The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1862-02-15

Owners and joint managers of thresh-
ing machine, and one remains at home
each morning one half or whole hour
after the others are ready to work, he
only Injuries the four to the value of
their time ). while the parent who de-
tains his child at home after school,
calls, or now and then an entire day,
not only unjustly Injuries every Que in
the class in which his child recites by
requiring the teacher to take the time
of the next recitation to explain what
the rest of the class weut over before,
but also in nine cases out of ten, in
fiicts lasting injury upon the child
himself. Seeing all this in this light,
the law Of the State has wisely put the
remedy for all this evil in the right
place, viz, in the hands of the District
Boards. They have the power to say
that children shall come to school reg
Ilsrly and punctually or not at all.
This question has been decided by the
best legal auth ,rity in the State. There
is no longer any question on this point.
This settles one difficulty. Another,
that of diversity of text books is dis
posed of in the same way. The law
makes it the duty of every School
Board to select text books for their
schools and not allow them to be
changed within two years unless by
vote of the District.
! Another thing concerning which we
want change in public sentiment is,
that teaching is trade that cannot be
practiced until it is learned. 1t has
sometimes been supposed that one
could teach if he could do nothing
else, and any special training or fitting
for this most responsible profession
has heretofore been hardly thought
of. The physician has to do with the
well being of the body; the lawyer
with justice between man and man
as members of society; the theologian
with the relations of man to his
Maker all of these suppose mind
developed, formed, ready to grasp
these thoughts-bnt the teacher is he
who calls out the latent powers of the
intellect and starts them into action in
given direction,-he who holds the des-
tiny of all the others in his hand, and
he, according to public opinion, may be
as near a nobody az man can be. The
first general principle of all mental
culture is, '"That alone educates that
causes to think
| Another thought that needs some
consideration is physical education.
1t is the key to both health and mental
activity and should receive careful at
tention in all of our schools, not only
IN the village, but also in rural districts.
Upon the Library question, he
; claimed that ten dollars invested in
books is equal to twenty dollars in any
|. other part of the work He thought
none of us would take the job to edu-
cate the people of a County, Town or
/ District without putting some of our
funds into library.
The question was then raised in re-
gard to holding an Institute in this vi
cinity sometime in the coming spring.
On motion of Mr.. Clisbee, all those
wishing the Superintendent to make
such appointmentmanifested their wish
by rising. Vote was almost unanimous.
i Adjourned until evening.
EVENING SESSION.
The Convention was called to order
by the Chairman and Prayer offered by
| Rev. Mr.. Miles. Mr.. Gregory then
addressed the Convention on the gene
raj subject of Education.
"Deeply as feel interested in this
J subject, do not forget that we are a
nation in the midst of convulsive
{ revolution. / do not forget that along
the Potomac, the Green River and the
, western frontier there are now six hun.
dred thousand brave hearts, gone forth
i from among US, defending our liberties,
our rights and our homes" But this
only inspired him to deeper solicitude,
and caused him to look more carefully
, to the place where our national sheet
anchor lies. That, he could not doubt
is in the intelligence, the virtue and the
patriotism of our people. Although
nations have lived, grown and died
humanity lives on, bringing through
/ every convulsion that which is good
and valuable and throwing away thai
which is effete and injurious. And
, well do we know that in this struggle
. humanity. unchecked in its march