“If that in sight of God is great
Which counts itself for small,
We by that law humility
The chiefest grace must call;
Which being such, not knows itself
To be a grace at all.”
Trench.
One of the gifts of practicing the Charlotte Mason method is that she gently guides the teacher in how to live and how to orient themselves properly to God. Her writings about humility and its true meaning show us what “the way of the teacher” should be, and if we pay close attention, we will see her emphasis on “the chiefest grace” sprinkled everywhere. This theme of humility also shows up in the alumni pin, the alumni periodical, and her writings. Exhortations to adopt the posture of humility abound for all of us as parents, teachers, and Christians.
The young ladies from Mason’s teacher training college chose the humble rush as the symbol for their pin. Miss Beale urged the graduates to choose the rush for it could, “bend to every wind, never breaking, however bent.” She also thought that it would remind students to listen for and to consider every trend of educational thought while holding fast to their own principles. (The Story of Charlotte Mason, p. 80) Do we do this? Have you learned to listen carefully to others as they explain the philosophies of education that they have chosen to follow? Even within our varying Charlotte Mason circles, humility is a much needed virtue.
The last time I visited the Lake District in England, I sought out the juncus species rush which grows on the damp fells above Ambleside. It was so unassuming that I finally had to ask a local to point it out to me! Then I learned that not only would it bend but not break, but also if you pluck a stem, another shoot would soon grow in its place. I began then to fully understand the symbolism of this humble plant.
Another reference to the humble rush is from Dante’s Divine Comedy with which Mason and her students were familiar. There is a scene from Purgatorio, Canto 1 where the Roman Cato urges Virgil to place a garland of rushes, the symbol for humility, around Dante’s head. In Italian, the humble rush is “l’umile pianta”. And this is what the graduates decided to call their alumni newsletter – L’umile Pianta.
But of course, it is in her writings where we find Mason’s clearest explications of humility. In Parents and Children, p. 284 she says, “Humility does not think much or little of itself; it does not think of itself at all. It is a negative rather than a positive quality, being an absence of self-consciousness rather than the presence of any distinctive virtue.” This is from chapter 26, The Eternal Child, and is a glorious chapter all about humility.
Rightly situated in The House of the Heart, we find another section on humility in Ourselves, Book 1, pp. 126-131. This book was written by Mason directly to the students and is delightful for the teacher as well. Here she clearly explains what The Way of Humility is with reference to the insincere character Uriah Heap from Dickens’ David Copperfield:
In the first place, we must not try to be humble. That is all make-believe, and a bad sort of pride. We do not wish to become like Uriah Heep, and that is what comes of trying to be humble. The thing is, not to think of ourselves at all, for if we only think how bad we are, we are playing at Uriah Heep. There are many ways of getting away from the thought of ourselves; the love and knowledge of birds and flowers, of clouds and stones, of all that nature has to show us; pictures, books, people, anything outside of us, will help us to escape from the tyrant who attacks our hearts. (p. 129)
My favorite writing of Mason’s on humility is found in a letter she wrote to her graduates and was printed in the July 1896 edition of L’Umile Pianta. She tenderly reviews some scripture passages (1 Peter 5:5 Luke 22:24-29, and Matthew 18:1-7) and then states:
This led us to consider what humility is, and we saw that it is not relative but absolute: that it does not mean that we shall think small things of ourselves compared with this one and that, but that we shall have eyes so steadfastly fixed upon our Master, our duty, or sphere of service, that we shall have no moment left in which to think of ourselves at all – a most blessed way to escape all wounds, and wrongs, and injuries, and bitter mortifications. We considered that the rush was our most appropriate badge, because, though humility is binding upon every Christian person, it is most especially so upon those who are called to feed His lambs, the lambs whom He has Himself declared to be “humble,” like unto Him.
I am thankful to Charlotte for showing me the way of the teacher and how I can and should set pride aside and let Christ’s humility control my heart. I love how she utilized the rush as the symbol and that we see it in a few different places, including the pin and the periodical. Personally, I have chosen the rush for the symbol in my logo. If we reflect on what I call “the way of the teacher”, I hope it orients us towards Christ and affects what we do in our homes and communities. I will conclude with this poem written by Mason on humility and encourage you to try a little slow and beautiful copywork for your soul.
Humility
How deep a mystery, my Lord, Thou shew’st!
Though I do beat my breast and humble me
And of most servile tasks do make my boast,
Yet have I not attained humility!
Then, more I shame me, think upon my sins,
Cry, “Lord, I am not fit to touch Thy feet!”—
My self-abasing no advancement wins,
The more I loathe me, more am I unmeet!
“Perceiv’st thou not, my child, what thing I ask—
The lowly, simple grace that children own;
Thy pride imposeth every heavy task;—
Humility is one as Christ is One:
Fret not thyself, but set thine heart on Me,—
And thou goest garbed in My Humility.”
–Charlotte Mason, Saviour of the World, Volume IV, Book IV, Poem LXII (Matthew 18:4)
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Your thoughts?