thusiasm is impossible without
ideals. So the teacher who desires to be one-pointed must be full of
ideals to which he is eager to lead his school. These ideals will
sharpen his attention, and make him able to concentrate it even upon
quite trivial details. He will have the ideal school in his mind, and
will always be trying to bring the real school nearer to it. To be
one-pointed, therefore, the teacher must not be contented with things as
they are, but must be continually on the alert to take advantage of
every opportunity of improvement.

The teacher's ideal will of course be modified as he learns more of his
students' capacities and of the needs of the nation. In this way, as the
years pass, the teacher may find himself far from the early ideals that
at first gave him one-pointedness. Ideals will still guide him, but they
will be more practical, and so his one-pointedness will be much keener
and will produce larger results.

The Master quotes two sayings which seem to me to show very clearly the
lines along which one-pointedness should work: "Whatsoever thy hand
findeth to do, do it with thy might"; and: "Whatsoever ye do, do it
_heartily_, as to the Lord and not unto men." It must be done "as to the
Lord." The Master says: "Every piece of work must be done
religiously--done with the feeling that it is a sacred offering to be
laid on the altar of the Lord. 'This do I, O Lord, in Thy name and for
Thee.' Thinking this, can I offer to Him anything but my very best? Can
I let _any_ piece of my work be done carelessly or inattentively, when I
know that it is being done expressly for Him? Think how you would do
your work if you knew that the Lord Himself were coming directly to see
it; and then realise that He _does_ see it, for all is taking place
within His consciousness. So will you do your duty 'as unto the Lord and
not as unto men'."

The work must be done, too, according to the teacher's knowledge of the
principles of evolution, and not merely out of regard to small and
fleeting interests. The teacher must therefore gradually learn his own
place in evolution, so that he may become one-pointed as to himself;
unless he practises one-pointedness with regard to his own ideal for
himself, he will not be able to bring it to bear on his surroundings.
He must try to be in miniature the ideal towards which he hopes to lead
his boys, and the application of the ideal to himself will enable him to
see in it details which oth