[As a matter of interest to the friends of the Commission we publish on this and succeeding pages the form of contract made with teachers, and the general instructions that accompany them.] COMMISSION. REV. CHARLES R. BLISS, GENERAL SEC'Y. Office of the New West Education Commission, 151 Washington Street, Chicago, .18. To M Having duly examined and approved your credentials, and being assured that you possess the acquisitions and the various qualities that fit you to become a Christian Teacher, THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION hereby appoint you to take charge of... dollars per month. to receive. PROVIDED, The duties of the station shall be fulfilled during the time specified, and provided the Commission shall have the right to change your place of labor during the year for adequate reasons, if it shall so decide. It is understood that there shall be a recess at the holidays and another at the close of the Spring term, each to be of not less than one nor more than two weeks, and that the month of June shall be construed as a full month if the school ends not earlier than the 14th day, unless by special arrangement. The School Year shall not be less than thirty-four weeks nor more than forty in length. The terms of this contract are such, that you are required, 1. To keep a careful record of the names, ages and attendance of all pupils in your school, and, near the end of the year, embody the same in a yearly report, as per blanks to be furnished you, and send it before your school closes, to the Secretary or the Field Agent of the Commission. 2. To keep a careful and full record of all gifts received from other friends than the Commission, whether of money, clothing, books, apparatus or magazines, and embody the same in the yearly report. 3. To write a monthly letter to the Secretary of the Commission, giving a brief account of your work, noting successes and difficulties and incidents that come under your notice. 4. To use all reasonable measures to raise money upon the field for the support of the school. 5. To read carefully and follow as nearly as possible the General Instructions printed upon this sheet. The Treasurer of this Commission will forward to you the sum stipulated in this contract, monthly by check, which you are requested to acknowledge immediately on its receipt. You will meet with no difficulty in getting checks cashed by bankers or generally by storekeepers. By order of the Directors. Secretary. President. I hereby accept the above appointment, and agree to fulfill all the duties imposed upon me as above. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS. The Directors wish you to bear in mind that the phrase "A New West School" includes much more than the term "School" signifies elsewhere; while it has this meaning, it also embraces a SUNDAY SCHOOL, A CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR SOCIETY, a PRAYER MEETING, an INDUSTRIAL CLASS, a READING ROOM, and whatever else you may devise as likely to awaken interest and make your school a source of power. Your object is to gain a wide and healthful influence, and this you will do-not by engaging in controversies and discussions, not by remarking on the low condition of society about you and contrasting it with that in more favored sections, and not by assailing views that may seem precious to others, but rather by the quiet and persistent use of the instrumentalities placed in your hand. Remember that the best method to attack error is to impart truth; to disarm prejudice is to exhibit charity; and to develop and win minds and hearts is to stimulate enquiry on all useful subjects, and point out the benign results of the religion of Christ as they are exemplified in Christian institutions, Christian homes and Christian lives. The Directors wish you to use great discretion in laying out your work, to the end that you may not tax too heavily your physical powers. You will constantly see before you more work than you can possibly perform, and be tempted to take far too great burdens upon yourself. Instances of over work and consequent loss of health have not been few since our work commenced. Of course you are expected to make your school excellent. New West schools have succeeded because of their superiority to other schools about them, and if their quality should deteriorate the pupils would leave, and our influence would be hopelessly lost. The better your school, the better will be your opportunity to bring the highest influence to bear upon your pupils, and the readier access you will gain to the hearts of parents. A school, however, is never good unless it develops character, and your plans should be laid in view of this grand purpose. The Sunday School, the Christian Endeavor Society, the prayer meeting and visiting among the parents have each its place, and a plan of work including all these lines of effort should be laid as soon as you have obtained full control of your school and time. You have entered a service that is and must be exacting, and while you are in it, it will tax all your resources of body, mind and spirit; but be careful so to arrange and perform your work as to sacrifice the powers of neither. We wish to impress upon you the great importance of conciliating those who may look upon your coming with disfavor. While never participating in amusements that are below the dignity of a Christian Missionary, make much use of social opportunities. Never compromise your position or belief as a Chris tian, but do not make differences of belief a reason for standing aloof from those about you. Visit the parents, and converse with them about their children. Lead the people to co-operate with you in the effort to improve the minds and habits of the community. Convey the impression that you come as a friend, to offer the aid and sympathy of friends. Visit the "sick and the fatherless," and comfort the bereaved. So far as you can, relieve through the aid of eastern friends the necessities of those in want. Convince all with whom you come in contact that the tie of common humanity is, in your view, very strong, and that you serve a Master whose pity and love embrace all mankind. We stand upon the ground that moral and religious subjects have the place of chief honor and importance in the school room. No education is either safe for the individual or the state that is not based on faith in God and the obligation to serve Him. We expect you, therefore, to take frequent occasion, directly and incidentally, to commend to the pupils Christ as a Saviour and Example, and Christian