Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1830-06-30

lglect them. The complaint Of parents
that they cannot afford their children a
good education, is therefore unfoundcd,
as it will cost much more to bring them
up in ignorance; and when parishioncrs,
on the plea of poverty dismiss good cler-
gyman, it will in the same way fall as
heavily upon their purses as their morals
On this subject experience is the SAT-
csi guide We exist in a state of being,
and in country, where the support of
our physical natures does not take 80
much of our time but that much is left to
be devoted either to idlcness or improve
mcnt. We are, moreover, not only ac-
tive, but social, and Of course arc gene
rally employed in conncxion with others.
The question then arises, how shall
this surplus time be used, and our social
principles gratilicd' 1t is better to CRAFTY
them in q course that will advance the
mind, the moral and intellectual princi-
pies, than in n manner that will dcpravo
both. The former course is cheap, the
latter only expensive. The most useful
branches of education arc uniformly the
least expensive; yet many parents feel it
a hardship that they must pay three dol
lars quarter for instruction in the clc-
mcntary branches of useful education,
whilo they pay ten dollars for the same
instruction in dancing, and make no
complaint
On this point VIC have some statistics
of our own. We know a town, in size
about the third rate in New England,
where schoolmastcrs receive five dollars
and half month, and the clergyman is
dismissed because the people arc too poor
to support him. This generation of pau
pers, however give an ample support to
two dancing schools, each of which costs
them directly and indirectly, n thousand
dollars. These thrifty people arc Of
course too poor to paint their houses, or
replace glass broken in the windows, or
a hinge on the doors; yet they have the
ability to take several sleigh rides in a
winter, at the expense of two dollars each
and to call three times day at the tav-
ern, at the expense of six cents n time
1t may be said that this is but one town,
and an extreme case; but perhaps the
reader may know many such towns, tho
it is hoped that he lives in a better.
How many towns in New England pay
collectively, one thousand dollars to sup
port tavern, that would not give fifty to-
found Lyceum. Yet, where would they
get the most instruction and rational
amusement Young men will pay five
dollars at an assembly, sum that would
for year, pay more than their proportion
to an institution, that would not only ad-
vance themselves in knowledge, but have
an increasing bearing on the improve
mcnt of all the young in their community.
Has not the reader himself, honest man
as he is, sometimes paid two dollars to-
ride on the sabbath, though he now feels
too poor to give one to Lyceum, for a
course Of intellectual pleasure and in
struction.
This principle of ours is uniform and
invariablc. Economy never stands in the
way of Improvement, which is itself the
best and most lasting thrift. There is no
saving can be made in vice and igno-
rance. II will save money, and charac-
ter, and crime, and punishment and re-
morse, to advance the moral and intcllcc-
tual culture of our nature. This is the
way to make US, indeed, lords of the low
or creation, rising in intellectual domin-
ion and perfection towards the Being who
ordained it. j.
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