Polynesian., 1844-10-05
NEW SERIES. Vol. mo. 30.

deal Of it, and because q little learning was
dangerous, We were to have none at all.
Why when / hear such cruel absurditics
gravely reiterated, l do sometimes begin to
doubt whether the parrots Of society are not
more pernicious to its interests than its birds
Of prey. l should be glad to hear such
peoples estimate Of the comparative danger
Of a little learning and a vast amount Of ig-
norance. l should be glad to know which
they consider the most prolific parent Of
misery and crime. Descending a little lower
in the social scale, l should be glad to assist
them in their calculation, by carrying them
to certain gaols and nightly refugees l know
of, where my heart dies within me when l
see thousands of immortal creatures con-
demncd, without alternative or choice, to
tread, not what our great poet calls "the
primrose path to the everlasting BONFIRE"
but of Jagged fints and stones, laid down by
brutal ignorance, and held together by the
help Of that most wicked adage. Would we
know from any honorable body of merchants,
upright in deed and in thought, whether
they would rather have ignorant or enlight-
ened persons in their employment, why, we
have their answer in this building; we have
their answer in this company; we have their
answer given in the munificent generosity
of your own merchants Of Manchester, Of all
sects and kinds, when this establishment was
first proposed.
"But, ladies and gentlemen, arc the ad-
vantages derivable by the people from insti-
%tutions such as this only of a negative char
acter? If a little learning be an innocent
thing, has it no distinct, wholesome, and
immediate influence upon the mind? The
old logged rhyme so often written in tho
beginning of books, says that,
when house and land are gone and spent.
Then learning Is most excellent"
"But l should be strongly disposed to
reform the adage, and to say that, j.
"Though house and lands be never got, @
Learning can give what they cannot"
"And this I know, that the first unpur-
chaseable blessing earned by every man
who makes an effort to improve himself in
such a place al the Atheneum is selEre-
spect,-an inward dignity of character
which, when once acquired, and righteously
maintained, nothing, no, not the hardest
drudgery, nor the direst poverty, can van.
quish. Though he should find it hard to
keep the wolf Of hunger from his door, let
him but once have chased the dragon Of ig-
norance from his hearth, and selErespect
and hope are left him. You can no more
deprive him Of these sustaining qualities by
loss or destruction of his worldly goods, than
you could by plucking out his eyes take.
from him an internal consciousness Of the
bright glory of the sun. The man who lives,
from day to day, by the exercise, in his
sphere, Of hands or head, and seeks to i'm
prove himself in such a place as the Athe-
nnum, acquires for himself that property
Of soul which has in all times upheld strug-
Cling man to a degree, but self-made man
J especially and always. He secures for him.
r self the faithful companion, which, while il
has ever lent the light of his %countenance to
men Of rank and minds who have deserved
it, has even shed its greatest consultations on
men Of low estate and almost hopeless means.
1t took its patient seat beside Sir Walter
Raleigh, in his dungeon-study in the tower
and laid its head on the block with More
e But it did not disdain to outwatch the stars
y with Ferguson, the shepherds hoy; it walk
ed the streets in mean attire with Crabbe
it was a poor barber here in Lane ashire
with Arkwright; it was a tallow-chandler's
. lad with Franklin; it worked at shoemaking
|. with Bloomfield in his garnet; it followed
y the plough with Burns; and high above the
q noise of loom and hammer, it whispers cour-
c age, at this day, in ears that ! could name
= in Sheffield and Manchester.
"Thc more the man who improves his
o leisure in such a place learns, the better,
r gentler, kinder man he must become. When
he knows how much great minds have suffer
n ed for the truth in every age and time, and
r to what dismal persecution opinion has beer
@ exposed, he will become more tolerant o
o other mems belief in all matters. and will in.