The North-Carolina standard., 1847-09-08


now ia the silent shadows of the grave. To those
OF Us who were together here thirty years ago,
ran nantes IN Igurgits rasto," these mournful
recollections come home, with peculiar power
Like dim voices Of the dead they speak 10 us from
the chair of the instructor as we'll as from the
bench Of the pupil. e'|a5r,- s..iJ J--.- L."
: Now kindred merit iIs the sable bier ,ya
Now lacerated friendship claims a tear; r.-,
ear chases year decay pursues decay;
Still drops some joy from wlthering life away" :"
And here should do injustice to the occasion
and to my own feelings if did not pursue this
painful theme for moment to pay the tribute of
my afectionate regard to the memory of him who
for so many years often under most adverse cir
cumstances, but still with signal success. admin
istered the affairs of the University its presiding
officer. No one, am sure, who has ever shared
his counseIs or profiled by his mild reprools, can
easily forget the wisdom and the virtues of Presi
dent Caldwell. Uniting extended learning with
sound judgment, he possessed the rare and difficult
art to temper admonition with kindness and to
render discipline more effectual by making it less
repuIsive. . .- .......- 0..-.. ..-....,....
His life was gentle !; and the elements .e,~
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, this was man." -
His character and his usefulness-what he was,
and what he was enabled to do-suggest theme,
which in this theatre of his labors, and among
these witnesses of his fame it would be grateful
task under other circumstances to pursue. But
his own example would rebuke US, if we should
allow even his merits to turn US aside from con.
Itcmplating the great objects of his toll. Let US
seek Iuther to understand and to do homage to
those vast Interests Of enlightened culture in our
own country, which he lived, and, I had almost
said, ne died 10 promote. .....'......
To this general subject we are invited, not only
by the proprlelies of the occasion, but by its own
intrinsic dignity and worth In its broad and
comprehensive sense, the work of education is the
grand business of human life; and in these Uni.
ted q Dates, l need hardly say it can never be
neglected but at the hazard of consequences which
no patriot can contemplate without alarm.
This belief was present with America at its very
birth, and stamped upon its rising institutions the
great impress Of freedom and perpetuity In the
history of other nations, learning has been the
slow growth of a society already formed, and has
existed, at last, only as the ornament of wealth or
the champion of power. But with the Fathers OF
our Republic the next to religion, it the first
thing thought of; not as luxury, but as a neces-
sity not as the handmaid Of privilege, but as the
nurse Of equality; not as the child of endowment
or the accident of place, but as the surest basis
of public prosperity and Of private happiness.
They planted knowledge therefore, in the wilder
ness established schools as soon as they builded
habitations; and laid the foundation Of Uaiver-
sity, while yet they were struggling with the raw
ages of disease and the apprehension of want
| More than century ago the charter governments
were celebrated for promoting letters by free
schools and collsges"-and to this feature of their
character has been traced the of their great
SUCCESS. ' Every child born into the world was
lifted from the Garth by the genius Of its country,
and in the statutes of the land received, az its
political br.hright pledge of the public care for
its morals and its mind"
! Il has been said that, under Government like
- in .is
ing, and that nation becomes less truly intelli-
gent by becoming more thoroughly Republican.
Yet no country has done so much for learning in
so short time as America. Unexampicd as has
been its growth in all the elements of physical
power It's means Of education have multiplied
with its advancing population, and gone hand in
hand with its increasing wealth. When this in
stitution founded in 1889 it had not more than
ten assocatc colleges in the whole Union and
many of these, in every thing but The name, were
hardly on level with our modern academies.
There are now in the United States at least ten
times that number, with aggregate of nearly
eg ht hundred instructors. an attendance OF twelve
thousand students, and library Of six hundred
and fifty thousand volumes. Independent ofthese,
but laborine 10 the same field Of usefulness, are
thiryfour schools of theology, thrty.two of mcdi-
cine, and eight Of law, all Of them in successful
! operation, and some of them munciicenty pro-
vided with the most costly apparatus and most
valuable works. The true glory, however of re-
publican culture is found in those less ambitious
nurseries of learning which, scattered broadcast
over the Union, extend the opportunities of free
! instruction to almost every family in America.
From The imperfect returns of many Of the States,
and the different systems adopted in various sec
tfons for accomplishing the same end, an accurate
summary on this subject cannot we'll be obtained
Five years ago it estimated that, in the whole
country, there were not less than two millions OF
pupils, who attended common schools; but bet
ter idea Of their extent and influence may be gath
cred from the statistics of single State. In New
I York, there are nearly eleven thousand public
schools; not less than half million OF pupils
and district Libraries for the alike Of children
j and adults, comprising in the aggregate more
i than million Of volumes In that State, l an
aware, the school system has been the work o
n manv years but even the system Of Ohio one o
i the Youngest States in the Union, may we'll at
tract our astonshment and respect Here, If any
where in the land, considering her late. existence
and marvellous growth we might have looked tc
see the cultivation of mind fatally postponed i
f not wholly overwhelmed by the thronging de
mands of enterprise, and the pressing employment
i of active life Yet her constitution declares, II
the genuine spirit Of the Republic, that knowl
/ edge is essential to good government and human
b,nniness." and that p" schools and means of in
struction should be encouraged in such way, a
n is consistent with freedom of conscience" Acting
on the admirable sentiment of this provision, sh'
had established, as long ago as lS40, elghteeI
4 colleges and nearly six thousand schools which
were attended by two hundred and twenty-five