The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1858-06-22
NO. 600.
THE TRUE SECRET OF EDUCATION.

THE TRUE SECRET OF EDUCATION.
With what various and wonderful facul-
tics has God endowed the human mind.--
The imagination springs forth, like the
falcon in its upN ard fight, seeking to
reach the sun, while reason, with restraining
cords, draws it back TO earth again, before
its wings are scorched. To cultivate these
two faculties SO that the first shall not at.
tain the mastery, is the true secret Of ed
ucation. By it the mind ia matured and
the energies are brought forth into bencfic
ial action. The man Of mere imagination
is almost useless in his day; be lives in
world Of his own creation and peoples it af..
ter his own untamed conceptions. Such
man is not tho creature that God made
him, nor is the earth fitted for his resi-
dencc. The realities Of life torture and
district bis mind. Their is nothing to him
in harmony, nothing beautiful in the uni
verse. Tho Garth to him is a sterile prom
ontory. This excellent canopy, This ma.
jestic roof frcttcd with golden fire, appears
to him nothing but foul, pcstilcntial con-
gregalon Of vapors. He would, like an
other PbRton, mount the chariot, snatch
the reins from tho h nds Of Apollo, and
drive the hcrscs of the Sun. Blind and
infatuated man! ard yet he is the creature
Of education, and that, misdii cctcd, has
overwhelmed him in misery. If the vol
ume of nature had been opened to his
view, if tho chain Of being had been ira
ced out for him from the merest atom 10
the infinite Creator, if he had been early
taught the adaptation of the parts to the
whole, if he had been instructed in the
knowledge Of the human passions, and the
volume Of his moral duties had been opened
before him, he would have arisen from
these instructions wiser and a better man.
He would have seen order and harmony in
every thing around him. Each little flow
er that blooms ty the wayside, as well as
the lofty tree whose top aspircs TO the
clouds; the pcarly dewdrop, as well as the
broad ocean; the low ly ant.hill, rs well as
the snow.clad mountains; the smallest in
sect, as well as the eagle, when towering
in the pride of place; the glow-worm, as
well ms the bright, golden sun all would
have united 10 unveil the face Of Omnipo-,
tence. He would have learned that order
was heavens first law, and would have ta-
ken his place in society with the volume of.
his duties in his hands and obedience writ.
ten on his heart. Love to man would have
arisen as consequence of love to God.-
He would have had desire to be useful in
his day. An ambition to be distinguished
among the bcncfs ctors Of mankind would
he We possessed him. True glory would
have waved him on to that high eminence,
on which stands the temple Of true fame.
He would have aspired to an Immortality
on earth and an endless reward in heaven.
What if dan. er had beset bis path,--what
if persecution and obloquy had attended
his footsteps,-what il man, for whom he
lahored, malgned him, and society, for
which he toied, disowncd him-if he had
pcrsevered to the end his name would
have been inscribed upon the pillars Of the
Temple, and its tablets bore record to his
noble virtues.
Such would be the result of well direc-
ted system of education.