Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-05-19
THE GAZETTE.
THURSDAY MORNING, MAY ~. 1859.
I(OMMC\lCATED.


waiting our minds. we are nntaithiul To our
selves. and dcrelict to the mandates Of the
institutions which form the basis of our ex-
emplary Government: for we are the happy
heirs t. the proud legacy Of equal rights,
and make laws to perpetuate Union,
whose solidity is based upon the Popular
Will. Inasmuch as the popular will is di-
>ided into parties, it is indspensably neces-
sary that We should be as intelligent as we
are independents; for by our intelligence we
are prepared to evade the chicanery OF po-
litical scltishnesS. and are capacitated to de-
iect and remove those phdgsdeuc sores
which occasionally disease the bright form
of our Government; and thereby obviate the
contagion which would. in all probability,
arise from the communicating slough. As
all our citizens possess equal political rights,
and every important question relative to the
material policy of each State is decided by
the voice Of suffrage, it is dOubly incumbent
upon every parent who wishes to maintain
the purity of our governmental principles to
look sedulously to the cultivation of his
children's minds, and to be careful to give
those children the advantages Of Useful
Education.
The object Of useful education is to gain
knowledge of every day life by adding to
our common sense that portion of bOok-learn
ing which enables US to separate the real
from the ideal and the useful from the ridi-
cuious. Viewing the subject thus. we shall
encounter but little difficulty in refuting the
arguments which are frequently advanced
IN reference to the apparent distractions in
the way to the acquisition OF knowledge,
and which seem to preclude so many from
the enjoyment Of that pleasure which arises
from n well-instructed mind.
To attain proficiency in any branch Of
learning requires much labor and assiduity;
and, however pleasing may he peculiar
study To u youth, he is constantly on the
alert for some mode by which his labor may
be lessened, and he grasps with avidity any
system whereby the acquisition of knowledge
may lie rendered less laborious: yet no sys-
tenn is worthy Of our adoption unless it has
for its basis industry and application. How
ever favored by fortune young man may
be, OF however promising his talents, if he
has not energy 10 apply himself, and perse-
verance to advance him, he will never gain
All enviable position in the path of Lore.
Those who are laudably struggling against
the frowns of fortune, are apt to think that
in order to advance materially their posi-
tions, they must. as IL necessary preparation,
pass 4 certain number of years in some dis
tinguished college, to gain what is called a
fashionable education, which is, indeed, too
often equivalent to no education, and in too
many instances, sends the young collegiate
forth without having learned those things
which would have served him in the Ordina
nv duties of life, and prepared his mind to
meet the requirements of cold and caprici-
Gus world. Many times too, the step which
parents take to facilitate their sons progress
in the pursuit of knowledge, is the very one
which illustrates that sons future worth and
usefulness: for it is grevous fact that
many youths, while ut a pablo school, fall
not only into Incidence, but into disspa-
ton which is afterwards confirmed by luxu-
nv, and which follows them Us i curse
through their nugatOry lives.
Notwithstanding the opportunities afford
ed by popular schools are sometimes thus
abused, we mean not to contemn these adj
mirable institutions with which We IRE bles-
SEA, Dllt are tnUttNOTIHB w thOSO
who are praiseworthily struggling beneath
the CALLING yoke of penury, TO persevere as
sduously i'll the Improvement Of their minds
and he cheered in their advancement to
wards distinction by the remembrance. that
the worlds greatest philosophers were not
graduates of colleges, but issued from their
workrooms, with labor-stains still upon their
hands, to teach collegans and to instruct
mankind. Alth ugh we believe college to
be the most suitable place to give well-at-
tuned mind u proper inclination, we are not
of those who believe in the all-sutfciency of
mere book learning, and imagine that the
mind of any urchin may be shaped by IT In
10 model genius.
We have heard the Sciolst proclaim that
no man is worthy of literary esteem who is
not fully acquainted with the Greek and
Latin languages. This assertion is evident
" in opposition to experience, and an Insult
10 common sense: for We know that the s0r-
riest blockhead may. in a short time, be
taught to speak Greek and Latin quotations,
and appear quite learned to the eyes OF the
illitcrate. As an example, we once knew a
Conceit who glibly displayed his store OF
Latin, but could not, to save the credit OF his
iore, produce a page Of respectable English.
1t is true, to the mind engaged In research
a knowledge of the above named languages
is great auxiliary; and as scientific men
love their discoveries, and are fond of dis
playing them, as young mothers DO their
infants, in gaudy garbs, such knowledge be-
comes indispensably requisite in order that
their nomenclature may be fully understood,
and the Investigations of science rendered
profitable Apart from literary or scienli-
lie pursui, a classical education may lie IN
some instances desirable; but We know that
all the classical literature worthy OF preser-
walton has long since been converted into
Englsh and is now placed within the reach
of every English student who understands
his mother tongue and the most superficial
reader is aware, that there is more written
in the Anglo-Saxon language than one man
could acquire were he to live and study in
cessantly, for five hundred years.
Man was not designed alone to live eat,
and die: but to fulfil nobler destiny by the
improvement and elevation of his intellec-
tual powers. Hence, the Ostensible object
of knowledge is to make US happy. and all
that is essential to attain that end Is to be
particular in acquiring thorough acqua'n-
lance with those subjects which most con
Germ us in our daily intercourse with each
other. and to regard with careful eye those
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