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Health and Efficiency
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not take upon himself responsibilities outside of his schoolwork
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which will so tax him physically and mentally that his nervous
system will be unbalanced, for by this course he will be unfitted
to deal with minds and cannot do justice either to himself or to his
students.
Sometimes the teacher carries into the schoolroom the shadow
of darkness that has been gathering on his soul. He has been over-
taxed and is nervous, or dyspepsia has colored everything a gloomy
hue. He enters the schoolroom with quivering nerves and irritated
stomach. Nothing seems to be done to please him; he thinks that his
pupils are bent on showing him disrespect; and his sharp criticisms
and censure are given on the right hand and on the left. Perhaps
one or more of the students commits errors or is unruly. The case is
exaggerated in his mind, and he is severe and cutting in his reproof
of the one whom he thinks at fault. And the same injustice afterward
prevents him from admitting that he has taken a wrong course. To
maintain the dignity of his position, he has lost a golden opportunity
to manifest the spirit of Christ, perhaps to gain a soul for heaven.
It is the duty of each teacher to do all in his power to present
his body to Christ a living sacrifice, physically perfect, as well as
morally free from defilement, that Christ may make him a co-worker
with Himself in the salvation of souls.
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