principle as the guide of life. Explain in detail, from time to time, the practical working of Christian truth. Show what sort of home life it would produce, how it would exhibit itself to schoolmates, teachers, parents, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies. When reproving faults, base everything not on the ground of mere good morals, but on the authority of God, and the privilege of obedience to Christ. Study the pupils as individuals, and seek by private and personal conversation to led them to Christ. You will receive from us a circular of instructions, giving more minute directions upon this important matter. We take a very deep interest in the work of the Home Missionary Society in the field of your labor. The special and immediate object of the efforts of that Society is the establishment of churches, and this is the ultimate object to which you are to shape all your labors. We wish you, therefore, to co-operate with all its missionaries in all possible ways. Give to instruction on week-days so decided a Christian tone as to suggest the church as a higher sphere of duty into which the pupils should find their way. Omit no proper opportunity to promote conversions, and especially use the Sunday School, the Christian Endeavor Society and the prayer-meeting as means for leading the way into the church. Let the missionaries of the Home Missionary Society feel that they can depend upon your sympathetic and unfailing support of all measures that promise to be useful in the grand work of building up the kingdom of Christ. The work committed to them and that committed to you are in purpose and in some of their instrumentalities one, and a spirit of the most hearty co-operation should therefore pervade the mutual relations existing between them and you. Especially do we desire and very strongly urge that you show yourself a "pattern of good works." Permit us to remind you that you are not merely a teacher, but a Christian missionary, sent forth to your present work and sustained in it by Christians whose chief motive in doing this is to fulfill the command, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." It will be an infinite joy to us if you meet the full requirements of your position, not only in direct and positive labors, but also in countenancing only elevating pursuits and pleasures, in cultivating a scrupulous habit of Sabbath observance, and in leading a consistent and devoted Christian life. The responsibilities of your position are very great, and you will constantly need the support of a faith made firm and strong by familiar acquaintance with God's word and earnest prayer for divine help. Solicitous for your welfare, and desiring for you a large measure of success, we commend you with fraternal sympathy and hope to the favor and grace of God. By order of the Directors. Secretary. TO THE TEACHERS OF THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. RELIGIOUS EXERCISES. It must never be forgotten that New West Schools are sustained by Christian people who deem religious results of the very highest importance, and while the Directors do not desire to have the teacher discharge any religious duties in a narrow, sectarian spirit, they do expect that they will use all proper endeavors to instil into the minds of the pupils the great truths of the Bible. For this purpose there should be devotional exercises at the opening of each morning service, extending over at least a quarter of an hour, and great care should be taken to make such exercises instructive and impressive. Rightly conducted, they prepare the minds of the pupils for study, aid greatly in discipline, and connect the duties and facts of this world with higher spiritual interests. Aside from these exercises of a definite character, use should be made of incidental occurrences to set forth the principles of the Gospel, and Scripture texts should be brought into frequent prominence as illustrating the relations of men to God and to each other. Out of school hours, meetings for singing and prayer are recommended. The Directors think highly of Societies of Christian Endeavor, and commend their formation when it is feasible. The Sabbath School is especially important, and great care should be taken to impress the duty of personal religion upon the pupils. The Sabbath School is the seed of the Church, and it is the leading hope of the supporters of these schools that they will grow into churches. Below will be found an outline of morning devotional exercises, which is given, not as a fixed order, but as a guide and an illustration of what is desired. Teachers should exercise their own discretion in making variations from this order. Morning devotional exercises should consist of three parts: Scripture, Singing and Prayer. The order of these can be varied: (1) Scripture can be wholly read by the teacher; (2) alternately by teacher and pupils; (3) or wholly by pupils. (4) Psalms can be taught; (5) Commandments; (6) Beatitudes; (7) Such chapters as John xiv.; (8) Proverbs; (9) Alphabetical texts— texts commencing with A, B, C, etc.; (10) Such texts as are given at the close of this circular. Let all repeat, with bowed heads, the Lord's Prayer, and before this let the teacher offer an extemporaneous prayer. Let some devotional hymns be sung from any hymn book or hymnal. Chants are appropriate, sung either by school or choir. Processional hymns in some cases are allowable. Let variations occur in the exercises every few days or weeks. Whatever you do or say, let all the pupils see that your words come from the heart, and that these devotional exercises are not empty words. The pupils of the entire school should be together, if possible, in morning exercises. It is proper that at the close of the Friday afternoon session you should invite all to Sabbath School on Sunday, adding, however, when in a nonMormon community, that all are invited "who do not regularly attend other Christian Sabbath Schools." At the close of school on any day it is proper and right to invite pupils to the school prayer meeting or Society of Christian Endeavor. Other texts can be taught to children, especially in primary and intermediate grades, as : On Politeness. Matt. 7, 12. - Lev. 19, 32; Rom. 12, 10; I Peter 3, 8; Matt. 10, 12; On Treatment of Animals.-Prov. 12, 10; Matt. 5, 7; Luke 12, 6; Deut. 25, 4. Playground Texts.-Ex. 20, 7; Eph. 4, 32; Matt. 5, 9; Prov. 6, 16-19; Prov. 12, 22; Matt. 5, 8. On Study.-Eccl. 9, 10; Rom. 12, 11; Eph. 6, 6; Gen. 16, 13. Texts to Meet Temptation.-Prov. 1, 10; James 4, 7; Heb. 2, 18. Secretary. |