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A Typical Day in the School-Room

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 9, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 19.

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A Typical Day in the School-Room

By NANNIE PAUL

A COLD, snowy day the children come into the little room with their feet wet and cold. Some are poorly clad and shivering. In the small stove is a fire made of green wood. All gather around this, each striving for the nearest and warmest place for heat and comfort. The teacher waits to see, under the existing circumstances, how and when order can be obtained, meanwhile removing wet shoes.
It is time for the study. Only a few have books to enter the classes to which they are assigned. Johnny is told to look on with Mary or Jimmie and get his lesson the 'best he can. The geography class is ready to recite. There is no globe by which the shape and movement of the earth can be shown, or to locate the divisions of land and water. His little geography, or his neighbor's, as the case may be, is the only help. The arithmetic class is called, and they file up to the small blackboard, made of pine boards, out of which the pitch oozes in some places. There is not sufficient room for the pupils to work at the board. Johnny measures his space, taking one half or two thirds, if not corrected, while the others take what they can get.
But with it all there are blessings even in a poorly equipped school. Children from homes where prayer is not wont to be made, when they hear the petitions of some of the more favored in that respect, may be led to seek God for forgiveness of sin. The weekly missionary meetings held at the opening exercises may be seasons of joy and soul rest, when every pupil, from the least to the greatest, testifies to the goodness of God.
The most essential thing is to go from the prayer room to the schoolroom. The enemy may be routed and the victory gotten before going to school. Our greatest need is to realize that our work throughout should have in it the paramount thought of sending to all the world the witnessing message of Jesus' soon coming. In the reading, geography, grammar, and whatever is taught, the one aim should be to make the student better fitted to obtain and carry forward among his fellow students and friends, at home and abroad, the influence of the Spirit of God.
NANNIE PAUL.