PUNTUALITY IN TEACHERS.
By Hart
It seems as if some people came into the world a little behind time, and they never catch up. They are always and everywhere a little late. The habit is a grievous misfortune to any one. In a teacher, it is mischievous in the extreme. It betrays, too, a lack in the character, which it is difficult to describe by its true name without giving offense. If a teacher is not in his seat at the proper time, he thereby throws the care of his class upon some one else. Either some other teacher, or the superintendent, must do what properly belongs to the one absenting himself. But the superintendent and the other teachers have duties of their own to attend to. Is it right for one person thus, without leave or warning, to throw his own responsibilities upon the shoulders of another? Is there uprightness, or honesty, or any proper and conscientious sense of one's responsibility to the class, to the school, to the superintendent, thus to leave the matter at sixes and sevens, just at the most critical moment in the whole session, namely, at the time of opening? With what face can a teacher who is late himself admonish his pupils for lateness? Is not such a habit a sin? Does not the teacher who takes a class enter into a virtual engagement to be present, and to be present in time? Because the engagement is voluntary, or informal, is it any less binding on the conscience? Is it not rather, like vows to the Lord, of which no human tribunal can take cognizance, for that very reason all the more sacred? In a worldly point of view, what conduces more to the pleasantness and the success of every kind of enterprise, than punctuality on the part of all engaged? What on the other hand, is more damaging both to character and prospects, than the want of punctuality? With what unfailing exactness does our heavenly Father observe all his engagements even with sinners! How, without the failure of a second, he brings forth the sun, and the stars, and the seasons at their appointed time! Shall we not, in this as in other things, aim to be perfect, as our Father which is in heaven is perfect? There is, in the minds of Sabbath-school teachers, not only a woful apathy on this subject, but a singular misapprehension as to what constitutes punctuality. Many teachers seem to suppose that they are in time, if they are present just at the moment when the school begins. It is a great mistake. If the school begins at nine, and the teacher enters exactly at nine, he is late! He is at least ten or fifteen minutes late. That a teacher should be in his place some considerable time before the opening of school, is a truth so obvious that it seems hardly worth while to argue it. In many of the public schools, where the theory of what is right and needful takes the form of legal enactment, teachers are required to be in their school-rooms half an hour before the time of beginning school. The superintendent is not able, and does not wish, to play the school director. But surely we all serve a Master who will take cognizance of shortcomings in duty, and who has a right to something more than a half-way, grudging, scanty service. There is no time, in the session of a large school, when it is so difficult to maintain order, as in the few moments just before the bell gives the signal for school to begin. Pupils will begin to assemble half an hour before the time. They become more and more numerous as the time advances, and for the last few minutes before school-time, the main body of the scholars will be present. Yet many teachers seem to think that they are fully up to time, if they are present at the moment for opening school. Suppose every teacher should take this ground, what would be the state of the school for the fifteen minutes previous to opening? I recollect once visiting a large city-school, about fifteen minutes before the time for its opening. There were at least two hundred scholars present, and not one teacher on the premises. The scene may be easily imagined. It was a perfect bear-garden. It took half the session of that day to correct the disorder engendered in that fifteen minutes of riot.—Hart.