Iowa news. [volume] (Dubuque, Upper Mississippi Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory) 1837-1841, 1837-11-18
A PEW THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION.

PEW THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION.
If the question were asked, is there
any one who will advocate the bliss Of
Ignorance in this age?-it would be am
swered promptly and emphatiaally in
the negative. Yet, granting to every
man that he would not wiifully and
publicly oppose education, it is far from
being correct that there is none that
does so.
The apathy and carelessness which
exist among many in respect to the
| improvement Of their own minds and
the minds of their children-the in
difference which is manifested by ma
my to the progress and facilities Of ac-
curing knowledge-the paucity Of
those who choose study as source of
qualification and acknowledgement,
loudly proclaim how many there
are, who by their actions or example,
tacitly but firmly and efectually retard
the progress Of education. Much of
this Indifference arises from want Of
knowledge Of the advantages Of educa-
ton, as no one can duly appreciate the
benefits and enjoyments Of highly
enlightened state, but they who are in
possession Of it; 80 that many are sa-
5tisfed with mere beginning, and are
destitute Of ambition or inclination to
progress farther.
A human being commences its So
cial existence, in all its relations, in
Ignorance and barbarism. 1t is how
ever endowed with faculties that em-
power it to improve, to ameliorate, to
elevate its condition. Its steps in the
profound darkness which surrounds its
intellect, are uncertain, wandering and
faulty. But education elightens the
mind of man, improves his reasoning
faculties, and forwards his moral adj
vancement. 1t is series of exercises
adapted to every faculty, by which,
systematically pursued, the organiza-
ton and primary design Of the mind is
corroborated and its powers fully em-
ployed. By these exercises are its wild
and irregular impulses restrained
While they control its fitful and waste
full sallies, they direct its forces, and
regulate its movements by an exact
discipline: they harden it to toll and
qualify it for application: they prepare
it to grapple with the most abstruse
subjects Of philosophy, and for the a
chievement Of the noblest conquest O.
yer opposing difficulties; and they arm
it with power to drag from the deep
est recesses of nature her most obscure
qualities, and crown its triumph with
the never fading chaplet Of immortal
truth.
Education in agreat degree removes
from the mind of man the vail which
is spread over the mysterious opera
tions of nature, and discloses to his
view the wonders which lie concealed
from the benighted unenlightened man.
1t enables him to perceive the foot
steps of a great Creator, both in his
majestic movements and in his most
minute designs; for there is not step
we can take in the temple Of nature,
under the guidance Of an enlightened
philosophy, in which we do not be-
hold traces Of inscrutable wisdom, and
ofabenevolence which extends its kind
regards to every rank of sensitive and
intelligent existence, and demonstrates
that the communication Of happiness is
the great final cause Of all the admira-
BILE arrangements which pervade the
material system.
As the rough marble comes from the
quarry covered with its earth and void
Of all beauty, and beings to view its
hidden beauties; so the mind of man,
in its natural state, is a confused and
uneven chaos, pursuing no definite
course, and without any fixed princi-
Piles to regulate its application and di-
rect its resources: but when properly
educated and enlightened, it shines
forth with brilliancy which truly dis
plays its nobleness and original design.
Superstition fills the mind and ig-
norance chains the feet Of the unen-
lightened man at the base Of the hill Of
science; and he remains there content
with what appears to him perhaps per-
feet happiness, yet which in reality is|
but mere reflection from its summit.
But the educated man, not content
with reclining indolently at the foot Of
the hill, ascends and stops not until
the top is gained, and there enjoys the
substance Of the light ofscience which
emanates from its summit: fhe clnnds