The Silver State

AMONG THE SCHOOLS.
What is Said of Sierra District.

EDITOR SILVER STATE: A horseback ride of ten miles east from Mill City brings me to the school of Sierra District No. 5, located at the town of Dan Glen. This is one of the oldest districts in the county. Its organization dates back to the time of the adoption of our State Constitution. The Board of Trustees have lately purchased one of the old buildings of the place and fitted it up for a school-house, and having made it comfortable and supplied it with furniture of the most approved modern style, its internal appearance is quite cozy. Eight names appear upon the register, with the prospect of another entry shortly. Seven attend regularly, showing a clearer sheet on that score than any school I have visited. Their teacher, Mr. Sumner B. Darnell, has, I am pleased to note, the marked characteristics of a natural and thorough educator. His "theory and practice" of teaching young children the rudiments measure up more nearly to my ideal teacher than anything I have seen for a long time. The number of pages scanned by a pupil is no measure of his or her progress and mental growth. It is what children learn, comprehend and thoroughly digest that furnishes the material for the superstructure of a solid education. Mr. Darnell seems to be fully awake to a realization of these facts, so that in his assignment of lessons and recitations, all there is in a particular subject the child is required to master before it is allowed to pass on. For instance, if a reading lesson is to be prepared, the orthography, accent, emphasis, punctuation, inflection and modulation of voice, all are to be considered, developed in the recitation, and impressed by means of reiteration by the teacher and blackboard exercises. The teacher who would succeed in this important and honorable profession must not over-estimate the ability and attainments of his students, but must adapt his instructions to the capacity and needs of his pupils, not only in the beginning of any particular branch or course of study, but in entering upon each of its successive gradations of advancement. He should commence with the simplest elements of the matter in hand, and give a clear and distinct knowledge of them in the natural order of unfolding. To do this requires tact and a large stock of patience. Not all who aspire to this profession possess the ability, either natural or acquired, to work his school up to the discipline of mind. Much wisdom and sound discretion upon the part of Boards of Trustees need to be exercised in their selections of this class of teachers. This responsibility upon their part is all the more weighty for the reason that the legal right of choosing is lodged with them exclusively. Boards of Examination are powerless to give full protection to the schools in the matter of efficiency and executive ability adequate to this high standard of excellence. They cannot grapple with practical demonstration. Applicants, who are previously employed by Trustees, appearing before the Examining Board are entitled to a certificate if they answer correctly the prescribed percentage of the abstract questions that are propounded. A certificate in the teacher's pocket is not, therefore, conclusive evidence that the holder is qualified and capable of doing justice to the work of any particular district. Trustees must be the final judges of this work. They should visit their schools often and scrutinize closely the system of order and study, and be not backward in effecting a change where it becomes apparent to them that the best interests of the school demand it at their hands. As I bid adieu to this school and wend my way down this grand old canyon for home, my thoughts are turned back to days long past. Twenty years ago the writer wended his way to this camp and struck his tent. Turning away from the sickening scenes of fratricidal war, he had left the home of his childhood and crossed the plains hopeful to find a quiet retreat where he might prosecute his profession undisturbed. Young, ambitious and full of vigor, the discoveries of mines and fabulous reports of their richness, attracted him here with his little family, to share the fortunes of a new and undeveloped country. Here the cruel and unrelenting hand of disease was first laid upon him, to crush his hopes, blast his prospects and to remain with him as an incubus to thwart his original purposes and aims in life, and lead him along devious paths to consummations far below those of which he dreamed in younger years and brighter days. Here, too, the messenger of death first knocked at the door of his then unbroken family and called to its cold embrace his second child, whose remains now sweetly rest upon the hill overlooking this moldering town, once so thrilled by joyous mirth and animated by business enterprise. Sleep on, sweet cherub, let the gentle breezes waft fragrance from the wild flowers over thy grave till your afflicted father shall have served his day and generation and be permitted to join thee in the "Better Land."

C. CHENOWETH,
County School Superintendent.