Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1845-03-20
PUBLIC EDUCATION.

gentleman 81 hlgn order OF intellect, and very nm
ished education, and has spent much Of hs time in
the nvestgasioa and development. Of the "Pubhe /
School System Of Baltimore" We know how much /
his efforts heretofore have been appreciated, and
we are sure bis late Report to the City Councils, !
must endear him still more TO the intelligent COM
munity in which he lives. The opening remarks
Of the Doctors Report are beautiful and as APP
pcabIe in their force to the attentive considsra-
ton Of the people Of Virginia, as to the people Of
Baltimore. The Report says
Your committee cannot refrain from an
expression Of their high qualification a,
the prominence given, in the Mayors an.
nual message, to the education of the
young; and they most cordially unite
with him IN the opinion that, there is 20
kind Of expense which the people Of our
city will contribute to defray with moro
alactty, than that for the support Of Pub
hc Schools" The educstion OF the young,
IN institutions supported al the public
charge, IS, G many portions Of Europe,
and IN this country, one of the most re-
markabIe features Of the age 10 which it
is our happiness TO live. Ii is patriotic
policy because, while education awak-
ems the faculties Of youth and thus pre-
serves the mind from starvation, and the
heart from impoverishment, 1t also enlgh-
tens manhood in all that appertains to CT.
VII and religious liberty and thus quail
fies the citizen to comprehend and to man.
tain the principles on which our institu.
tions are based. 1t is an economical pc.
icy: because the diffusion of knowledge
tends TO diminish the preparation OF crime,
and the cost attending on the convection
and punishment of the offender against
civil and social laws, would be more be.
nevolenily expended in teaching him the
true nature OF moral obligation. The
welfare of society may require sacrifice
to the siernness Of her statutes; but hui
manty will endeayor 10 save the citizen
from the commission OF crime. II is
benevolent policy; because education
teaches man his accountability and his
destiny and thus conducts him to the
knowledge the Great Spirit from whom
he came, and to whom he tends. Socle-
ty, like loving mother, should open her
arms TO receive the destitute wanderer
and the homeless orphan to her warm
and ample bosom; and may reasonably
expect that the virtue and usefulness of
manhood will more than repay her mater
nal care. The unenightened mind Of
men gives utterance to sounds as mourn
full as those OF the Egyptian statue when
surrounded by the darkness of night; but
when the genial influence of education is
impaired, the souno is as harmonious as
that of the same statue when it received
the rays Of the rising sun. 1t is delight.
full to contemplate that public education
impaired to poverty and orphanage, may
give development to genius of the highest
order, which, without this fostering care,
might have gone down TO the grave,
shrouded in Egyptian darkness-"dark-
ness visible"-"darkness that might be
felt" The rude block of marble lies
undistinguished in the quarry, until the
chlsel OF the sculptor gives it the grace
full proportions which attract the admira.
ton of the world.
The noble example afforded by some
of the States of the Union, deserves i'm
itation as far as prudence will allow
Massachusetts appropriated, during the
last year, S596,00O for the support of
Schools; New York about ono million
for 700, 600 children actually taught ill
the district Schools; Pennsy lvania $470,-
600 for 20S, 402 scholars; and the Con-
trolIaro Of DhiIa Ielp ~ anl
expended 1920, 900 for the education OF
33, 800 scholars. Ohio has SIX thousand
Public School Districts, and 100000
youth entitled to the benefit of these
schools. Your committee are confident
that the public spirit of the citizens of
Baltimore will induce them to initiate
with due regard to prudential consider
atoms, such bright examples, which give
fair promise for the prosperity OF our
country, and the perpeluIty OF our instItu-
tons, -civil and political.
When will Virginia begin to initiate the noble |
examples mentioned above Let no one say the |
work cannot be accomplished, and that our taxes
are already too burthensome. The work can be
accomplished, without being scarcely felt by any
tax payer in the Commonwealth, and our Legisla-
ture ought to take the matter up their next
sion, and not adjourn before establishing some
system of Public Education, which will prove eff
iec,ve in developing the intellectual resources of
the State. We are no advocates for kot bed sys.
TENS, but would much prefer seeing a system es-
tsblsbed whose development would be gradual,
so that we may profit by experience, and be the
bette, enabled aftera few years to lay ''the foun-
daons strong aud secure" In this connection
DR.. Collins says
Your committee adopted the words o5
Bacon which, profound in their wisdom,
can never become trlte : sour changes,
to DO beneficial, should resemble those of
time, which, though the greatest of all
innovaters, works out lis alterations so
gradually that the process is never per
celved." The truth OF this analogica H.
lustraton is confirmed by observation Of
material and intellectual Development.
The acorn, by degrees, is rnatured into
the oak ; and years pass away before its
roots have extended 50 far as TO enable it
to DEFY the power Of elemental strife