Neatness

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 12, 1908

THIS implies cleanliness of the person. If some who presume to teach were not proverbial for their slovenliness, I would not dwell on this point. But here I must be allowed great plainness of speech, even at the expense of incurring the charge of excessive nicety; for it is by attending to a few little things that one becomes a strictly neat person.

The morning ablution, then, should never be omitted, and the comb for the hair and brush for the clothes should always be called into use before the teacher presents himself to the family, or to his school. Most teachers would very much promote their own health by washing the whole surface of the body every morning in cold water. This is now done by very many of the most enlightened teachers, as well as by others. When physiology is better understood, this practise will be far more general. To no class of persons is it more essential than to the teacher; for on account of his confinement, often in a poorly ventilated room with half a hundred children during the day, very much more is demanded of the exhalants in him than in others. His only safety is in a healthy action of the skin.

The teeth should be attended to. A brush and clean water have saved many a set of teeth. It is bad enough to witness the deplorable neglect of these important organs so prevalent in the community; but it is extremely mortifying to see a filthy set of teeth in the mouth of the teacher of our youth.

The nails, too, I am sorry to say, are often neglected by some of our teachers, till their ebony tips are anything but ornamental. This matter is made worse, when, in the presence of the family or of the school, the penknife is brought into requisition to remove that which should have received attention at the time of washing in the morning. The teacher should remember that it is a vulgar habit to pare or clean the nails while in the presence of others, and especially during conversation with them.

The teacher should be neat in his dress. I do not urge that his dress should be expensive. His income ordinarily will not admit of this. He may wear a very plain dress, but it should not be in any way singular in its fashion. All I ask is that his clothing should be in good taste, and always clean. A slovenly dress, covered with dust or spotted with grease, is never so much out of its proper place as when it clothes the teacher. — Selected.