Loudon free press. (Loudon, Tenn.) 1852-1855, 1853-09-09
For the "Loudon Free Press."1
MENTAL CULTURE.

stltion, and prejudice, which naturally infest
the atmosphere of reason, shall be dissipated
assiduous mental application. The latent en-.
ergies of the mind d,-the noblest faculties Of
our nature, and the richest talents entrusted us
wisdom divine, are of no avail, unless aroused
by the proper incentive and by mental culture;
hence the intention and utility of education are
to unfilm the scientific and classical eye; to ir-
radiate the darkness of the mind; to cause in
telligent beams to glisten through the counte-
nance ike l;ghtin avase; to prepare them for
temperate rse, and toact the part assigned them,
in LIES eventful drama, with credit to them
selves and with good to the community by which
they are environed. The minds of men, uncul-
tivated are as garden full Of weeds-as a
drcsJ wilderncss-as a barren plain-as an
arid waste, having nothing beautiful nor spright-
ly about them, because parched by the wither-
ing smoom of ignorance. Many young men,
whose talents and genius were sufficiently ade-
quate to the requirements Of the Presidential
chair, had they been properly directed, have
been compelled to WELD q mattock and hoe, by
being indolent and unperserving in their sunny,
blithe and boy hood hours. Education directs
our best Judgment and reason into proper chan
nels and brings order out of disorder-regular-
ity out of irregularity-concord out of confu-
sion, and beauty out of deformity. Our minds
fetal and prolific, as do our well grained hsr-
vest fields manual labor, to make them yield
eXubersnt crops TO the husbandmen. A man
can no more be the full, literary man, without
much reading and deep thought, than could
Tennessee River continue to flow, were her
tributaries cut off 1t is not the careless "heluo
librorum' that can use the most profound ideas;
but 1T is the historian, who stores up and natures
well, that he reads. If the minds of men were
like the tabled Minerva who sprung from the
head of Jupiter, possessing mature intellectual
faculties, there would be no stringent necessity
for US to be pouring over Philosophy, Logic,
Mathematics, and the Classical works: but mans
physical organization proves incontrovertably,
that the mind is truly progressive in its nature,
even from infant simplicity up to all the distinc-
tive sprighteness of advanced years. Like
friendship, it is continually augmenting its cir
cle,-like the garden rose, it unfolds its beauti-
full lids by proper eare-like the material sun
flying from eastern twilight up the sznre vault,
it brightens and expands until it reaches the
culminations of midday. How important then
is it, that we give our minds chance to devel-
op their buried worthl To discover the benefi
cial results, arising from the proper development
of the intellect, let US look to those, whose lite
rary thirst has been quenched by the gentle
quafings from its "Pierian fount"-such are,
and ever have been, the noble reformers of So
ciety-legates for the cause of virtue uphold
ers Of morality and civilization, forming at all
times the palladium of our free American nst-
tutions; while on the other hand the moral lit
erary, religious, and political aspect Of nation
lingering under the whitening curses Of ignor-
ance and the iron heel Of evil, afford misera-
bic spectacle to all phianthopists. An litter
ate people are always suffering innovations both
in "Church and State" and are doomed to lin
arranged code of jurisprudence to secure either
person or property-deprived of all that civiiza-
ton, which makes Our fre-side circles smile in
peace, happiness plenty and security. They
are deprived of the paramount blessings, advan-
tages, and noble comforts, growing out of hu-
manized society, of which we as the sons of
freedom, so necessarily exult. Our minds are
like ball Of snow, which being rolled increas-
es its bulk; SO the small amount of knowledge
with which we commence, accumulates more
and more, until new world seems to be made,
possessing new scenes of intellectual vision or
like the burning lens, the powers of the mind,
are rendered powerful and effective, by being
centered. Hence, youths, who have any genius
or acumen, should not despond, when in the el
ementary branches, because "tall oaks from lit
lie acorns grow'-from the innumerable sands
the sea shore is formed-and from the many
tears of Heaven, are the large water courses
made when our country shall have established
enough for ordinary schools, colleges, and reli-
gious seminaries to meet the imperious demands
at our scholastic population, then ignorance
and its destructive accompanyments, will melt
away, like snow before the fame. The time is
proximate, when we will not find so many drum
ken, ignorant youths and gambling desperaders
in our circles:-when Roman Catholicism, that
palsying nightmare, which couched upon Italy's
breast, can not drink our hearts warmest blood;
but when our starry-bedecked flag of liberty will
float, amid ether's enlivening breeze, like some
beautiful lilly sparkling with delicious diamond
dew, with Union, Freedom, Intelligence and
Brotherhood inscribed upon her silken folds, it
is because of the general diffusion of moral
and religious knowledge among the common
masses, that we have so little civil commotion
and so much freedom. Our historical cycles,
thus, know nothing about such horrible cata-
logues of crime, as were committed in Europe
and Asia, by accursed despots, in former CEN
turies. The bloody hands Of superstition and
murder have never yet polluted our sacred
fanes. Martyrdom in its various inhuman forms
and ordeals has never been tolerated in these
United States. The jears and prayers of man.
priests, who, in days of yore, sum-