Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1848-05-27
EDUCATE THAT CHILD.

sic importance Of highly cuI,vating the
common mind. The duty and the absolute
necessity is upon US to do this; for the safe
~ of all we, as republicans, hold dear, de.
ponds upon its being done. Cultivate the
mind because ii is mind. Why till that spot
of earthi because it is fertile and will
produce CROP" Why educate that childl
l answer because il is child, and will be
man, and may be a seraph! Father, mother,
what is that lovely little object you call
yours--dearer to you than all your houses
and acres and goodsl Its bright eye, its
smiling face, its sweet voice--how precious
in your sight What is il? 1t is q little
thing which will grow into labor.doing
money. making machinel Do you look upon
it as curiously constructed form that will
make fine appearance well dressed, and
be quite satisfied we'll fedl This is to ap-
pear for a while for the purpose of eating
drinking and earning wages some sort or
other, and then pass away. And does edu-
eating it, mean simply giving it a little in
struction that it may the better accomplish
such purposesl More--in6nitely more than
all this goes to the making and training of
that child An infnitude belongs even now
to that lovely object. The gem of all that
is great and noble is concealed there
There are elements within it Of ecstacy or
woe beyond all human computation. There
is intellect there and susceptibility Of more
value to that child than the whole natural
universe around it. The child knows it not
you know it and God has committed il to
you, that this intellect may be developed
expanded, elevated, purified, fitted for hap.
piness here, and eternal glory hereafter;
that all these susceptibiities may be rightly
controlled and made happily subservient to
its higher nature. God has made il q noble
creature; you are to educate it noble
creature. God has stamped upon it his
image; you are TO see to it that this image
be not effaced. He has handed it to you a
spiritual diamond; you are to FURNISH it,
that it shine with brilliant lustre, to ali
eternity. Educate that child then. Spare
no expense that it may be rightly educated.
The high behest of heaven is upon you to
do this. Every thing permanently great
and good and happy, as it respects that
child in time and beyond time, depends
upon it's being done. Trust it not to unskil.
full hands, or to vicious influence. Ifyou
demand wisdom and ability in your minis
ter and physician. demand the same in the
instructor of your offspring, the pliancy of
whose nature places them at the mercy of
any one, bungler or artist, TO mould their
characters, their minds, their hearts, their
wills; and direct them unalterably into the
path of good or evil, virtue or vice. happi.
ness or misery. Teachers who have com.
mitted to them children for so great por.
ton of the most flexible and forming period
of their lives; will make them what you and
your minister cannot alter. II is the teacher
who will make them love or hate books;
who will make them active or passive in re-
ceiving instruction their lives through, who
will make them thinkers or machines; who
will make them love reading and study bet
ter than brawl and vitiating sports and
pleasures, or the reverse; who will make
their dispositions and manners agreeable or
Otherwise; who will make them more than
any other influence, what they are to be-
come as men, as citizens, as neighbors,
friends, parents and companions.