Article January 23, 1902 Issue

Christian Science in the Schoolroom

BY CAROLINE N. POOLE

I am grateful for the blessings that have come to me, to my family, and to many of my friends, through Christian Science; but my heart is never more full of gratitude to God and to her who has revealed to us this great Truth, than when I think of my schoolroom, and of all that it has done for me there.

John Ruskin said that every one should have a sense of happiness in his work when doing it in the best possible way. To an enthusiastic worker in any field I suppose there is nothing more disheartening than a constant feeling of dissatisfaction and disappointment, due to the consciousness that one is not working in the right direction, that he is not accomplishing what he would accomplish, that he is not producing the results which he knows must and can be produced.

During the six years that I had been teaching, previous to my introduction to Christian Science I had with me constantly this sense of discouragement and disappointment, for I knew that I was not doing my work in the best possible way. It was not only the failure to bring out the desired results that troubled me. I failed to find the help that I needed, and did not know where to look for light. I used the normal school methods conscientiously, and taught the different subjects as I had seen others teach them. My pupils went through the course of study laid out for them, and were promoted to higher grades. They gave me little trouble. No fault was found. Still I was not happy. "Was I helping my pupils to become manly boys? boys of intelligence, refinement, ability, and character? The inertia, idleness, carelessness, indifference, coarseness, irritability, and more serious evils which beset them,—what of these? were they really being overcome?" These were the questions that I could not answer to my own satisfaction.

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