Teaching is a profession that is particularly the province of the
unmarried woman. The best teachers are those who have chosen it as their
life-work, and have therefore thoroughly prepared themselves for it.
A girl who takes a school position merely for the money that there is in
it, expecting to give it up in a year or so, when she hopes to marry, is
inflicting a grievous wrong on the children under her charge. There are
other remunerative employments where her lack of serious intention will
not be productive of lasting injury. Lack of preparation for teaching
generally goes with this lack of intention, doubling the injury. Against
this the examination for the school certificate is not always a
sufficient safeguard, since many girls are clever enough to "cram up"
sufficiently to pass the examination who have not had the perseverance
necessary to master the subjects they are to teach, not to speak of that
interest in the broad subject of pedagogy, without which the application
of its principles in teaching the various branches is certain to be
neglected. Enthusiasm in her profession, a whole-hearted interest in
each pupil as an individual personality should characterize every
teacher, for next to the mother, she plays the most important part in
the development of the coming generation.

There is a general complaint that the salaries of school-teachers are
too low, measured by the rewards of persons of corresponding ability in
other professions. When, however, the certainty of pay and the virtual
assurance that the employment is for life if good service is rendered,
are considered, together with the respect accorded the teacher by the
community and the fact that her work necessarily tends to the
cultivation of her mind, the lot of the school-teacher must be reckoned
as one of the most favored. Americans are more prone than any other
people to spend money on education, and this spirit is ever increasing,