Literary cadet, and Saturday evening bulletin. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1826-1827, 1826-07-08
lnENGA&Y oAUGgs
SATURDAY EVENING, JULY 9.
~ To make room for other matter, we arc oblig-
ed TO emit Portrait No. VII, of john IL. Eaton OF
Tennessee. II shall be inserted in our next.

FREE ScHooLs.-The exhibition Of the schol-
ars of Free Schools, made on Tuesday, is abun-
dantly sufficient to the people that too much
attention cannot be paid to these benevolent insu-
tons-these nurseries of education--of p!ey, aud Of
virtue. And il must be matter Of sincere sratu-
laton 10 those who interest themselves in the well
faro of rising people, to look around them and be-
| hold the benign influences which are wrought up
on society by tic existence Of free o: educa
tion, where the unfortunate, the INDECENT and the
ignorant, can apply, and quaf from those pure
pools intelligence all that may be requisite toprc-
pare them for the honorable vocations of lite.
Ii is fact and i: is recorded in all the bitterness
Of regret, that in Rhode-Island too little has been
done for the diffusion Of education, and it causes us
Il blush when we uvow that there cannot be
found in an equal number Of square miles, III any
section of the United States, many who arc desti-
tute Of an acquaintance with the lesser rudiments
of common English education, as there are within
the limits of ouy little Republic: And it becomes
us to make vigorous effort to correct 90 great
evil and to devise plans for the establishment OF
free schools in every town 10 this commonwealth,
and to erect them on basis which sophistry cannot
assail or prejudice destroy.
The importance of the establishment Of these phi
lanthropic institutions is believe, generally felt
and admitted, and the hour is at hand when the
Legislature should DO something on the subject,
and it is believed that whatever steps they may
take to the contamination of an end so desirable,
will meet the hearty cooperation and appreciation
OF the Rhoie-Island people. 1t was remark Of
Madame De Stuel, made to distinguished Ameri-
can citizen then in Europe MIR. Clay i" Sir, a
people who have received the benefits ofthe lights
Of education and general literature, never can be
conquered, though nssailed by the united powers of
tho earth for the mind, when enriched aud ex-
panded by educaton spurns the proves OF the des-
pot and looking forward with elevated eye, beholls
its own greatness and laughs at the puny assaults
of the ignorant invader. nation, uneducated,
never can be Free" Never was remark
true, than the one we have quoted from the most
eminent lady France ever produced, and il we look
around us, we behold it verified every day and ev-
cry hour.
and absent from the lights of knowledge, is at all
times easily wrought upon by the Vaccinations OF
the designing and the ntrigues of the corrupt and
falls easy prey TO the proaigate and the abandon
ed and man, uneducated and untutored man, mer-
ges but one degree above the brutes of creation.
Ignorance is the author Of one half OF the evils
that are witnessed by society, and is II greater
scourse 10 nation than the plague spots Of Egypt.
If we look into those sinks Of infamy and crime,
where the abandoned of both sexes riot and oi.si-
the regions of the damned we shall find that the
wretched inmates may with truth and propriety
attribute their evil to the Of carly ed
ucation.-They will, in their last moments, when
repentance too late, tell you, that instead OF
being educated for the fulflment of the nober and
respectable Offices Of life, they were suffered to
grow up in ignorance, until dcbascd, degraded,
and dcspised, they sought livelihood in pursuing
the ini0uitous courses Of inlamy and crime. Our
streets daily present melancholy spectaccs and dis
gusting exhibitions Of those, who ii they had recei
we'd the benefits of an early and suitable education,
might have been respectable and honorable men,
bers Of society, but who now, for the want Of
it, compelled TO suffer all the ills and expressions of
poverty and want-unhoppy wretches whose lives
will, in all human probability, be hreathcd out in
the dismal cells of an Aims. House, the mise
rablc bed ofsraw which the brothe barely affords.
We could dilate on this subject and show in
bolder colors the evils which are entailed upon
people, by the absence Of nurseries Of education -
but as no reasonable will, whilst in his senses,
oppose the proposition which recommends their
establishment we shall not do so But whilst most
Of the towns in Rhode-Island have been inactive
and peremptorily refused to do anything for the diff
fusion Of knowledge, Providence, TO the imporsha-
bic honor of its citizens, has done nobly and erect
ed u monument 10 perpetuatc her bcnevoence and
philanthrophy, which will exist through the rcvo-
luton of ages. Providence, actunted by those fee
lings which We are proud to say, are cherished by
her citizens, in the year 1900 established at her own
expense, the Free Schools which now exist in this
town. and from which have emerged some Of the
first scholars, and ablest writers the State af
forded
The benefits derived from them by our citizens
are incalculable, and no computation we could
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