The Life and Works of Christopher Dock, America's Pioneer Writer on Education

287 Pages·1908·27.401 MB·English

by  Martin Grove Brumbaugh

LIFE AND
of
America's Pioneer Writer on Education
WITH
A TRANSLATION OF HIS WORKS
INTO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
BY
MARTIN G. BRUMBAUGH, PH.D., LL.D.
Superintendent ofSchools, Philadelphia
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
HON. SAMUEL W. PENNYPACKER, LL,D.
Ex-GovernorofthtCommonwealtho/Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA W LONDON
LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
B.
J.
1908
COPYRIGHT, 1908
BY J. B. LIPPINCQTO COMPANY
Published May, 1908
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INTRODUCTION
TWENTY-FIVE years ago the name of Christopher.
Dock, the pious schoolmaster on the Skippack, was
unknown to the readingworld, andthe light oflocal
fame, extending from 0-ermantown to Goshenhop-
pen, whicli in the eighteenth century gave a genial
glow to Ms life, had faded to an almost imper-
ceptible ember. To-day it is no exaggeration to say
that any treatise upon pedagogy which should omit
recognition of his important labors would be re-
garded as a failure, and his reputation as a leader
in educational development in America is univer-
sally recognized.
Many learned authors have vied with each other
in doing homage to the memory of one so worthy.
To have written the earliest American book upon
the subject of school teaching is a fact sufficient in
itself sooner or later to attract the attention of men
of letters, but that fact is much emphasized when
the study of Ms essay discloses that he was far in
advance of Ms time and that in Ms methods of
teaching and of enforcing discipline he forecast
what more recent experience has proven to be
correct.
Moreover, he was virtuous in life, sweet in dis-
position and lovable in character, so that when the
simple people who surrounded him, grown to ma-
turity, sought to impress upon their cMldren an
example of modest merit, they ever recurred to the
conduct of the pious Schoolmaster.
INTRODUCTION"
Becently the Mennonitcs of Pennsylvania have
been introduced into modern literature in a ro-
mance, the motive of which is an effort to showtheir
disregardfor learning. Itis rather remarkable that
the dawn of our science of pedagogy and the most
extensive literary production of the American colo-
nies were both due to the efforts of these interesting
people. Dr. Martin GK Brumbaugh, the able Super-
intendent of the public schools of Philadelphia,
has assumed the congenial task of gathering into
this volume all of the works of Dock, in order that
they may have a wider circulation among the read-
ing public. It is fortunate for the future fame of
thevenerable Schoolmaster that his accomplishment
has been appreciated by one so entirely capable of
doing him justice and whose industry has left no
source of informationuninvestigated.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. Introduction 3
II. Life of Christopher Dock 11
III. The Schul-Ordnung 27
IV. Translation of the Schul-Ordnung 89
V. Geistliches Magazien Four Numbers 159
VI. Translation of the Geistliches Magazien 191
VII. Schriften with Translation 239
VIII. Hynins with Translation 255

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BAGS
BENCH AND TABUS USED BY BOCK IN HIS SCHOOL IN
OERMANTOWN 14
TABLE USED BY DOCK IN HIS SCHOOL IN GEBMANWWN 14
TITLEPAGE OFSECONDEDITION OF THESCHUL-ORDNUNG- 16
Two OF DOCK'S 'MANUSCRIPT HYMNS 18
THE ALPHABET SCHRIFTEN 240 248
?
THE PEACE SCHRIFTEN 249
THE PENITENTIAL SCHRDFTEN 250
THE PRAYER SOHRIFTEN 251
SPECIMEN OE PUPIL'S SCHRIFTEN BY JACOB HARLEY 252
? .

LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER DOCK