Napoleon Bonaparte once said that no one can gaze into the starry sky at night for five minutes and not believe in the existence of God.  But to people who lack such appreciation the night sky is devoid of significance.  There are teachers who never go forth to revel in the glories of this star-lit masterpiece of creation, because, forsooth, they are too busy grading papers in literature.  Such a teacher is not likely to be the cause of a spiritual ignition in her pupils, for she herself lacks the divine fire of appreciation.  If she only possessed this quality no words would be needed to reveal its presence to the boy; he would know it even as the homing-pigeon knows its course.  When the spirits of teacher and pupils become merged as they must become in all true teaching, the boy will find himself in possession of this spiritual quality.  He knows that he has it, the teacher knows that he has it, and his associates know that he has it, and one and all know that it is well worth having.

It is related of Keats that in reading Spenser he was thrown into a paroxysm of delight over the expression “sea-shouldering whales.”  The churl would not give a second thought to the phrase, or, indeed, a first one; but the man of appreciation finds in it a source of pleasure.  Arlo Bates speaks with enthusiasm of the word “highly” as used in the Gettysburg Speech, and the teacher’s work reaches a high point of excellence when it has given to the pupil such a feeling of appreciation as enables him to discover and rejoice in such niceties of literary expression.  It widens the horizon of life to him and gives him a deeper and closer sympathy with every form and manifestation of life.  Every phase of life makes an appeal to him, from bird on the wing to rushing avalanche; from the blade of grass to the boundless plains; from the prattle of the child to the word miracles of Shakespeare; from the stable of Bethany to the Mount of Transfiguration.

Geography lends itself admirably to the development of appreciation if it is well taught.  Indeed, to develop appreciation seems to be the prime function of geography, and the marvel is that it has not been so proclaimed.  In this field geography finds a clear justification, and the superintendent who sets forth appreciation as the end and geography as the means is certain to win the plaudits of many people who have long been wondering why there is so much geography in the present course of study.  Certainly no appreciation can develop from the question and answer method, for no spiritual quality can thrive under such deadening conditions.  If the questions emanated from the pupils, the situation would be improved, but such is rarely the case.  Teaching is, in reality, a transfusion of spirit, and when this flow of spirit from teacher to pupil is unimpeded teaching is at high tide.  When the subject is artfully and artistically developed the effect upon the child is much the same as that of unrolling a great and beautiful picture.