Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-02-28


natural continuation of the process of creation,
taking up that process just where the Deity
left it. They would see and feel the propriety
of having short portions of the Bible read and
explained every morning in the school Of hay-
ing prayers read from books specially prepared
for schools of having moral questions dis.
cpssed by the pupils, and moral lectures de-
| lyered by the teacher; and Of introducing, as
textbooks, such manuals as Sullivan's Moral
Class Book, Wayiand's Moral Science"
HAIRS Morals for Schools" and such like
Such legislators would see and feel, that to
ueny 70 the hungering and thirsting soul Of
cniiohood the nourishment which these books
are prepared to give. would be little less than
committing murder by starvation Such legis.
iators would not interfere with any sectarian
preJudlces; but. rising above them all. would
TX on the two central principles of the uni
verse, JUsTICE and LOVE, and would 40 EN-.
body them II the educational codes Of the
State, as 10 silence noisy demagogucs and in
tolerant bigots
May say a word to the Legislature of Yer
mont Your constitution wisely recognises the
principles for which have been contending.
In accordance with its spirit, let me ask you.
civil fathers to consider the 1chole nature of
| man, His physical intellectual, and moral pow
ers are each dear to God ; let them be equally
dear to you Give them oil their fair natural
| chance in your State, If, by partial or penu-
rious legislation concerning schools you do
| everything to sharpen the intellect of youth
and do nothing to christianize the conscience
if you make a giant Of that intellect and dwarf
Of that conscience do you not thereby double
the power of doing wrong, and proportionably
lessen the disposition to do right? We invite
you to take the most comprehensive views OF
human society, and to make the deepest phi
osophy of human nature the basis of your le-
gslation. Congress- when it sat apart o portion
of the public lands, in every town, as devoted to
education, has set you noble example; and
| it seems to say to you that next to parents,
you are responsible for the intellectual and
moral culture of the rising generation ; and
especially of those whom the ordinary agencies
of society cannot reach We trust you will
heed nations exhortation.
| We ask you to render the public schools of
your State attractive to youth. Furnish them
with accomplished teachers good libraries, and
extensive apparatus. Where the honey is,
there the bees will always come. You promise
tempting rewards to any citizen who shall rear
the fairest forest of oaks. or raise the largest
CATTLE. or invent the best machine-would it
be unworthy Of your patriotism to bring your
appreciation to bear, in some form, on the best
school-teacher, on the fttest class-book or the
worthiest pupil Are not mind and morals
staples worth some patronage You spend
vast sums in prisons and penitentaries, in watch
men and sherifs--will you not provide some
thing which will render these useless If you
plant moral principle in the plastic mind of
youth, you put there hundred governors. Are
you not bound to make the process, which is
! preventive Of crime, so perfect that the cura-
tive one will not be needed?
t Perhaps you reply to all this and say" We
i e - A
but we are not so much afraid of any of the
! prevalent forms of Christianity as we are of
the heathenism which threatens MS we are
not half so much afraid of sectarianism as we
are of infdelity, or rs we are Of the blackness
and darkness Of ignorance, Better eat sour
bread than starye
Civil Fathers deepening moral responsi.
bility rests on you. You are addressed on
every side by emphatic voices Our Pilgrim
ancestors, from the rock Of Plymouth, cali out
to you from the visible past and command you
to follow up the two great principles of the
charch and school-house, which they have be.
queathed to us in trust So, too, from the in.
visible future, do coming generations call to
you, ere they arrive, beseechiDg you to provide
for them that instruction which shall make
them equal to all the demands of an advanced
civilization. VIII you be deaf to the command
ofyour fathers, or the prayer Of your children
have thus, gentlemen Of the Institute, indi-
Gated, not rs | had wished, but as am able.
the new era in Legislation, which it seems to me
the Christian religion demands of the leading
republic Of the world IN the nineteenth century
Adler pens | hope will convert these hints 10
life aud power God grant that our country
may so strike that grand keynote that all the
republics Of our hemisphere, which are lust in
their childhood and all those in Europe which
are just being born, may ioyfully catch the sa.
cred tones and chant together as in chorus
the song of redemption, liberty, and love- which
is the song oftruth, education, and Christianity
And now in bringing this course of lectures
to close. il must have been apparent to all
that the need Of moral culture is more and
more felt as indispensable to the highest i'm.
proyement and prosperity Of our schools. Most
happy am to find the present thus telegraph.
ing to the future. Let this Institute lift SO
high the Christian standard, that every Lecis
lature in the land may read its heavenly motto.
And now methnks. hear the car Of the
nineteenth century laden with the improve
mcnts in art, literature, science, and religion.
speeding ts way towards us, with its breath OF
fire, 1t comes from the North /: and it is the
duty Of this Association to see TINT Il stops not
until it has reached the EXTREMIST verge of our
Southern continent We trust it viii pass
through the capital of every State, to give to
each Legislature the opportunity of making its
generous contributions Thus laden, it shall
acquire momentum that will crush to atoms
every opposing power. Shaliwe not welcome
its coming Yes Let as hail it from our in
most hearts, and shout it along its way. Hear
we not the noise Of its wheels Let it come-let
it come God give it speed Clear the track
for the bells rings