Socrates drinking the hemlock is a fitting and inspiring illustration of
serenity. In the presence of certain and imminent death he was far less
perturbed than many another man in the presence of a pin-prick. And his
imperturbability betokened bigness and not stolidity. While his disciples
wept about him, he could counsel them to calmness and discourse to them
upon immortality. He wept not, nor did he shudder back from the ordeal,
but calm and masterful he raised the cup to his lips and smiled as he
drank. His serenity won immortality for his name; for wherever language
may be spoken or written, the story of Socrates will be told. History will
not permit his name to be swallowed up in oblivion, not alone because he
was the victim of ignorance and prejudice but also because his serenity,
which was the offspring and proof of his wisdom, did not fail him and his
friends in the supreme test. It is not a slight matter, then, to set up
serenity as one of the goals in our school work. Nor is it a slight matter
for the teacher to show forth this quality in all her work and so inspire
her pupils to follow in her footsteps.

We hope, of course, that the boys and girls of our schools may attain
serenity so that, even in their days of youth, urged on as they are by
youthful exuberance, they may be orderly, decorous, and kindly-disposed.
We would have them polite, as a matter of course, but we would hope that
their politeness may be a part of themselves and not a mere accretion.
They will have joy of life, but so does their teacher who is possessed of
serenity. Joy is not necessarily boisterous. The strains of music are no
less music because they are mellow. We would have our young people think
soberly but not solemnly. And when all our people, young and old, reach
the goal of serenity they will extol the teachers and the schools that
showed them the way.