New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-09-02
worthy ORA MONUMENT.

WORTHY OF A MONUMENT.
There are various ways Of obtaining the honor OF
q monument. II one happens to leave money
enough to defrsy the stonecuters bill, his heirs
.yecutors or administrators viii take order for 1t.
One may go t. the wars, and if be kills aud eats
enough of bis fellow.creatures before be Is KILLED
AMI eaten himself, be may die solaced by a vision
of brick or bronze or marble immortality Ihe
late Preston S. Brooks is to have monument
exceedingly bis and massive. The late Mo Nor
rison o, Lopdop an inventor Of pills, has been thus
commeporattd by those who were sriped by his
sanitary gobules In this hemisphere aud in the
oiber there are msny monuments to men who IN
the ARRAYS OF politics steadily pursued their persooal
aeeran,izsmen, and as steadily convinced tie
world of their unspOt;cd magnaninty. If only the
resi- beneiacters of the race had received this dis
tipctop, sculptors and builders would have had less
employu ent, ard the bosom Of the earth would
have been lees hardened by these ponderous testi-
monias to 4" departed worth" or worthlessness.
Considering all this, i. gives us pleasure to hnd
writer in The Boston Irarsiier proposing a statue
or some other testimony to the memory of the late
Mr.. Horace Mann-sOmetbing to show to the next
and to succeeding ages how the present appreciated
his struggles and bis sacrifice, in the highest and
bobl.st of causes To be sure, in the scho,lhouses
Of Massachusetts, are to be found his best memorial
- in bis Reports wh 10 Secretary of the Board of
Education Of that State, his nobest and truest
record. When be entered upon the duties of that
difficult position, having prepared himself for it,
Dot merely BY the severe scholastic training of bis
hole past lite, but by Luxurious investigation Of
the schools OF Europe, he found much in the Massa
ohusetts system of edcuaion which he could not
opprove--not merely deficient and useless, aud
even pernicious methods, but ignorant and ineffi'
cent teachers. lie undertook the work Of reform
with an energy which few men possess; and as he
was rigorous in his requirements and resolute in
bis purposes, be awakened storm Of indignation
which, If it had been as effective as it wss fierce
would not ooy have blown him ont Of place, but
into perpetual exile. Sleepy pedsgogues who had
nodded bebiJd their desks for quarter Of centu-
~, strict in routine and only interested 10 the
of education when they drew the quarterly salary,
were stirred into marvellous actigity which
vented it,elf principally in pamphlets remarkable
mostly for vile and bad Grammar If they sup.
po.ed that they could howl Horace Mann out of his
purposes-that they could make him do what no
bad made up bis mind not to do, they sadly
mstook the character Of their antagonist For
never upon this earth, perhaps lived there q hu-
man beng more resolute and daubtess. He WAS
msrepresented, be was matgned he was ridiculed,
be was subjected to shower Of pamphlets. He
received the maledictiOns If his victims with the
utmost camness, ard then proceeded TO annhilate
his Lllputan assailants He had d keen wit, and
be wss not spsrirg 10 its use; but he had some
thing better-a thorough knowledge Of education
In theory and practice, and an earnest deyo-
ton TO its Advancement, not in the ieast lin tied by
the amount of his salary. lie retOrted, and the
re.ort covered the field with his yictims--most Of
them in the seOtss Of dissolution. and none Of
them capable Of further service in the public
schools Of Massachusetts,. From that time until
he resigned bis Office he left nothir undone which
could be Gone to render the schools Of the State
models Of excellence. He studied, he lectured, he
Travelled, he examined; be wrote those reports,
which are the fnest treatises upon Education ever
printed, at least in America; be gave all the ener.
ges Of one of the most energetic Of minds - the
VI TX; be was as ygsnt as drisergeant, and as
intelligent as philosopher. The result Of bi. Ia
bora is to be witnessed in Masssc ausetts to this
day, in the superior qualifications demanded Of
teachers, and in the higher standard Of schools
vigorously required by communities willing
layshly to vote their money, but by no means
willing to throw it away. Mr. Horace Mann was
not the founder Of the Massachusetts, School sys-
TEN, but be was its great reformer. Why should
be not have monument Suppose that for few
yesrs We could have the services of such q man in
the superintendence Of the schools of this City.
At the commencement Of his work there would,
without doubt, be weeping and wailing and goash.
ing of teeth-but none of these would disturb him,
ard if he were not arrested in his abors by an
intelligent and learned, and virtuous City Council
We may SAFELY reckon that We should even spend
less money and get inhoitey more for it than we
DOW DO. But his hbCrs would be short. If the
people did not take away his Office some whisky
fed Committee. man would undoubtedly break hi
he,d.
We have said nothing Of NJ. Mann's emineu
political services because il is not for these that