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This paper describes a two-stage case study of teachers and teaching between 1830 and 1988 in Vermont, with particular attention to rural environments. The preponderance of data were in the form of diaries, letters, various types of printed records, monographs, and the transcripts of numerous interviews and conversations. The central purpose of the study was to investigate the nature of commitment and dedication and how these characteristics were manifested in the professional lives of teachers from different periods in time. Based on this study and the results it produced, it seems appropriate to advance the theory that outstanding teachers evidence commitment and dedication as preeminent characteristics of their work ethic or profession. These qualities are not gender specific. Measures of the existence of commitment and dedication include expenses of personal time and personal income. Commitment and dedication are present in mature teachers, suggesting the developmental quality of this attitude. (IAH)