The Van Buren press., 1859-08-24
+1'"'r7''7s ~ " 70 - 115 -f8t
Wallace Instisute.

BRo. WATsoS ] am disposed 10 believe
that you will become wearies before cease
writing about cur Van Buran school. NY
communications assume rather monoto-
cast it Is true, yet you musE recollect that
we are on good cause, and onght not on
this account to be cifaeed frotG your list Of
CORES pondents. You mus. permit us again
to speak Of our young and thriving institu
ton. We do rot do this because we know
Of nothing else to write abent, but because
we feel and would have Others feel What
we say wc wonld have fall upon the public
with force aud epigram. TIE apnual ex
animation OF Wallace Instiiute came off a
few days ago. 1t was iunlphantly reflect
i've of the competency and iaithfulness Of
the teachers, as we'll as the progress and ad-
vaneernep. of the students. ut Is not our
business to eyaporate our nj f.ai resources.
in fulsome euloSy on the doysss Of that oc
casion. We do not assume fhe position of
panegyrist, who claims unbridled license
to bestow eneomiums at the expense of
truth, and where merit does not demand it,
What we say we would havy bear the sem
blance Of truth in state Of perfect nudity,
without the deceptive draperr and embroi-
dered foldings of poetical ssntimencalism.
We witnessed determination, personally,
and therefore have. right 70 know some
til ng about it. We are eager to say that
it was no surface affair, intended only for
the entertainment of the audience. 1t could
be very easily discovered by an acute OBJ
server, that the students had not spent q
half session in familiariziag themselves
with fragmentary portions Of their studies,
for the purpose Of public display They
manifested the greatest, conyersancy with
all upon which they were examined. Ii
was not an acquaintance with SUPERFICIAL
ties, but the substance and basis Of things
Everything with which they grappled had
to pass through a process OF analytical dis
section. The cause of every effect, the rea-
son of every result was fully eoInprehend-
ed. With this we We're well pleased. This
is the kind vi educational nursery we need
it is the kim Of mental culture we love.
1t is not unfrequently The case at eNamina-
tions that the pupils show of well aud
know but little at last, on account oiN ia
direction in their appropriate fields OF in
quiry Education does not consist in
vague generalities, picnic morsels aud
technical lca. age without the real truits.--
We need :, process OF training that will eff
fectuatc the minds utter upheavel, It's alou'
sal from the grave Of inaction. The intel
lect to expand and become masterful ii It's
ma rch, must enter the -gymnical arena, and
put forth the Olympic yieor,o its awe-in
spiring endowments. Improper tutorship
has cursed our country with gcwgaw pedan
try and vaporous sciolism.
1t has sent ont young zen from our
A,adeIn les, Coiieries and Tn .Ss>.ifia@a.oth-
ing but literary praters, skilled only in The
details Of gibherish verbosity. We are
fully conscious that the mode of instructor
adopted at Wallace Institute, will preclude
the possibility of such deplorablc wreck
of mind as we have limited at. We call it
a wreck of mind. FOX snch it is in every
proper sense. But We pass on hastily To
add word In reference 20 the speaking. y
number Of young genticmenand boys de
claimed. Thci: subjects were as opposite as
they were important. Their efforts We're
succeeied by>chcers that made the college
tremble. We espld not help thinking. as
they rose before rs. Of the stations they
might fill. We thought there and then,
that the youthful and even childish voices
be tuned to the octave of the esmpest as
the symphony of the spheres. Weremem-
bered that those master spirits whose DO
quence peals in lofty emphasis from a thou,
sand pulpits, and revcrberates with echo
underlined through a nations balls OF low
er, were once in the school-roon as the seed
field of life, taking their first lessons iii or
atory. After the students had delivered
their speeches, Rev. Thomas Stamford was
prevailed upon to offer some remarks suita-
bic for the occasion. His address was con-
else, pithy, relevant and nervous. He ad-
verted to the hopes of the school, the means
of it's success, and administered courage
alike to teacher, pupil and patron. He
avowed his determination to labor for the
institution, regardless of the beckonings of
fate or fortune. He is truly f pluribus
unum. Prof. Stamford having closed, Rev
L. p. Lively was called out. In contrast
ing the present with the past, he was led to
dash upon the canvass, in vivid colors, the
old log cabin in which he first went to
school, with all of its accommodative APP
purtenance. To hear his description of that
rude structure, see his comic gesticulations,
and listen to the habitual intonations of his
voice was rich, and we'll calculated to liqui-
date the demands of the momeht. Rev. F.
W. I dy uC OuCiCu oOuAC pIuCtiC8i IcleCtIOuS
Of moment and appropriateness. Judge
Ogden, also, of our place, was called upon
and such was his sleepless solicitude for the
triumph of education in the west,. that he
could not forbear adding a word for the
purpose of stimulus to success and victory
This he did with manly independence and
burning pathos. The President then offer
ed some befitting. .conclusional remarks to
the students and audience, after which there
was dispersal. The finishing item in the
programme was festal party on Friday
evening, which came off, accompanied by
all the hilarity of such occasions. 1t was
a pleasant time. There was in attendance
no common array of beauty. The bewitch-
ing bellies that bloom amid Arkansian hills
mingled the lustre of their charm White
light shone in softness over brows of more
than penciled loveliness. Even Hebe, with
her coronal Of flowers, or the fair and fas-
cinating Helen, could not have asked trib-
ute from such a body of grace and attrac-
tion. All, both young and old, seemed to
enjoy themselves, and the time passed off
/" merry as a marriage bell"