would have diverged more and more from any precedent, more
and more in the direction of that House of Vision, that the premature
and insufficient Eric Yarrow building had so pitifully failed to
realise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account