To a Discouraged Teacher
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Dear friend,
I am sorry that you did not get the little objectionable feature eliminated from the school board's record. But it is all over now, and you must not mind it. It will never be heard of outside of the board, and, if it should be, it will not do you any harm. I have learned long since that, when a person's life is right — the little annoyances that come from other people, do one no harm, and the wrongs done by others, if let alone, if left in God's hands, bring only good and blessing in the end, to the one who suffers. This is the lesson I tried to teach you, you remember, when you were here. It is true, part of God's own Word.
What I want to help you to do now, my child, is to lay the matter out of your own hands, into God's hands — and give it no thought. Forget it, let Christ take care of it, and you will never hear of it again excepting in the way of blessing and good. It is said that one day Ruskin was talking with a friend who picked up a beautiful and costly embroidered handkerchief which had a great ink spot at the center of it. The lady was very much vexed and annoyed at the carelessness of the person who had thus spoiled the handkerchief. She said to Mr. Ruskin that it was a present from some dear friend and would never be of any use to her any more. Mr. Ruskin said nothing — but quietly put the handkerchief in his pocket. Some days after, he called on his friend and handed her the handkerchief, and, lo! he had put on it in India ink, a beautiful drawing, using the ink blot at the center as the basis of the ornamentation. The effect was exquisite and the lady expressed her surprise in unmeasured terms.
That is the way God does with the things that touch our lives, if only we leave them in his hands. He uses the very wrong that has been done to us; the very injustice or injury, as the basis of something very good and very beautiful which he brings into our lives. All I want you to do, is to put this matter entirely out of your own hands. Do not talk about it to anybody. Do not allow yourself to think about it. In a little prayer, commit it all to your Master. Some day you will find that good, and not evil, has come out of it. But if you take the matter into your own hands and try to right your own wrong, and undo what others have done to you — you will lose what otherwise Christ wants to do for you.
Now hold up your head and sing and rejoice. You are leaving behind six years of beautiful work. You have touched the hearts of hundreds of children during these years and left impressions upon their lives which they will carry into the immortal years. A teacher's work is not seen at once — it is done in invisible ink which will not appear for a while. But everything beautiful that you have done, everything good, everything worthy — will stay, and some day appear in life as character. You remember Longfellow's little fancy about the song which he sang into the air, which fell to the earth, he knew not where — and how he found it, long, long afterwards, from beginning to end, in the heart of a friend.
Thus it will be that the good work you have done as a teacher will stay in the world. You do not know where it has gone — you cannot trace it now — but some day it will all reappear. Besides, you have a clear conscience, for you know that you have done your duty faithfully. Finish up your work here beautifully. Let nothing that has happened in any way, mar the sweetness of your closing days at the school. Be as happy as a bird. Let your love flow out toward your pupils and fellow teachers and friends. Make the last days, the bestof all days. Then you will carry away sweet memories which even the unhappy circumstance of the school board will not mar.
The next thing, will be to face your last year in the university. It will be a good year, I have no doubt, the best year of all your course. The time that has elapsed since you finished up your junior year has been filled with experiences which will make the senior year mean all the more to you.
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