Smyrna times., 1857-12-03

% U 'Sl"'Vn uPou the value OF Education
IN 1he person with thoroughly disciplined min
i, has laid out before him wide fields of usefu
ID ness, where all his services are demanded.
= ne has the elements of success in his charac
"a ter the professions offer chances of honor an
e ample remuneration,- --and, in educating tn
: rising generation, thousands of teachers ar
wanted In all parts of the Union, in the nobl
calling OF lifting the youthful mind for the du
n ties OF future life,--to enable them to be al
: honor to themselves and friends, and blessin!
: to the world Not only in the professions anc
t Tor teachers are educated persons needed, bu
IN the mechanic arts and in agriculture 1t i.
! from these pursuits-from the hard-handed and
, warIs-hearted yeomanry of the land-that we
are to expect those legislators those staid and
true men, who are to be the stay and support
OF our country in all coming time. The great
} laoorlng class is the one upon which the perpe-
tulty and prosperity of this confederated Re-
public must depend, "a class which has giyen
us Franklin, renowned as a philosopher as
well as statesman,-a Webster, beneath the
frown OF whose god-like intellect senates and
|
mllI-boy OF the slashes, of whose public speak
ing, it may be said that oratory came mended
from his tongue. Fillmore, Ex President of the
Y. D., OF whom it was said, when leaving his
trade and entering an office to study law, " he
misses, leaving work for books - but time has
long since given their assertion--the lie: and
there are many, very many instances that might
be cited, illustrating the propriety of educated
farmers and mechanics. To this class, educa-
tIonal influence should be especially directed.
for it is too often the case that parents are
culpably indifferent to the all-important SUBJ
Ject, neglcctlng to inform themselves on those
subjects which are of great interest to them,
keeping their children from school on the most
trltiIng pretexts, and not imbung their minds |
with that ambitious feeling of interest, SO es. |
sentlal to their greatest success. Often wo
hear the farmer complain that tillng the soil
don't pry as well as many other kinds OF busi-
ness,-that their sons, after arriving at ages
when their services would be valuable, leave
the farm and country for the city counting
house or shop. The mechanics son, oftener
than otherwise, leaves his fathers occupation
for some other. The reason is that the father
and proprietor is too much engaged with his
immediate gains--his annual income he
doesn't keep pace with the busy, active, I'M.
proving world around him,--tll at length.
when, with one foot in the grave, property in
his hands which has cost him the happiness of
a lifetime to accumulate, and for which his
friends may quarrel ere yet the earth is scarce
ly thrown over all that mortality has left of
the condition of the world he
hnds himself quarter of century behind the
age in which he has lived, and in no very salts.
fed frame of mind, sees that he must bid fare.
well to the earth for the stern realities of an
unried future, having accomplished no great
good for himself, posterity, or the world.
The labor of the mechanic and farmer should
be varied by intellectual pursuits--by reading
and study; the farmer should be an educated
man,-one who could take advantages of the
arts and sciences the former in the construc-
tlon of labGr-saving machines, the latter in
chemical analysis of soils and application of
stimulants and fertilizers. But what is the la
mentabe fact! That he-trammelled by the
shackles of superstitious prejudice-kept in
bondage by ignorance, or an unwillngness
to vary from the good old way of his fathers
as he calls it's slow to receive the improved |
facilities for performing his labor which are pre-
sented for his acceptance, because forsooth he
may consider it an innovation. Here is the I
secret of his i'll success,-here the reason why I
1 T. IL l..
aud honorable pursuit. How does he pass his '
leisure time! What social attraction does his
home present to render the time of household q
home-circle attractive! Look /
at his library consisting of some dozens OF old f
books which probably no one ever did read +,
through, and very likely never wil,-to say i
the least, they are not such as would be likely |
to interest the young mind, and lead it from it's /
to mirth and light-heartedness to a I
love for useful and instructive reading His {
newspapers and periodicals, if he takes any,
are too often those which favor his particular {
sect in religion or party in politics, without re-
gard to what would interest a mind Just ex-
pandng into strength and beauty. This is not
as it should be. Let the child be fed with suf. ,
Iicent wholesome intellectual food be direct c
ed in the ways of leatning.-subject to salu- j
tary disciplne,-and but little fear need be {
appreheDded for it's future course in liie-but 1
little fear but that the old adage will be veri- /
fed. of "a bring up q child" &c. * -r /
We are apt to undervaue Education, and {
think too much of money; we are apt to over c
the true difference between the happi.
ness of the wealthy and those who are in poorer q
We shall oftener find that true a
love aud contentment have located themselves ,
in the cottages of the humble than the palaces
of the rich. The latter have their attention |
by the cares and perplexities of busi.
ness, the former more frequently have time /,
.nI in | 1