The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1859-11-03

skill L was admiring, and the genius Of
whose youthful son in his work | was no.
ticing, when the father took from the
drawer some beautiful crayon and pencil
sketches, which this working boy had
made. "Ah. sir" said the father, s:this is
America. Ny boy was taught all this for
nothing, at your public school Had |
stayed aC home, he would have lived and
died unnoticed at the bench Here he
may take a stand and be honored and en-
couraged." Yes, and this is but one of
| the multitude Of illustrations which
knowledge of facts would bring out, of
the encouragement which American free
dom gives to innate talent.
| knew poor English carpenter, who
with the utmost difficulty gathered the
needful bread for his family. His chill
dren were in the public school Of a neigh
boring city. His eldest son, having no
chance OF education before, laid hold of
his opportunity greedily, passed with
honor through all the stages OF public ed
ucation, at the public expense, and on his
graduating at the summiC of the career Of
the city's provision, was Immediately APP
pointed teacher and professor Of ancient
languages in one of the highest institu-
tions, and honored the more for the in
dustry which had made him, from neg
lected poverty, what he Is. This is Amer
! lea. That boy might have lived and died
Il beggar in the streets of London, and no
! titled man have taken him by the hand to
bring out, in an elevating education, the
noble powers his Creator had implanted
within him.
Let a man make q tour Of the single
State of Connecticut, with no other knowI-
edge or observation upon this subject than
that which belongs to every Intelligent
American, he will never forget the I'M
preston of dignity, beauty and power
which will be made upon his mind. From
the heading Of u pin to the hammering Of
granite, from the polishing Of the brass
button to the beating Of the brazen kettle,
from the India-rubber suspender to the
variegated and beautiful Brussels carpet,
in every possible variety and shape, and
beauty of machinery, upon every flowing
river, and upon every little rocky rivulet,
from the immense brick or stone editice of
many stories to the rude shed Of pine
/ boards in the woods, upon the margin of
! the hidden stream, he will see the effects
| Of the American system, honoring, pros
pering, dignifying, and protecting Ameri-
can skill
/ Human talent, industry, wisdom, and
! skill, under the favoring blessing of Heav-
en-, must now 90 forth to SOW and to gath
or in the harvest Of the earth. We are
teaching lessons of political economy
which the world has never heard before
1t is noble dispensation for our country
+ ba. irt n
the vines or olives Of Italy or France, nor
with the oranges and grapes Of Spain or
Portugal, nor even the rich and glowing
verdure, and the teeming harvests of En-
gland and Lowland Scotland. The mag
nifcence Of their time-honored architec-
ture we have not attained. And yet there
are intelligence, prosperity, dignity, indie
pendence, and self-respect, marking the
laboring classes of our population, which
lift us far above all envy Of the grandeur
and glory Of European display. They see
that we have people fourishing and
prosperous beyond comparison but we
have 10 rabble but that which their own
degradation has thrown upon our shores.
1t is the province Of America to build, not
palaces, but men !; to exalt, not titled sta
tions, but general humanity; to dignity,
not idle repose, but assiduous industry to
elevate, not the few, but the many; and
to make herself known, not SO much in In
dividuals as in herself; spreading to the
highest possible level, but striving to keep
it level still, universal education, prosper
ity and honor.
The great element of this whole plan
of effort and instruction is the moral. rel
atiye dignity of labor-an element which
we are to exaIt in public estimation in the
highest possible degree, and transmit to
our families and to our posterity, as the
true greatness of the country and the
world We are to look at this enlarging
elevation OF the working classes of men-
a fact which may be considered the main
: index Of our age-not as difficulty tC
be limited but as an attainment IN which
we greatly rejoice. And if our heraidry Is
in the hammer, and the axe, and the awl
and the needle, we are to feel it a fan
higher honor than, if in their place, w
could have dragons and helmets, and cross
, bones and skulls. Our couutrys great
ness is to be the result, not of foreign war
but of domestic peace; not OF the plunde
of the weak, but of the fair and even prin
/ ciples Of just commerce, thriving agrl
, culture, and beautiful and industrial art
Let us glory in everything that indi
cates this fact, as an index also OF our de