Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1845-11-06
PUBLlc EDUCATION.

The following should be read by every
parent in the State. 1t is the most graph.
ic portrayal of the condition Of the uned
ucaied:
"Did you ever see the ragged little
sirsgglerf Eyes God help hIm, SAID my
companion. God belp hun! !" With such
adluraton do we leave thousands and tens
Of thousands of human souls to want end
ignorance, doom them While yet walking
the path of guitlessness TO nurture devils
their own ungulded passions. We
make them ouicssts, wfotehes; and then
punish 10 their wickedness, our own sell
fishness--our own neglect. We cry,
God help the boy" end hang the man.
Yet a moment. The child is still be-
fore US. Can we rot see around It--con
tending for 1.-THE principles OF good aud
evil 4 contest between the angels and
friends Come hi,her statesman: you
who live within party circle you who
nightly fight some miserable fight cen
tinually strive i'll some selfish Struggle .or
power and place, considering men only as
tools, the meIest instruments Of your az
grandizement, come here, IN iilihy street,
and look upon Gods image in It's boy
hood Consider this litle man. Are
rot creatures such as these TIE nobiest,
grandest things Of earth Have they
not solemn naiures-are they rot sub.
Iy touched for the higher purposes OF
human lie 2 Come they not into this
world to grace ii? There is no spot, no
coarser stuff in the pauper flesh before
YOU, that indicates lower nature. There
is no felon mark upon ii--no natural for
nation indicating the thief 10 It's Tiny tin.
gers-nevisble blasphemy written upon
lis lips. Ii lies before you fair unsulIled
thing. fresh from the hand of God. Will
you without an effort, let the grand hend
stamp his fiery brand upon II Shall II,
in its innocence, be made trading thing
by misery and vicel A creature driven
from street to street, apiece OF living mer-
chandise for mingled beggary and crime
Say: what with lis awakening soul, shall
II learn? VIVA, lessons whereby TO pass
through life, making an item in the social
sum- Why, cunning will be its wisdom;
hypocrisy It's truth theft ITS natural law
OF self. preservation. To this child, so
nur,ured, SO taught, your whole code OF
morals, nay your brief right and wrong,
are writ in stranger figures than Egyptian
hyeroglyphics, and time passes and you
scourge The creature never taught, for
helnous guilt Of knowing naught hut III!
The good has been sealed book to HIM;
and the Ounce is punished with the jail.
Doubtless there are statesmen, wizards
IN bullion ard bank paper thinkers pro-
found in cotton, and every turn and va
ration in the markets abroad and al home.
But there are statesmen of noble aims
of more heroic action, teachers OF the
people, indicators of the universal digni.
ty OF man apostles Of the great social
truth that knowledge, which is the splrI-
tual ligh, of God, like his material light,
was made to bless and comfor. all men.
And when these men arlse--and II IS
worse than weak, it is IN sinful despair Of
them--the youugling poor will not be
bound upon the very Threshold Of human
life, made, per force, by want and igno-
rance, LIES shame and curse. There is
no. babe lying in the public street on It's
mothers lap--the unconscious mendcsnt
to ripen into the crmnsl--that is not
reproach to the State; a scandal and d
crying shame upon men who study all
politics save the politics OF the human
| heart.--Literdry Messenger.