=Real interests.=--In the morning the pupils had objective snow in which
they rollicked and gamboled in glee. All day long they had subjective
snow in which the teacher with fine technique caused them to revel; and,
in the evening, their concept of snow was so much enlarged that they
experienced a fresh access of delight. And that day was their snow
epiphany. On that day there was no break in the stream of life at the
schoolhouse door. There was no supplanting of the real interests of the
morning with fictitious interests of the school, to be endured with ill
grace until the real interests of the morning could be resumed in the
evening. On the contrary, by some magic that only the vitalized teacher
knows, every exercise of the day seemed to have snow as its center. Snow
seemed to be the major in the reading, in the spelling, in the
geography, and in the history.
On that day they became acquainted with Hannibal and his struggles
through the snow of the Alps. On that day they learned of the avalanche,
its origin, its devastating power, and, of course, its spelling. On that
day they read "Snow Bound" and the snow poems of Longfellow and Lowell.
Thus the stream of life was clarified, rectified, and amplified as it
passed through the school, and, incidentally, the teacher and the school
were glorified in their thoughts.
=Circus day.=--But snow is merely typical. On other days other interests
are paramount.
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