Yet it is not to be assumed that the teacher, more than the clergyman,

is to labor without pecuniary compensation; for, while money should not
be the sole object of any man"s life, it is, under the influence of our
civilization, essential to the happiness of us all
Yet it is not to be assumed that the teacher, more than the clergyman,
is to labor without pecuniary compensation; for, while money should not
be the sole object of any man"s life, it is, under the influence of our
civilization, essential to the happiness of us all. Wealth, properly
acquired and properly used, may become a means of self-education. It
purchases relief from the harassing toil of uninterrupted manual labor.
It is the only introduction we can have to the thoroughfares of travel
by which we are made acquainted personally with the globe that we
inhabit. It brings to our firesides books, paintings, and statuary, by
which we learn something of the world as it is and as it was. It gives
us the telescope and the microscope, by whose agency we are able to
appreciate, even though but imperfectly, the immensity of creation on
the one hand, and its infinity on the other. The teacher is not to
labour without money, nor to despise it more than other men; and the
public might as well expect the free services of the minister, lawyer,
physician, or farmer, as to expect the gratuitous or cheap education of
their children. While the teacher is educating others, he must also
educate himself. This he cannot do without both leisure and money. The
advice of Iago is, therefore, good advice for teachers: 'Go, make money.
* * Put money enough in your purse.' The teacher"s motives should be
above mere gain; though this view of the subject does not, as some might
infer, lead to the conclusion that he ought to labor for inadequate
compensation.


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