Association with Loafers
Many a man teacher has thought in order to be a good mixer, he must be friendly, or social and linger with the drug store crowd, or stop at the street corner—where usually the loafers congregate—to take part in the conversation. Not always, but generally the topic of conversation is idle gossip, or worse than that, “smutty” stories are being told. To listen is immoral; to indulge is worse. But, should the teacher pass by without even so much as noticing the crowd? By no means. He should cultivate the good will of all, even of the street corner gangs. Then what must he do? He can give a friendly greeting and make a pleasant remark, turning the tide of conversation toward right channels.
The story is told of Ulysses S. Grant, that when he was a boy, he came one evening into one of the grocery stores of his home town, Galesburg, Ill., and soon after entering, heard one of the loafers say, he would tell a certain story if there were no women in the store. The idler craned his neck and asked if there were any women near. At this point, the youthful Grant said, “No, but there is a gentleman present.” The story was not told. The writer recalls a superintendent of schools, who attended a Men’s Church Banquet and told such offensive stories that even men, who before thought little about telling an objectionable story, were disgusted. The influence of this superintendent was so extensive that he led many others to tell evil stories. The boys of the entire school, as a consequence, were addicted to this vicious habit. Many of them admitted to the writer the evil habit, and pointed to the superintendent as the one who had influenced them to do what they considered evil and immoral.
Further admission from the boys revealed that many of the girls told shockingly offensive stories and that some of the boys followed the evil stories by the evil actions suggested. All because one man did not have the moral stamina required of a decent teacher and superintendent. To conclude, no teacher—man or woman—can afford to gossip, to talk about anything, except that which the most refined and exacting mind may hear without criticism.
There can be no question as to the impropriety of idle gossip and bad stories, but there may be included the so-called “yarn,” and attempts at humor designed to create laughter at the expense of a friend on account of unavoidable defects, affected speech, “smart” expressions, and the like. To the average child the above deviations from the correct usage of language are repulsive. There are teachers who have the happy characteristics of being humorous and can employ that trait to good advantage but it should not be attempted, if it causes an auditor pain. The teacher should use only good English; that is, pure English which will serve the teacher who is inclined to indulge in trivialities of speech.