HESE best teachers climb beyond teaching to the plane of art; it is themselves and what is best in themselves that they communicate," says Stevenson. In no walk of life is there more untiring effort, more self-sacrifice, more sincere endeavor to uplift, to bring light, than in that chosen by our best teachers. We give unstinted praise and hand-clap to our writers, artists, musicians, and movie stars; but for the far-reaching service of our teachers we give—acceptance, and there it ends.
When we stop to realize how much knowledge they have acquired of life's many problems; how they present a record of courageous moral, mental, and physical experience, proving how they have met the past and giving assurance of how they will meet the future; when we realize all this unfailing zeal, this generous giving of all the best that life has given them, their grand sum total of personality cries aloud for recognition. Theirs should be no inglorious reward; there should be "freshest laurels for all who have won them."
There are very few teachers who more nearly fulfill the requirements of an ideal teacher than Alice N. Trask, principal of the San Francisco School of Lip-Reading. She was born in Philadelphia, inheriting many of the sterling qualities of her Quaker ancestors, who were noteworthy for their moral uprightness, their high sense of duty and directness of purpose. Many were zealous in pursuit of high achievement. Her desire for individual expression in a worthy cause was innate. Though baffled in her early endeavors by the hampering affliction, deafness, the courage in her spirit would not suffer itself to be defeated. She had that rarest of all gifts, enthusiasm, which is the very leaven of life; under whose magic influence obstacles become airy bubbles and the inert impossible is transformed into live accomplishment. Having this magic at her command and having also an abiding faith in her work, she has, with untiring, persistent endeavor, changed the very dross of her physical infirmity into the gold of mental achievement.
The discipline of straight-laced Quaker precepts and too great refinement might have rendered her unfit for the ugly and practical side of life had she not developed unuaually broad sympathies and rare judgment, which, combined with the "cheerful lights of culture" and unusual originality as a teacher, make her a conspicuous figure in the ranks of workers who mean progress to their cause.
Her mother is the poet Florence Earle Coates, whose poems are now ranked with modern classics. Her father, a scholar and a distinguished connoisseur of art, was President of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for many years. Mrs. Trask has had exceptional advantages for development along broad lines. Her home environment was in itself a liberal education, associated as she was with a gifted and accomplished mother and a scholarly father and brought into contact with many noted people who were their intimate friends. Having a receptive mind, she gained much from these relationships and profited by her parents' unsparing efforts to develop her character on a high plane and add to her mental accomplishments.
Mrs. Trask began the pursuit of lip-reading with Miss Lillie E. Warren, of New York, afterwards studying with Mr. Nitchie, for whom she had the sincerest admiration. She appreciates fully the great work that he has accomplished and realizes that it is on this foundation that those teachers whom he personally trained and inspired must continue to build. After finishing the normal course Mrs. Trask began her teaching in San Francisco, where she was a pioneer in the field. It was only because of her tenacity of purpose, her sturdy faith in her work, and her unwavering desire to serve that she finally overcame skeptical indifference and achieved due recognition, not only as a remarkable teacher, but also as a disinterested benefactor of the deafened.
In 1915 Mr. Nitchie delegated Mrs. Trask to represent the New York School for the Hard of Hearing at the Panama Pacific International Exposition. She there conducted large demonstration classes, which were visited daily by a great number of people from all over the world, so that an understanding of lip-reading was sown broadcast. During the exposition her work was under the close observation of the international jury of awards. At the completion of these classes, which gave her unusual and varied experience, the jury gave her the highest award for her efficiency as a teacher. Since this period she has not only conducted her school in San Francisco, but has been untiring in her efforts to extend in the West the great work that Mr. Nitchie accomplished in the East.