, 1852-11-27

MEssEs. EDIToRs - Yesterday was
great day for Olympia. Not in the COM
mon pl,lance, great festival, great mass
meeting, or a great celebration-but there
was school actually commenced in town,
by means of which the children heretofore
roaming about our streets, listless as the In.
dian, will begin to ilubibc the knowledge /
requisite to make them good citizens, good .
republicans, good christians, and in short,
prepare them to fill the position in which
The death Of their parents must soon place /.
them.
The Pilgrim fathers, when they were
struggling to obtain sustenanec from the
sterile soil of New England, felt that they
were settling a continent not for themselves
alone, but for their descendants through all
time. Hence they educated their children.
system Of common schools was early
adopted, and Cambridge College was found
ed by sacrifices Of no common kind. Some
contributed silver spoons, some silver cups,
banded down to them as heir looms, dear
family relies, but tie cause OF education was
sill moro dear. Thus was the first college
IN North America founded and within, It's
classic walls many Of the master spiIitstof
tie revolution acquired the power of embod-
ying thought and welding the pen that ena-
blcd them to paint in such glowing cClors
the temple Of liberty, and to depict with
such effect the deep degradation of slavery.
| And there stands the time honorcd institu-
ton yet-a connecting link between the
past and the present. The peaceful quieto of
its shades was disturbed by the roar OF can
non at the battles Of Lexington, Bunker
| Hill, Cambridge and Dorchester. Those
same spoons and silver cups contributed
largely in forming people too enlightened
to be enslaved, too viruous to be bought.
Who can calculate the benefits and blessings
conferred upon our nation and the world, by
the sacrifices so early made TO spread intel
| ligence and cducation in New England
Think Of it yc calculating men on this side
Of the continent, who let few dollars (pcr-
haps a single days work. stand in the way
of educating your children. Do you say
there is less need of education now than
two hundred years ago will there be 10
need in the future of intelligent men and
women The world is, or should he, on
the advance. After we have crossed con-
| tnent we should not BE- behind our forcia
theirs when they commenced the journey.
With our growing population We need good
schools. In fact civilization can hardly be
said to have begun until the school house
and the church have place among us. II
/ Olympia, true TO lis interests and the coun
Il try, maintains a good school and takes the
lead in education, it will contribute greatly
to give it supremacy in other things, for i'm
migrants will cluster about the place where
! the best facilities exist for educating their.
children. This Icing central point for
Northern Oregon, we hope, in a few years,
to see a University rs one Of our most con-
spicuous and useful public buildings. But
if our citizens are careless and Indifferent,
other points will take the lead in intelli-
gence, in character and respectability. And
/ it will be right that success attend those
who deserve it. We hope to see spirit of
rivalry on this subject.
1t may not be amiss 10 mention, for the
/ benefit Of those sections Of Thurston county
not as yet organized into school districts,
that there is several hundred dollars Of
school funds now in the county treasury,
and that every district, by organizing, can
have their share, whether they have a school
or not. They can keep the money at in
tercst if they like, until they conclude 10
have a school 1t isyastly better for every
district to draw its money and have it in its
own control, for it sometimes happens that
the last served fare the poorest Mr. A.
w, Moore is now teaching the district
school of Olympia. He is man of expert
cnce, character, education and ability; and
| if any one moi having a school in their sec
ton wishes to send scholars, they may rest
assured that they are entrus!ing them in
safe hands Scholars by hiring room, and
two or three joining together in cooking
their board, might make the expense but
little more than living at home.
r. S.