Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-05-01

t pains OF many bitter tear, shed over rune
: hopes and blasted expectations.
f Upon premises like these, the State Mill
r tary Academy proceeds, and hence the for
t tunate results which I have brought to you
f notice.
: 1t devolves upon me now, to present tha
institution to you in another deeply interest
: ing phase; for the great idea upon which i
: was founded, and upon which it proceeds
has not yet accomplished its mission. Ihay'
, given hasty sketch of its origin and pro
, gress, and the effects it has produced within
: its own walls present it to you now al
the propagandist of its method and purposes
of instruction into other localities, and into
the bosom of other communities; that tht
area of it's usefulness may embrace widel
field; that, like the current, which augmen
ted in volume by its tributaries and the rain!
of heaven overAows its banks, and pours its
fcrtilizing and refreshing streams over the
arid plains, it may make the sterile wastes ot
ignorance and self ruin fruitful, and enable
those who thirst to drink freel of the wa
ters of practical knowledge. From hence
forth We may be encouraged to hope, it will
be no more one, but twain, and we are here
to-day to oficiate at the baptismal font OF
its first born, and to bestow our blessing and
encouragement upon its offspring.
Two of the distinguished graduates of the
mother institution, in whose names and at
whose request I stand before you, acting up
on the noble conception that since man is
doomed to toll, he can toll to no better pur-
pose than the good of his country, have
come to your community, identified, for good
or i'll, as Providence shall determine, their
lot with yours, and have founded an institu-
tion in your midst, for the benefit of your
children, which in all its principles and
methods of instruction, is identical with the
mother institution, save in this only, that
another department of learning has been
added.
The kind reception you have given them,
the liberal support and encouragement,
which York and the surrounding Districts
have extended to them, while they are most
gratifying to them, have evolved another
fact, not less pleasing, that the high estimate
they placed upon your public virtue and in
telligence, before casting their lot with you,
did you no more than justice; for a system
of instruction like this can live only in the
bosom of such people.
To such of you, if there be any such pre-
sent, who believe the personal discipline
which this method of instruction requires,
is too stern and cxacting, the law of
obedience to established authority is cnfor-
ccd with a mind and will, which look with
too little forbearancc upon the wild wayward-
ness of youth and young manhood-permit
me to say, the superintendents dare not re-
lax the infexiblc requirements of that law,
under the penalty of total failure. Like the
mother institution, the Kings Mountain
Military Academy proceeds upon ideas that
are based upon an established educational
creed, and if any portion of that creed be
surrendered in obedience to demands COM
ing from any quarter, from that hour its
identity, vitality, cohesive power, and hopes
of future usefulness, will be forever lost
If. the system of instruction be based, as l
believe it is, upon positive knowledge,-up-
on demonstrated problem of educational
science, the law of which must be sought
for in the physical and mental organism of
man, any departure from that basis involves
an abandonment of truth, and the substitu-
tion of error in its stead.
There is another fundamental principle
involved in this matter, which is often over
looked. All who enter the institution are
entitled to the enjoyment of equal ri ghts.-
And as every act of disobedience has a d.
rect tendency to diminish the value and eff
cheney of the institution, and thereby to
bring the instructors themselves into disre-
pute, so every act of disobedence, however
small, is wrong not onl to the faculty, but
to every patron and pupil of the school, and
simple justice therefore requires that the
wrongdocr shall be punished, not in revenge
for the offence committed, but that similar
offences may be committed no more. Those
who entrust their sons to the care of the su-
perintendents, thereby not only admit their
confidence in them, but also make them the
Judges and administrators of justice between
them; and to hold the scales of justice equal
ly poised in their hands is an essential and
fundamental article in the compact by which
the school vas established. TO an audience
like this am sure it need not be said, that
no patron has a right to demand that wrong
shall be perpctrated upon all, that his own
son may be permitted to violate the laws of
the institution, with impunity. May we not
otherwise be permitted to hope, that this
method Of instruction and the objects it has
in view, sustained and approved by the pub
lie judgment, will yet expand into one,
more enlarged and effective still, and which
shall impress upon the minds of the rising
generation the great truth, that the individ-
uals of our race can ascend to their true dig
nifty and glory in the scale of being, only by
acting in conformity to the moral and rel-
gious responsibilities which the Author of
life has unalterably associated with life it.
self, and that to this law theymust conform,
if they would avoid dishonor or avert de-
struction.
I will not say, that popular education in
South Carolina has proved failure. Few,
however, will deny the proposition, that the