Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, W.T. [i.e. Wis.]) 1843-1844, 1844-02-24
mo. so.

"'S Va Hiohhents rest In any po-
sition, and debarred the possibility of
yielding TO too ordinary calls of nature
without violent inroads upon modesty
and shame; that upwards OF two hun
dred thousand children scattered over
various parts Of the State, are compelled
TO spend an average of eight months
durlag each year Of their pupilage.
Here the first lessons Of human life,
the incipient principles of morality
and the rules Of social intercourse are
to be impressed on the plastic mind.
The boy is here 10 receive the model
Of his permanent character, and TO i'm
bibe the elements of his future career;
and here the instructive delicacy Of the
young female, one of the characteristic
ornaments Of the sex, is to be expanded
into maturity by precept and example!
Is it strange under such circumstances,
that an early and invincible repugnance
to the acquisition of knowledge is inn
bibed by the youthful mind; that the
school house is regarded with uncon-
cealed aversion and disgust, and tina,
parents who have any desire to preserve
the health and morals Of their children,
exclude them from the district school
and provide instruction for them else
where?
Iflegislation could reach and remedy
the evil, the law making power would
be earnestly invoked. But where the
ordinary mandates Of humanity, and
the laws of parental feeling written by
the finger of heaven on the human
heart, are oblitera,ed or powerless, all
statutory provisions would be idle and
vain. In some instances during tho
past year, comfortable school houses
have been erected to supply :he place
Of miserable and dilapidated tenements
which for years had been disgrace to
the inhabitants. Perhaps the contagion
Of such worthy examples may spead,
and that which seems TO have been be-
yond the influence Of the ordinary i'm
pulses ofhunanity, may be accomplish
ed by the power ofexample or the dread
Of shame. The expense OF construc,ing
and maintaining convenient building,
and all other proper appliances for the
education OF the young, is mere tri-
fle when contrasted with the beneficial
results which inevitably follow. or
all the expenditures which are calcula-
ted to subserve the wants or crafty the
caprices Of man, there are none which
confer such important aud durable
blessings as those which are applied TO
the cultivation and expansion OF tho
} moral and intllectual powers. II is by
such cultivation that human happiness
is graduated, and that from the most de-
based Of the savage tribes, nation rises
above nation in the scale Of prosperity
and civilization. The penuriousness
which has been manifested on this sub
ject, and the reckless profigacy exhib-
tied on others, is strongly Characteristic
of the past. In future times when the
light of science shall be more widely
dllIused, and when the education Of the
young shall claim and receive the con-
sideratiou it deserves, a retrospeciion 10
the records Of the past will exhibit pre-
ceding generations in no enviable point
Of view.
In 1905 thirty nine years ago, the
basis OF the School Fund was laid; and
and now after the lapse Of almost forty
years, the aggregation Of every dollar
which has been consecrated 10 the
available capital Of this fund gives tho
amount Of only Sl,075,o93 Is. With
population Of two and a half millions,
the entire avaiIs of the appropriations
Of forty years destined TO the holy pur-
pose Of youthful progress and human
Improvement for all time TO come, is
less than seventy five cents to each in
dvidval in the state. Nor has this ex-
,raordinary parsimony been caused by
any legislative restraints or constitu-
,iona inability. The will ola bare ma
iority might at any time have augmen-
ted this fund. But The will of legsla-
ton has been frequently signalized in
direction exactly opposite. In
much shorter period than il has requir-
ed 10 collect the School Fund more
than ten times as much has been utterly
wasted in the reckless career OF mis-
called "internal improvement
Without estimating the vast sums which
have been applied, and must yet for
long period continue to be applied to
the payment of principal and interest,
the ann. ofinvesied capital alone in this
prof gate crusade is S34, 4oo,729 &c;
sndihe States has been improved" into