Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-10-19

sehool-mastered. be tutored, be cctured, anything
but educated receiving arms and ammunition,
instead Of skill, strength and courage; being
varnished instead ofpolishcd, becoming pcrilously
over-evii1cd, and most pitiably uncultivatcd."
o tempora 0 mores
We are not of that number who believe that the
world Is going backward. No, the world s ad-
vancing. But we do say, without fear OF contra-
diction, Notwithstanding all our progress in the
Arts and Sciences, that we are, in matters Of
Education, far behind the ancient Greeks. We
do not hesitate to give the prccminence over ours
to that syster of Education, which produced such
men as Sophorles, Aristotle Plato and Demos
themes. And as Greccian architecture and s:ulp.
turc have been for agcs and always will be, models
f,r the world SO, we boieve, should he this system
of Education. Let teachers, then, make it their
study to find out what were the means Of mental
development among the Greeks, and seek to bring
about O. reform in the system Of Education at the
present day.
Ifnow. M must be admitted, intellectual Educa-
ton consists in dcrelopiny the mind and storing ii
,cth kno,rledye, the problem foT the philosophic
Teacher to solve ypati n'nrestigation an careful
observation, is lehat are those securethe
most complete mental Development and, at the same
time, aFord the l"ryes amount Of useful informa-
tion' Happily for US, we have, at the present
day, tho accumulated observation and experience
Of many wiae men upon this point. There are, it
.t,d, 81; ob lio Oh do
ton of all othcrS,-Rhich open the door to all
thors: Mathematics and Lang lags; and Of these
tseo only wo propose to speak. By the MD Of the
former, we can converse with the physical world
ny tic aid of the latter, with the sacntal world.
Wonderful as it may seem to one who reflects upon
the fact, aH tho nrs and properties of matter may
be expressed in Mathematical formulG while
those of mind can be expressed only by Language,
in its restricted sense, whether spoken or written.
The study of Mathematics is tho bost gymnasium
in which to develop the most important Of tho in
telec.ual faculties. off" says n distinguished
scholar, "there were nothing valuable in the
Mathematical science for the uses Of human life,
vet ure they well worth our study; for, by ro-
peated examples they teach us to conceive with
clearness, to connect our ideas into train Of de-
pendence, to reason with strength and deInonstra-
ton, and to distinguish between truth and false
huod." Mathematics is valuable also, because it
i. the great instrument Of thought which the
philosopher must employ in his inquiries into the
causes Of physical phenomena, and the laws BY
which they are governed. And thus have been
made those wonderful discoveries in Astronomy,
which are the glory Of tho human mind. We
could go on and say much about this noble study,
but our space will not permit. And since it is to
the study Of Language that we wish particularly
to call the attention of our readers, we shall do so
in future article.
We huve thus fur spoken only Of mental culture.
The moral and religion. Education of IN intellec-
tual being is even more important anil We shall
therefore conclude this article iu the beautiful
language of Sidney Smith. The reol object OF
Education is to give resources that will endure
as long az life endurcf hubits that lime will
amclurate, not destroy; occupations that will
render sickness tolerable, soltudc pleasant, age
venerable. life more disE:Ged ana useful, and
death less terrible" Surrey such is the true enc
Of Educntion J. r. g.