Excerpt from The Educational Journal of Virginia, 1886, Vol. 17 Holland says I am sorry for the man who did not have, at some period of his childhood or youth. At least one teacher who filled him with the enthusiasm of study and brought him into love with knowl edge and into a genuine delight in the use of his intellectual powers a teacher who could be systematic without becoming mechanical, and who inspired in the pupil the love of the good and an ambition to excel. Now, it is hardly to be expected that every boy should have a genius for a teacher. It is seldom that a school or college secures the services of an Emma Willard or a Mark Hopkins; but is it not true that every teacher possesses an element of personal influence which might be exerted °with far greater efficiency upon those who are taught? And is it not also true that this power of personal influ ence, or magnetism, will arouse the pupil to a vigor of growth not otherwise attainable? Every superintendent, or principal of a large school, must have observed with pain the antagonism constantly springing up between certain teachers and their pupils. He must also have realized how much the children lose from the neglect or inability of teachers to enter with genuine sympathy into the daily life and work of those whom they instruct. In some cases a chasm yawns between them too wide and too deep to be often crossed. In others, though no barrier separates. The intercourse between teacher and pupil is too formal and perfunctory to afford personal stimulus or encouragement. Let us see why this important factor in education is so often lacking, and then consider how it may be cultivated and utilized by inexperienced or inefficient teachers under our charge. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.