Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1862-03-05
For the Educational Column.
American Public Education.
CONTINUED.

the effect OF the kind Of instruction upon
which L have remarked The universal
greed for Office is nothing but an indication,
OF the appetite tor distinction which has
been diligently fed from childhood. 1t is
astonishing to zee the rush for Office on the
occasion OF the change Of State OF Ma.
tlonsl administration. Men will leave
fules and remuner@tiye smployments. and
subject themselves to mean humiliatious
simply to get their nanes into newspaper
anc to achieve little official importance
and social distinction. This desire for
distinction seems to run through the whole
social body, as a kind of moral scrofula,
developing itself in various ways. accor-
ding to circumstances and pecuIiarities
Of constitution. The consequence is that
politics have become the pursuit of small
men, and we no longer have the opportuu
hy TO put the best men into Office The
scramble for place among fools is so great
and SO EuccesSful, that men OF dignity and
honesty retire from the field in disgust -
Everybody wants to be something and
IN order TO be something, every body
must leave his proper place in the world
and assume i position which God never in
tended he should fill Look in upon State
Legislature once, and you will find suff
clent illustration Of our meaning. Not
one in five OF the whole number possess
the first quail Geation for making the laws
OF State, and half Of them never read
the constitution of the country mean
no contempt for the good, honest men of
whom our State Legislature is mainly con-
posed, but | wish simply to say that there
Is nothing in their quality of mind, habits
OF thought, intellectual power, or style OF
pursuit that fits them for the great and mo
mentous functions of legislation. They
are there, set Of nobUdies, mainly for
the purpose Of becoming 'somebodies, and
not Tor any object connected With the good
Of the State
Somehow all the students in all our
schools get the idea, that man in order
10 he somebody must be in public life -
Now think of the fact that the millions at
tending school in this country have in some
way acquired this idea, and th.t only one
in every one thousand Of these is either
needed in public life, or can win success
there. Let this fact he realized and it Is
eaSy to see that the nine hundred and nine
y Zine will feel that they are somehow
cheated out of their birthright They de
sire to be in public life and he somebody.
but t;;ey are not, aud SO their life grows
tamc and tasteless to them. They are dis
pponted. The men Solace themselves
with petty justice commi sion, or i town
office OF some kind, and the womcn-some
of them--talk about 'womens rights, and
make themselves notorious and ridiculous
at the public meetings | think women
have rights which they Go not at present
ENJOY, but | have little confidence in the
motives OF their petticoated champions,
who court mobs, delight in notoriety, and
glory in their opportunity to burst away
from private life, and be recognized by the
public as 'somebodies.' / insist on this /:
that private and even obscure life is the
normal condition Of the great multitude of
men aud women in this world and that,
to serve this private life, public life is in
stituted. PHblic life has M legitimate sig
uifcancc save as it is related TO the service
Of private lite. 1t trequires peculiar talents
and peculiar education, and brings with it
peculiar trials aud the man best fitted for
it would be the last man confidently to as
sert his fitness for it,
Thousands seek to become Fsomebodies
through the avenues of professional life
and 50 professional lie is full of 'nobodies.
The pulpits are crowded with goodish no,
bodies '-mcn who have no power-no unc-
tion-no mission. They strain their brains
to write common places, and wear them
selves out repeating the rant of their sect
and the cant OF the schools. The bar is
cursed with 'nobodies, as much as the pull
pit. The lawyers are few the petitoggers
are many The bar, mere than other me-
dunn, is at through which the ambitious
youth Of the country seek to attain pollti
cal eminence. Thousands 20 into the study
OF law, not so much for the sake of the
profession, ms for the sake of the adyan:a
ges it is supposed to give them for poiti
cal preferment. An ambitious boy who
has taken it into his head to be somebody
always studies law; and as soon as he 10
admitted to the bar, he is ready to begin HE
political scheming. Multitudes OF law
yers are disgrace to their profession, and
q curse to their country. They lack the
brains necessary to make them respectable,
and the morals requisite for good neighbor-
hood. They live on quarrels and breed
them that they may live. They havesPoli-
ed themselves for private life, and they
spoil the private life around them. AS Tor
the medical profession, | tremble to think
how many enter it because they have Meth
or piety enough for preaching, nor brains
enough to practice law. When | think OF
Il La xanrlrf