The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1863-07-16
The True Idea of Education

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are called to be Educators by the divine arrange>
nent of lie. There are those, indeed " no tax the
trninlng of the young as their special work and
devote their lives 10 1t. ButRpar from any choice
by the organization of the Family, it comes to
pass that almost every man and woman is an ed
ucator OF God own appointment. Indeed after
sl. the parent Is the only responsible Educator
Tue professional teacher ID so, only because he
scs IN the parents place. BY the law of Nature,
which is the law of God the parent is the ordained
and bonnden Educator of the child.
Since, therefore, 1t comes to pass that to al the
fathers and mothers of the earth the solemn res
spJnsibility is interested to train Immortal natures
and alnGe, In giving them for any length of time
into others hands. they are only exercising that
responsibility still we have need to wonder that
the object of Education should, III all Christian
aud intelligent communities be aubect of the
deepest and nearest interest. In truth there is
more call to Wonder, considering the Importance
OF tbs interest al stake for time and eternity that
in any such community, il is not considered the
thing Of first and most pressing Importance. For
is fearful thing to undertake, this duty of maxi
ing out of II child Il good true man, or good true
woman. And yet it is Il duty which we are never
all owed to sbrk, work that comes TO most men
whether they will OF no, d work which is the bus
mess of the Family and the business Of the State
and the business of the Church work which,
after all is the great worlds work for which
Cries and nations and families and churches exet
Certainly, we who are parents cannot transfer that
work to others, except at our own plain SIX We
the responsible party here. If we let 1t out III
any degree 70 Others we are bound 10 know and
be very sure that they those who know the
work and are competent to its tulhllment
So, in Gods providences, The temporal and eter
nal state of each generation of men ia committed
in large measure, to those who, either as teachers
or parents pastors are the guides of youth. Ii
would surely appear that to carry that great bur-
den al responsibility well we should all know
what the work really demands. We can do noth-
ing we'll without the knowledge of "hat we are to
do, To work satisfactorily must understand
the work. / call yOu to consider, to night the real
idea Of Education, for that very reason. Those
who are educating, and those who are receiving
education, ough alike to know the thing they aim
at. Let see
How shall we judge of this work of Education
then What thoughts shall we bring TO it ? Shall
we judge it by the marrow mind OF the pedagOgue {!
by the pragmatlsm Of the martinez, "a slave to some
theory Of dsaipline?" by the smallness of the
teacher of 1COrdS. the human parrot trainer :?
or by the frppery and folly OF 1.-The master Of ec>
omplishments 7" Or shall we look at this thing
with the large views of men who have insight into
human nature and ita place, who have clear eyes
to see and large hearts to feel, and broad minds
to understand, above all, who stand in this mat
ter on the high ground of Christian philosophy d?
Here lies child, asleep iii its mothers arms -
Am talking mere rhetoric when | say that in
that sleeping face there Is sight to make thOt-
iul man sometimes hold his breath new rev e.
latiun OF existence is here heir of all the
ages. The foremost in the files time has come
The lord and master of Mi the Past lies here Here
is the flower and fruit, the fresh result, the final
Gu limitation of generations of toll ana struggle of
ages of suffering and of strife Do look in the
lace of king | cannot tei There, iii the
calm sleep OF infancy ,m"y lie hero OF the world,
a commissioned Commanders ill., Chief of the LORD
OF Hosts new born for mighty victories over wrong
and asehood and error. Teacher, Prophet q
Leader, Shepherd of the People, gresl world
controller an guide may lie there. / cannot tell
only know these possIbi lities may all be there
| only know they may all be realized. Out of that
little fnrmess pl astic face. expresslunless, to
the fondness OF the mothers sight, may rse the
broad brow OF genius, the stern lips OF command,
the eagle glance of the hero, the rapt joys of the
poet The faces of
Plato the wise and broad browed" Verulam, -
The first of those who know, -
once slumbered there, only know such faces
NAV 80 slumber again
Serene and passi"nless | say the oh ID sleeps
rocked On he st outward waves OF the ocean Of
existence An how know l. that from tina pas
sIonees face there Is not to rise another. another
and yet the same ; face marked by every pas
sion, poughed by every maddened lust, chiseled
by hate, by malice, by fasehood by un AIMED de-
SIRE into some tiend likeness face 10 make rlen
lear and make them shudder, the face of another
scourge of God, of another soldier Of the Devil of
another great strong, Tad man, false TO his God a
traitor to his human brothers, who shell leave his
evil ateiul name carved high III the long New
gate Caiander Of evil names, where Cams and
Judas and Arn0Id and Davis are carved wreath
ed with Tie worlds black curses forever more!
