The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1842-03-03


people not tau sht to read diligently and with
abiding convictions. A tract distributor passed
me few days siaee and handed a sailor q tract
The sailor turned it over and upside down, and
said :" can't read" and dropped the track on the
ground. "Has oar whole duty been discharged BY
handing the sailor tract! said reverend gentle
man to me, now three years since, have just
complete tour for distributing the Bible under
hundred and two Bibles have been left By
me, but unless teachers fare sent to teach the
people to read them, | had better go and
bring back at least five hundred Of the copies"
to send the printed psge Should not the friends Of
the Bible take deeper inter- ST in the pro
Of the Common Schools? To give the Bible, un.
asked, to the ignorant, and those merely able 10
pronounce words, is like filling blind mans house
with The paintings Of the masters, or casting the
seed wheat in the woods, or building granite tenn
pie IN the forest for the benefit Of the roaming
wage. The PaIpit also, ''that most important and
efeetual guard, support, and ornament Of virtues
cause" stands on Common Schools. When the
messenger Of truth speaks to the congregation,
he addresses mind; his arguments pre- suppose
mind, and, unless the peoples schools have
raised the audience up to the pulpit, where is
the minister's influence? AS l have listened to a
good consecutive argument from the sacred desk,
and have seen the people, with wandering looks and
vacant countenances, ready TO turn to the door il
very moment, too, when the speader was educing
an important conclusion, have felt as have done
whiic seeing person thrust his hand into small
aperture after something loose, but which he was
able TO reach only with the ends Ct his fingers, and
fiom his being able to touch it, he only pushed il
further from him So with the preacher; he was
aborng to get hold Of the attention of the people,
but the mind was so feeble. so wandering, so va
can't, that there was no grasp, and the great truth
fell powerless To make an abiding impress
sion on an cmpty-headed audience is as hope
less as to make mark on the ocean -
daughter and applause We are told by
the historians Of the French Egyptian cam
paign, that Bonaparte found, and attempted to re-
cuce garrison, sheltered by huge mud fort Had
the wall been Of timber, the besiegers might have
burnt them. Had they been Of stone, even sblocks
OF granite, they might have preached Them by their
cannon. But the vast passive mound received the
iron missiles without effect-they just clo.e ed in
and were dead ARd the mighty engines Of attack
and demolition were paralyzed and powerless. So
It Is with the preacher when he breaches to
the ignorant, strong Sensation in the audience
seeing they see not neither do they understand
And most respectfully beg ltaye to remind the
learned clergymen presentn the quaint lansuage of
South, the English sermonizer, "the school master
often mars what the preacher never mencs" The
preacher should not only that the truth falls
from his lips, but also that the people capable Of
receiving it. Now, we ring the Sabbath bell long
and loud, but forget to unlock the church door
(the mind.) The invitation goes out to the people
to come and hear, but the bolted door of ignorance
forbids them to enter. The blessings Of Free
Preas are also dependant on good Common Schools.
My friends, what is the American newspaper prssss
Fifteen hundred in number; pouring annually upon
the wings of the wind, to hide from US the sun Of
truth, ten millions of printed sheets and these
damp sheets are falling upon us every morning as
thick snow fakes in snow storm; and the peo-
pie are eagerly gazing upward, with mouth, and
eyes, and hands, wide open, readyl to swallow "a
venously every thing that drops. (Applause }
What are these damp sheets filled with. After q
few honorable exceptions, with crime made an
amusement; see detailed criminal and Grim con
iiviu cd fSsA, 1pufs-
party stre, for the object of the press now is, to
t. make partsans, not patriots-with perssnalitts
SANDER, and Snblushing proaigacy. Oh, unless
the people are intelligent enough to detect its err
rors, and virtuous enough to be untouched by Its
corruption, the press is curse. The very cheap
n:ss Of the press has proituted it to speedy wide
circulstion Of poisonous print. sad liscls, ,h.ngs
ted, than ever gunpowder was to their bodies
The old and noble monuments Of thought and in
teect are neglected, and, upon Of frothy con.
eeits, one everlasting. wishy washy cd, CT noisy
dulness, the spin. OF the age is tossed hither and
thither, and net without danger of entirely losing
sight Of the compass of TRUTH and the pole star OF
faith. (Applause In the press was the strife
ever hotter, or the struggle keener, than at the
present day! Does it not strive to make the
worse the better reason" and the rogue the bet.
ter man! What can prepare the public for such a
pressl How shall the people possess a sound,
thinking, comparing mind, capable of discrmina
ting and Of judging OF probabilities? BY improv-
ing their Common Schools, where nineteen out Of
twenty receive all their education. Where there
is free press, there must be free education. The
editor will always bring just such goods to market
as will sell; and the only way we can improve the
article sold, is to improve the purchaser. ZAP
plause.) And, before leave this part OF my sub
jet, will ask the politicians, if any such are
present, why that the mercst frothy rant, the
most empty declaration, will GO down well rs
the best argument Bee use, sirs, lin vacuum a
guinea and feather 60 down with equal rapidty.
We will now examine the connection between ig-
norance and crime; not, however, by ascertaining,
as many writers have done, the number of convicts
in our prisons who can read, and the number who
cannot read. To my mind, this inquiry can prove
nothing important. The mere ability TO read does
not prevent crime II may prompt the individual
into its commission. Where the moral sentiments
are weak, and the appetites and passions strong,
the depraved taste will give bias 10 the reading
which will only corrupt and demoralize. The abb.
lily to read is simply means to purify and elevate,
or pollute and debase. To teach man his letters
barely is not to educate him. or insure industry or
integrity. But to this important view of the sub.
ject, will call your attention in my Third Lecture.
The single position that now wish to assume is,
%ad due Of Ga made
know; he is the creature of education, made to be
educated; and il he is not educated, he does not
fulfil his being, aud must be miserable. Now, the
miserable man easily becomes the criminal. All
see that wickedness leads to misery, and il is
equally certain that misery leads to wickedness-
DR.. Johnson was once asked, "Who is the most
miserable mas Z" the sage said, "That man who
cannot read ON rainy day" And it was nobly
said BY Plato, "That every soul was unwillingly
deprived of truth" Yes, fellowc citizens, You may
place man where you please-you may dry up
to the uttermost the fountains Of his feeling,
the springs of his thought and the idea that
he was Born 10 know and learn, will survive
it all 1t 10 allied to his hope OF immortality-it
10 the divine part of his nature which barren igno
rance cannot reach There is in a right education
divine alcbymy which turns all the baser parts of
mans nature into gold. The Greeks tell MS, that
when the first rays Of the merning fell upon the
statue Of Memnon, il sent up music. II only after
the first rays Of knowledge fall upon man, that his
nature discourses harmony. Your speaker was
once passing through PARK, and saw nailed to one
Of the trees this warning, All dogs found in this
park will be shot" A friend who was with me
remarked, 'Usless dogs can read, they are
pretty badly of hers.'-(A laugh )-Now God
has not only written his laws upon the trees,