Piney Woods planter and Amite union literary reflector. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1838-1838, 1838-07-28
In a government like ours. whore

In government like ours, where eve.
ry man is petty sovereign, it is neces.
sary, IN order to proper discharge of the
duties of his responsible Office, that his
mind is slowed with the rich treasures Of
knowledge. All admit the truth of this
position, yet most people neglect the
means necessary to accomplish this glori-
GUS end. This is apparent in the selec,
ton of teachers for the education of their
children. liza mechanic is to be employed
to make the child shoes, the best work
man must be found. The same Judgment
is exercised in the selection of workman
for the construction of any wearing appa-
rel. And even for shoeing their horses,
they will have it done in the most skiIful
manner, though it be at additional ex-
pense. But when they engage a work
man to dress the minds of their children.
Oh, shame on them! they are very careful
IN counting their cents; indeed, they swell
in magnitude above that ofdollars. when
computing the expense of their force. Oh!
wisdom, where hast thou fled?
The mind, that principle by which Deity
distinguished human beings from other
animals, must be shaped and cultivated by
the rudest workman, to save few shil-
lings of "flthy lucre;" and this parsimony
is exercised by the very men who squan-
der thousands year, in useless and vain
amusements: aye, to crafty the most
beastly propensities. Shame! shame !!
where is thy blush!!! They, who take
this course are neither true friends to
themselves nor their country. Children
raised in ignorance, otter strew with thorns
the path of their parents declining years.
His head, ere the frost of many winters
has rendered hoary, is bowed untimeIy,
and in sorrow, to the grave. How chilling
the thought that he sinks to this dark a
bode, "unwept, unhonored and unsung,'.
even by his children. The progeny he
has left behind, only serves to sink the
family name to the lowest degredation.-
They wander through the land specta-
Gle of horror and detestation, as the virtu.
GUS recoil and wither in their presence
like the forest leafin the autumn blast.
Awake we slumberers, to a sense of
duty to yourselves and to your country!
Burst the letters ofignorance that threat
en- to engulf the ORB of the nations in the
vortex of ruin. There is a cloud gather
ing in our country, which, if not speedily
dissipated, will raise tornado, which will
inevitably desolate the land. There is a
mass, compound of vice and ignorance,
which, reused by the sophistry of an artful
1emagogue, would make the firm earth
.remble, and shake the pillars of our gIori
'us Constitution to its deepest foundations
Shall these things Gomez Shall the
historian, ere long, be muser among
he ruins of this great nation, as he now
among those of Greece and Rome?-
What can avert catastrophe so alarming
o the liberty of man? Nothing, we an
wer, but an enlightened system of Educa-
Ion, carried into rigid execution with the
lslng and future generations, can perpet-
late our institutions to every distant pos
erlty-can prevent us from splitting into
'etty Kingdoms, or our smiling and luxu-
lent fields becoming one wide extent of
moking ruins.