Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1856-09-19
Industrial Education.

very different course Of instruction may be.
practical for q youth contemplating pro-
icssional career; hut for one with slender
mean. aud no idea Of gaining his livelihood
otherwise than in connection with producs
tive industry, il is more and morc widely
realized that an ordinary college course is
an unfit and inadequate preparation. llenr
we are frequently asked when the con,cm-
plated '' Peoples College" will be opened
for studsnts-what kinirci scminarics are
already in opcration-and whittier young
man should bend his steps TO turn the lit
tie money he may have earned or inherited
into the largest and best supply Of qualih.
cation for useful and honorable career IN
Agriculture, Mining or Manufactures.
To these questions VIC can only reply ron.
crallv that W. note visible signs of progress
in the right direction all around us. Three
Of the most cmiu,n, scminarics Of New Eng.
lani-llararl, Yale, and Brown - have
each taken some steps toward the prniTrrius
Of hcili,ic, Tor industrial education to thosr
student. who may dcsir, IL. Union COLLEGE
in our own State has done Likewise. The
University Of Michigan at Ann hrb5r las
regular courses II lectures on agriculture
and the tributary sciences and We note
that a similar course is given this Winter in
Cleveland. Ohio. We hear from several
quarter. or attempts in contemplation to
establish schools oG practical agriculture
next Summrr-crule and imperfect, doubt
lr,.. in ,hrir infancy hut the poorest will
serve at least 8, stimulate inquiry and nc.
fu.c aspiration for better. Tho friends Of
the moliatci " Peoples College in our
own State al, hope to IA, enabled soon TO
announce very decided progress in their en-
t,rrri.,. But, should tho realization OF
their horc. D, deferred flr years longer, tho
general movement l. mo-, arrested The cncw
College at Troy, though no. lns'i on tho
idea. termed practical, Yet mnnii,sts in L.
rr1sp,-tu. an emphatic Difference toward
th1,s ideas. ltrror's', 90 iit men ior the
industrial sphere as well as i.r the rrofrs-
sir0al.
We believe. however, That false notions
as &, a., rrl,tiy, rc.rrctahility and dignity
of those Nv, sphere, ar, .'ill hmoni,bly
prevalent, and hat hcrrin {. the great pro-
rrrss. In spite of the ZIP Difference paid To
Labor hy learning, il /, amrnuhly true
that manual cyrr'iou ,no, heartily rcsror-
,,i. even hv its lifelong yoarirs. The
blacksmith. the ,;lucruttrr,who haswr1u-ht
outa manly Independence in The sweat vt
ai. face. would rather scr hls son second.
rate lawyer or doctor than a frs,.ratc ma
s1n or blacksmith. We need. therefore.
even more than Institutes for practical clu-
rati1n-say rather, O.. The la.is II such in.
,,i,utc.-a m1rc just and adequate idea II
the function aul true dignity u that Indus.
try which combine. mcp,al with muscular
exrr,i,n. And % this end We have inr many
a DAY sccn nothin. more conducive than the
li,,lg volume entitled " Tho World q Work
shop, or The Physical Relationship Of Man
to the Earth, ny Thomas Enhauk," from
which we quote as follows
Matter is the lay.hook in which mans
accounts are recorded all knowledge is d.
rac,lv or Indirectly written on il. There
is. IN fact, a mathematical relationship, or
s1mc,hin. like il, between elaborated mat.
ter and mind. - that the amount Of the
latter can b. l,luccd from the former, for
every olict Of ar, is the repository or rep
rcsrntatiyc of certain amount Of thought,
aud ~ j. every crop a planter rcaTs, and
everything else on which mind has been cx-
pended. The industry'of an age or Of pco-
ple is rs the vegetable and animal products
they grow aud minerals they raisc, while
thcir position on the scale Of progress i
marked hy the elaboration they give %
tho,, substances, and the us's they make u
them. Hal we siatis,icsof the pas; to cgn-
pare with those Of the present, constant
relationship woulI be found TO suhsi.t be-
tween the mass Of matter manipulated in
any given period and the sum Of cotempora-
ncous knowledge.
Those who deprcciatc matter know not
what they owe it, They view /; regardless
Of the mind, the infnity or mind that per-
yadc- it. They forge, that it is the agent
of thought that every ohjcc, in nature is
visible, stcrcotypci truth, just as in the
T world Of art saw, nail, or a printing
press is another; that man, like his Croa.
tor, makes matter not only the recipient Of
thoughts, but sends il forth a missionary TO
circulate them. Take away all our ideas
that cmanate from, and are allied to matter,
aul how Few would be left, Our minds
would he nearly blanks. This is not a
world for the cultivation Of thoughts in the
abstract, i. G. Of purely intellectual concep-
tlous. T ere are few such, AMI few minds
20 pursue them, while those flowing from
outward thugs are e1haus,less in variety,
attraction, and value. Matter is the uni
, ycrsal teacher and preacher. It has broken
no laws, il t~.nction' no disputes, but silently
exhibits it, doctrines, which M one can in
tcrlope or corrupt, with illustrations inief-
ni,cly diversified from day to day. All its
manifestations, from snowdrgp to the world
exelaim, The hand that made US is hi
vine