The Ripley advertiser. [volume] (Ripley, Miss.) 1843-1897, 1846-01-17


" with which il hiss been sspoused; snd ifths
Legislature responds, ~ Il doubtless will. 10 tho
prevailing public sentiment. the imper alive com.
msnc o' the constitution. thst SCHOOLS and Tho
means Of education shall forever be ENCOURAGED
10 this State" will no longer 10 unheeded.-
acknowledge" in the language Of The constitu.
ton, "being necessary 10 good government, tho
preservation OF liberty, and the happiness of
mankind" no arguments need be resofted 10, TO
convince the representatives oil free people,
that Il is their duty TO encourage its general Diff
fusion.
Lett be borne ~ mind that the boys who arc
now growing up too many Of them in ignorance
and vice, must in very few years take our pla.
ces and become controllers Of one country's des.
tiny; and lei Us not disguise from ourselves the
stubborn fact that the ignorant and vicious of
these under our forms of government, must be
as potential at the ballot box, for good or for
evil, as the most learned and virtuous; and am
fully persuaded, we will employ allthe means in
our power, to educate them-to direct them in
the ways Of "religion, morality and knowledge"
and thus quicken their devotion to their coun-
try.
Benefits are not priceless. II we expect to
enjoy the blessings Of education, or TO transmit
it's fruits to our posterty, we must expect TO pay
for them. To The great mass OF the people, this
declaration will neither be sur Jrising or unac.
ceptable. They do not expect knowledge and
a familiarity with the intricacies Of government
to sprisg up spontaneously in the minds Of their
|chdren-good fruit does not grow upon uncul-
tivated grounds, but az thistles and other nox-
ious weeds take possession Of an unploughed
field, so do vice and wickedness spring up in
the mind which 10 not trained to God and the
country. Government gives protection to our
lives, our liberty. and our property. but who
shall give protection to government If we neg.
Iect il! fit be true, that "the blessings OF gov.
eminent, like the dews Of Heaven, descend alike
on the rich aud the poor" must be true, that
the rich and poor are alike bound to contribute
to it's support.
1 We contribute annually to the support Of all
the various departments Of government to the
1 legislative, the judiciary and the executive; We
contribute to the erection Of Prison houses and
temples Of justice, we contribute 10 the sacred
altar and its divine minstratiOns, but TO that
which lies at the bottom Of them all, and with.
out which, the whole must become "as sound.
ing brass and thinking symbol" we contribute
nothing.
Education hrs many votaries but few cop,ri.
butors. What should We think Of man who
had built ship and sent her upon distant and
peril0us sea, laden with rich and costly goods
without Insurance! Yet, have We erected
gpvernment. slsdened il with priceless jewels 81
hbeftys aud cast e upon ttss ancepsasn aIess~.s
Of popular will, untempered, a. yet BY the hal
lowing influence of education; and shall We sthl
refuse 10 insure the safety Of that government,
by refusing 10 contribute TO the only means that
can give !, salety-.he education of its peepe,
The rich may say, we have no Interest in the
education OF the poor! There could be no
yseater Or more fatal error. Pride. the love of
'ur offspring, the ephemerai pleasure of wit
'essing the bud Of youth nurtured by our care,
% it expands, and grows, and ripens into man
lood, these teach the rich to educate their own
hldren, but the higher considerations Of patri.
hoer cause Of religion and morality
1.-The pure and unstained love Of human happi.
less teach them to educate the poor.
Having had my attention drawn 70 this sub.
ect, opened correspondence with gentlemen
q different parts OF the country, with view tu
licit information. Their replies. toret her with
UGH statistics andsother documentary evidence
$ have been enabled TO collect, are at the ser.
ice Of the Legislature.
Difficulties beset Us, know, but they are diff
cuIties which prudent and discreet manage.
lent OF our affairs will overcome. The sparce.
ess of population in many places, has been in
exposed az serious objection in the way Of nv
eneral system Of schoos. Perhsps il is so.-
we cannot. on this account, employ teachers
81 year, we could perhaps employ them for
aIf or quarter Of a year. II we canno, do eye-
y thing, surely il ia not valid reason why We
hould do nothing.
Among other matters connected with this sub.
sc,, invite the special attention Of the Lecisa-
are to the reports of the Presidents Of the
cards of police in the several Counties. on tho
ubject of the school lands. These reports were
hcited BY a circular which addressed them,
I'D which ia herewith transmitted II u,;fl M
cen that all have not responded, bur enough
az been collected 10 show the manner in which
10 school lands have been treated, and TO make
apparent that radical change is demanded.
Alter devoti as much time as could spare
the subject Of schools, consistent with other
fcial duties, | feel prepared in spirit Of the
tmost confidence, as to its success, to make
he following recommendation. The State
ught to assume the $4,000 90 lost 10 the
lanters bank and place it at once on the same
'o,ng with the $lO3,257 % now in the Teas.
~. The fund would then amount in round
umbers TO two hundred and fifty thousand dol
70. Two hundred thousand dollars Of this
lould be retained as permanent fund, and tho
'esdue appropriated to the erection Of college
alldings At Oxford, a. heretofore suggested.
This permanent fund should be kept 10 tho
reasury. and an annual interest of eight per
ent. paid on It. This interest (l6,OOO dolsrs>
Mould be set apart in the Treasury at the be.
inning Of every year and kept sacred and in
olable for the purposes hereafter to be named;
nd here let me remark that the vexa,ion aud
Epense which has attended first collection Of
lis fund, and the heavy and rainous iosses
hich it has sustained 10 the hands from which
has beenislowly wrung, should admonish the
legislature TO take charge Of il and keep it Sc.
are in future. OF the sixteen thonsa nd dnla,ai