Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1855-10-31
For tho Advertiser. :

Mr. -EprToR IL have been hamessed 10 the car
educational for series Of years. and lhaye drawn, as
thought, with assiduiiy, alacry and patience. ara
beginning TO find out, however, that il is mn up hill
business To drop metaphor, have come 10 The so-
lemn conclusion-wth the light Of experience shining
in my eyestlat the vocation OF school.master is not
10 be- chosen hy those, who desire eal,h cheernness,
fortune, or honorable distinction In the first place,
the compensation in most instances, is wholly made.
quate 10 tile services Iendered in the second place,
the con,idoraton-the claim to noticethe degree Of
respectabity-which attaches thereto isnot comnen.
,urate with the responsibility in the third place, it
skaters tn. nerves, it induces feeling o" deep and
brooding melancholy" it spos the best disposition,
it undermines the constitution, and galvanizes the
mind into sort Of upasmodic action, which borders
too closely on insanity am at times inclined to the
opinion, that the task Of Ssyphns was light in COM
parison with that Of conscientious and sensitive
pedagogue. In rollingihas great stone up The noun
taist st.s vsnsd at e sas! an opportunity OF
The mountain, what noble prospects of the Elysion
fields was spread out before him. And how exhilera-
ting must have been 10 stand that lofty emnence,
and watch the progress Of The ated stone as it went
numbering adown The rugged sleeps of the mountain!
The incredulous may smile, but have in my minds
eye many an intelligent gentema.., who would nod
assent to every assertion that have made. But, r
haps after all, should not have written these sen.
tences, had not South Carolina, my natiue State.
through her agents regularly appointed in Edgefeld
District employed myself and others 10 teach her in
digent children, and then refused 10 pay any thing
more than eepen per cent. on The amount due at the
end Of the las, quarter in 1854. The Commissioners
Of The Free Schools for Edgeeld, at their last sitting
rpudiated School Reports passed in December last TO
the tune of eight hundred dollars. And why! The
Comptroller General gave information by letter that it
was illegal for the Commissioners to pay old debts!
that is to .ay according 10 the Statute in such case
made and provided no part of the sum Of s., 600, TO
which tile District is annually entitled be used
this year by the Board OF Commissioners in liquidation
Of the debts contracted last year over and above that
amount If such law does disgrace the Satne books
of South Carolina, hope for the honor Of the State
that it will be eIpunged by the Legislature at its next
session. Unless this be done, and unless the Comms-
sioners be allowed to pay the Teachers their jus. dues,
1 for one shall feel very much like emigrating III,
or any other man, should hire number OF men 10
work twelve months, and at The end Of tho year, IL
should appear that my suary was insufficient to pay
all that owed them, then as matter of course
should have to make draw upon my salary accruing
the next year for the wherewitha to settle up old
scores And who will have the effronsry to say that
Governments are not hound by tls same principles
which are Of force in private life!
1t may not be improp:r at this point, TO soy some.
thing in relation to our Free School system. 1t is be.
coming fashionable among every class Of citizens to
assert, on almost every occasion, that this system
works badly But the money appropriated is all ab.
sorbed-very economically expended. In what way'
In educating the orphans and poor of hs Stale. By
whom are these children instructed BY teachers
examined and approved Of by the Commissioners of
Free Schools. Who appoints the Commissioner.
The Legislature And ye, there are twenty thousand
men and women (whites) in South Carolina who can
not read and write! What is the natural inference!
That there Is lack Of moneyat the Legislature ap-
propriates TOO sparingly Ihold that education should
be free as water Our schools ought to be common
to all without dstinction. But until such schools
these are thrown open to the public, it is than
folly to cry down our present system Of Free Schools
Let the system be backed by larger purse, and my
word for il, we shall see the Of education -four
ishing like grssn bay tree, from the sea board to the
mountains. LUDIMAGISTER. 4