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The Teacher's Motives and Ideals.

The teacher's life is a most arduous one. Like that of the scholar and scientist it presents few attractions. It has none of the external brilliant dramatic quality that makes the soldier's and stateman's career attractive, and as its material remuneration is relatively scanty, and the chance of promotion to a lucrative position is almost excluded, it can make little impression on an age whose watchwords are exterior success and material progress. Still, the teacher's mission is one of the greatest importance while touched with sublimity. It is in a way a "priestly" office, for the material on which the teacher works is the mind, the immortal soul of man; his object is truly "sacerdotal," namely to consecrate these souls to their Creator, to make them more God-like in wisdom and moral goodness. The teacher is also entrusted with the destinies of society; the children and youths whom he now trains will one day be the heads of families, the parents of a new generation, the men that powerfully influence public opinion for good or ill, in the press and from the platform, the citizens whose vote will make or mar their country. Surely, this is a profession that deserves the enthusiasm of noble hearts and the absorbing interest of the ablest minds.