Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1855-05-24
For the Easfern Times.
School Papers. No. /.

4
No subject can better engage our attention
or claim our serious thought and hottest infu-
cnce, than the education of our children
The work Of education, always paramount to
all others, sometimes assumes superadded
importance. lis appropriate object is youth,
and its appropriate duty is to Undue them with
the saving predestinations Of wisdom and love-
The best part Of my life, and the maximum
of whatever humble ability ever possessed,
have been devoted to the culture and well-be-
ing Of youth. And no day of that life was
ever passed, nor any effort Of that ability ever
made, without leaving upon my mind deep
er and more vivid conviction of the impor-
lance and the solemnity of that work of works
the development and training of human
soul.
Now ! may be saying what does not become
me, since have not had the largest expert
ence on this subject; but / am sometimes
tempted to think that the whole field of edu-
cation must be thoroughly revised, before the
world can make any great advancement in the
education of the young. The greatest obsta-
Gle to be overcome is the misconception which
so generally prevails, respecting its true na-
ture and object, and the means by which it can
be advanced.
hold that perfect system Of teaching and
training can never be reached till we have first
evolved complete and satisfactory science of
man. We must understand more perfectly
the nature of that complex being who is to be
reared to the stature of his full and glorious
development, before we can be sufficiently
precise and comprehensive for the direction
of the work.
Education, as applicable to mans entire
nature, should be threefold intellectual, NOR
al and physical The first of these has al
ways claimed the highest place in the estima-
ton of man. This is wrong. If precedence
is to be given to either, it should be TO the
moral training for this involves the happi-
ness of the soul. Like the waves excited by
the fall of pebble in quiet lake, SO shall
the cycles OF the teachers influence and our
youthful education multiply and extend them
selves forever, on the shoreless ocean of eter-
nifty.
| Now look at the human race, and see how
little progress it has made towards the fulfil
ment OF the benefcent design that prompted
its creation, and the end for which it was Gre
ated. Look at the necessities of a race like
ours, in world like ours. Look into the
marts of business, the halls of government,
the framework of social relations See
how avarice overreaches by law, or plumbers
without law how fraud rises to wealth on
steps made solid by perjuries how intern
perance and RIGHTEOUSNESS rage; how vice,
though seeking for hiding place in our cities,
yet reeks into publicity by the malaria evolved
from its own fermentation
Look at the slanderer, whose pestilential
breath extends around an atmosphere of mise
nv, desolation and death the effluvia of whose
noisome mouth is ruin and corruption to all
within its reach. No Saurian or Megatheri-
UNI Of the monster-eras could ever inspire such
horror or disgust as he. Prone, immane, OBJ
scene, he crawls, like the serpent for his prey,
and wallows in bloody filth for his pastime
To all the wonders of the earth below, to all
the miraculous glories of the heavens above,
he is blind to all the symphonies, the sancti-
ties and the loves of social existence he has
but the adder's ear and the tigers heart, and
towards God, he is an unconscious atheist
He walls out the all-welcoming heaven on ev-
cry side, save where he sits at his own narrow
wicket and there, he destroys the innocence
Of virtue, and thus draws a pail of moral
blackness over the society in which he lives.
Now look at this panorama of wickedness
and woe ouispread before US, the superstitions
and idolatries which have SO defaced, blackened
and corrupted the soul and body Of man, unit
it seems impious any longer to say that such
race wa. created in the image of God ; look
at these things, ] say, and then tell me if here
is not work that demands our deepest inter-
est and strongest efforts.
When we prescribe an education for our
children, do we always understand what a
child is, and what is the true idea of his de-
velopmenta Why do we make use of the
term knowledge SO exclusively! Why dc
we say so continually, knowledge is pow.
er'-borrowing the words, but not always
preserving the meaning of Bacon There are
better words than knowing; they are ,oise
good understanding; words consecrated by
the use of the Bible, that book of books
hnoring people are not always honest, and
dishonest people are never i1ise. This is a
truth too large to be scanned by the merely
calculating, knowing spirit. The education
which brings down men to the condition Of
knowing animals, is one which ignores the
God-given faculties of our nature, and the
proper consideration of the immortal destinies
of man. There is something parents. believe
me, in conscience well instructed and void
of offence, which can stand poised in its in
tegrity, looking away from the capricious YER
dict of to-day, to the calmer and juster verdict
which it shall receive at the hands of posteri-
ty, and the still more righteous decision which
shall be. pronounced by divine tribunal.
The COMPLETION OF THE LAKE SUPERIOR
e. l.