Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1812-08-17

Education of Children.

Education of Children.
WITH regard to almost every
branch of education, no question is
more frequently asked and unsatisfaclo.
rily answered, than " what good will
i. do Z" 1t is fortunate for society, how.
ever, in this, as well as many other in
stances, that few people wait for de-
monstration, where custom has estab-
lished a rule. Whatever was taught
yesterday, is taught again to day, for
no other reason than that such has been
the practice of our fathers and our &C
quaintance, and, instead Of adducing ar.
gument 70 justify, we generally quote
precedent or practice to authorize it,
The difficulty Of assigning a reason in
this case has arisen from our mistaking
the essential object Of education. BY
the good which we enquire for, we
mean fitness for persons particular
pursuits and we must be told minute
ly of the practical application, of which
any requirements are capable, before
we can be convinced of their Utility.
No one can question, that the sole OBJ
Ject OF education Is 10 fit US better for
the active employments Of life, to cher
ish in US such feelings, and furnish us
with such facilities for detail, as will
enable Us to find more exalted pleas
ures IN ourselves, and render greater
service tomankind. But this object is
10 be obtained, not by farniliarizlng us
with particular course of business,
but by enabling US to surmount difficult
ties wherever fortune may call us not
by perfecting us in the min6iis of a
single science, but by giving US strength
and comprehension of mind to inyesti-
gate all. in short the whole course-of
our studies, previous 10 those for pro-
tessional purposes, is calculated to make
us more able men, rather than more
ready artizans, We mingle with them
variety of rules useful incur common
concerns, but those rules are Of little
value, without ability to adapt them to
novel circumstances. Without an ar
gument, we viii assume for the present,
that this ability is acquired, and depends
at least ~ considerable degree, on car
ly exercise and habit. Allowing this,
no one will question the importance of
early attention to study, for the sole
purpose Of maturing the mental facnl-
ties. "A machine must surely be or.
ganized and completed, before we can
expect It to succeed in operation and
It can never be too early to begin per-
fecung that machine, with which all
the business OF life il 10 be effected.
Whoever notices the manner in which
children apply TO their fayorite studies,
theiringenious devices for surmountinq
difficulties and assisting the memory,
the facility which they almost instantly
acquire IN any new branch of study, the
ardor with which they engage in sub
lects by any means whatever rendered
lnterestin viii be convinced, that
there IS no pefiod of life, in which the
mind improves SO rapidly in proper
- - tfAFtAtiALA,t utfN 1AGAdtilAN
none, IN which the minutest pains to IN
struct are more amply compensated.
III IS true We are not accustomed to no.
ice such proficiency, for the expert
mentis seldom if ever effectually made.
and even where it has been partially, the
result, being on 50 small a scale, is too
minute TO be generally noticed. We
do not consider how few were their ac-
qulremenis at first, how many of those
subjects and even common expressions,
which are perfectly familiar to us, are to-
tally obscure to them, and often wonder
az their stupidity, when We ought "a ad-
mire their quickness We forget where
they sat our in the race, and ceHsure
their tardiness, merely because they are
so far behind US. But it once their am.
bition Is aroused, they are certainly sur
fleet their strides are not 50
longs nor 50 direct towards their Object,