Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1854-03-14

sfIlkiHK
bnnof which Is now beginning to be applied 10
schools of every deseripton-and which Is aes-
tined to work revolution IN the artileal y sl.ii
now so almost universally in vogue. May the III
ycsfieation extend until the practice oi acquiring
rords trifhont ideas, common throughout inc
land. shall be received in the true hight oil com
mon sense; and the true test OF eul bono! or JF
ehaf good, shall be applied to every institution
for intellectual or moral culture. W. IL. j.
WASHINGTON, November 20, 1858.
HIM. II JohnsoR.-My dear FrienG-l omit
ted To mention, in my last, two facts when may
interest you. Ones of German, and the other OF
Swiss origin DIR. Breed now in the Patent ONCE
has spent one year with LiEBEG, the German
Chemist, and one year with DR.. WILLS, u SWISS
Chemist. He states that with both he worked,as
all the pupils work, ten hours day. They per
form their own experiments, and, to great eA-
tent make their own apparatus, which, with LIE
BEG, is surprisingly simple. They also take eX-
cursions for Geology, for Botany,for Agriculture
for Historical incidents, dc.-I1e said he thought
schools here might spend half their time on Ont
door Lessons. | replied they might, perhaps, to
some extent, take one excursion week. was
not little surprised at the advancement OF the
chemical science by German chemists.
A gentleman from Switzerland is a fellow boar
der. He stat es that in the college where he was
are FIVE hundred pupils An exercise Tor all Is
from drawings by Professor on the blackboard,
to make mathematical solids drawn,and drawings
of their solids-both done with special neatness
He made about one hundred and fifty different
solids; but many, more interested than himself,
made five hundred different forms with drawings
illustrating Cry stalogrnphy, Mechanism. &c.
showed him some made by young hands here
when he said" Just in that form" Tho Swiss
gentleman remarked that is the system with all
schools in Switzerland"
From the statements made by these two men,
my conclusion is, that if had spent five years
in Germany, Switzerland and other parts OF Eu-
rope, and was now cndeavoring to introduce their
system, know not how | could change my
plans for the better Their system and mine are
Identical, with one exception: Mine embraces re-
ciprocation, giving and receiving, scientific com
merce, exchanges, or whatever term may be ap-
piled to it. That is the soul Of the whote. You
see the system is Industrial, II word OF vast com
prehension, embracing production, morals, thor
ough nowledge-eyery thing.
No one can deny that our present SYSTEM an
i-industriai, and of course bad-from its nature
bad. 1t is impossible that it should be otherwise
than bad. tits coarse but true saying, THAT
idlencss is the devils workshop" From our
anti-ndustrial school systems come rowdyisin, an
American plant. The word is not used in Eu
rope, owing, it is true, III some measure, to the
fear of bayonets A rowdy is "A sui generis be
ing, uHercnI from InleI' pCkpochel, Ioppoi' vi
any other character but that His looks are
his own; his language, his walk his dress, his
code of morals, principles of honor are hls,re-
gardlcss of the opinion of the whole world, ex-
eept his class. Rowdes and Gypsies are equal
ly distinct class of beings. Public schools emp
tied into "street schools are the most fruitful
source of that peculiar class of American citizens,
now, to some extent, controlling our elections,
and destined eventually, funchccked, to subvert
Irna tint No VyOulu
"A more enectual check than Industrial Schools,
substituted for antiindustrial, as the hundred
thousand schools now III our country certainly
and evidently are. From beginning to end, the
system which it has been the object OF my hum
BILE efforts to extend, is IaduStridi productive,
practical, thorough, moral, and with all, attrae
tive, making schools the most attractive spots to
be found by every young person. | have never
known an exception-there never can be an ex-
eoption, under fair experiment. Bringing into
action all the powers of young beings,must, from
the nature of the case, afford the highest possible
pleasure to those beings. The richer the fruits
of efforts, the greater the vigor of those efforts,
and the higher the pleasure.
have now a case in point in little boy, less
than two years old The word minerals will
draw him from his mother, his dinner, any
sport in which he may be engaged, simply by the
charm of mental food, which to him is more deli
cious than food for the stomach. He eommenc-
ed by arranging in IA box an architectural Cabi-
net about two months since. He knows the
names of some twenty minerals, and their uses
in great measure. lie may not be able to say
burrstone, but ne is certain to give it whirl To
show its use. On taking coal he looks at the
hod; with mica, he points to the stove door, with
telspar, he says cups are made of it. Although
SO young,he keeps them carefully in the boxes.
On the return from walk few days since, he
brought with him a piece of jasper, just fitted to
his case. In short time he will rec )gnize the
names of all the minerals; he knows from the la
bells placed upon them, and with the word in eve
~ case, the thing will be identified, and ortho-
graphy rendered as permanent as the ideas with
which it is associated.
1t will not do to say til II this is a remarkable
case, or this boy is uncommonly smart. Every
being ever made by tie Creator. is remarkably
fond ofthe works of Creations; and every parent
has smart child, tin his opinion merely, bat
in fact Children not stupid till we make
them stupid by education, by an unreentng
system of Stating, sTUFFING, STUFFING.-
| The finding ont process is always delightful,
because resulting in mental food prepared by
the Creator of mind The siu6mg process will
answer for sausages, but is disgusting to minds
And vet the school process is the stuff'ng opera
tloii, ana beng dlsgorgedas fast the nauseous
spellng-book drugs are forced in, the stuffInp
mas to be done over again, res iting in contin-
aed process OF stutfng, stuffing, and then stuff
INC ai''en .'f"a'lv.e Dearande to witness
TINS unholy outrage upon innocence CHANGING
the glorious word of God the human mind. into
that ugly plant, American rowdysm.
speak what know, and may inst as we'll he
told that the stomach is not hungry for food. as
that the mind is not hungry for ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
more useful, the greater the ayidity with which
1T is received, Once let the can bono"-what is
the use, principle pervade instruction, and no