There are awful possibilities siumbering there
because there double possGlifie heights til 81
60 to the highest heavens, deeps that descend to
the lowest bells There is that to lift the child to
the archangels, there is that to send him to the
hends
And lie with these possibilities, is sent into this
world For what We wish 10 find what ed Ca
ton really proposes We must first find what this
child is here for. There is some meaning in earth
ly existence, in the fact that you aud are here
and not other where. What is it =! Is this
child we have been looking at sent here to eat to
drink to sleep, to wake to hear his little joys and
little sorrows, to continue his kind and then die
and rot Or is he here to get himself place or
fortune, or fiaitery. or hoDnrs a name, and be
successful in life as we call it. and then in due
tune be properly dressed and handed over to The
worms Is tiIlS, or anything like this, what he has
come for
These answers have been all weighed and found
wanting. This child is sent here e1 preSSly to be
Educated. Ii is in this world s,lsly to be train
ed. ! hat is the true, practical, phllosophic and
Christian answer. The whole business of the earth
is Education The whole course of human for
tune and lite is school curriculum. Any life is
worth just the training it contains; more The
world teaches by all the voices Of mater al Ma
tare. BY every star that shines, by every dew
d. op that gliers 10y all the hills and all the val
eys by the splinteied pinnacles of the gray moun-
tans, by the deep caves that sink beneath
by the of wbiteNmaLed ocean surges
lrdmpIir& up tne QuAklnS SANDS, ny the
song Of the little brook whipping through
forest hollows, by night and day seed
time and harvest, by tempest and by June calm,
great Nature teaches all her foster children. And
by all the influence ana voices of the Fatally by
ali the charities that cluster round the II earth of
Home, lite teaches. BY all the thought and feel
InS aud conviction too, of the great Nation, in
whose arms lie like Graded CHILDREN we are
trained. The Mother>land, tie crowned conse-
Grated Matron, folds US in the strong maternal
th lIfrt,tN
and trains us for her And then besides, by
the Word OF God, here in Christian land, and
by the voice OF the Holy Church explaining and
enforcing its REQUIREMENTS, aud by the voice OF
cousc ence the spirit of the Lord thar ''gOes over
all speaking III The heart and seoOpding and urg
ing all the rest are educated and trained
So by It's varied life; its labor and its rest, ts
pleasure and its pain, its good hope and evil its
sleep and 3ts awaking, it, loves and its hatreds
It's life and It's death, The World arranged di>
vlnelv arranged, to educate this wondrous foster
child immortal man, committed tor that pu' pose
10 its temporary keeping. And therefore may
,ay in passing, it is II world of trial. world OF
enptatIon ut toll, OF bitter suffering rs well
AZ one IF love- gladuess and peace For this fos-
Ter child is myriad minded and every power musi
be reached. every faculty called 10 act so, In a
thousand varied tongues, the lessons OF life shai
come hume to him. He who best this sha II
hest use his life He who accepts the facts OF his
MACE shall shun the wretched wrecks of life that
strew the shore OF time in the present and the past.
solemn warning to all OF Compass lost and chart
opiiterated when the wild tempest and
drowning sailors sank with bubb!ing cries, to
darkness, through the foam.
The work OF education then ,undert AIKEN by any
of us is only part of the work which all lite If
meant to perform. The Pupil of the World Is un
der my care or yours for certain time, and to a
certain extent. But ours is reilly in one view, a
| small part of the work The scholar by m means
Graduates when he leaves hands. We have
1nly had place among his many teachers. And
| even in our work lha lessons give, from book
| ,r in reel :aiiuu what we esteem especially as
| teacaang are the very smallest Of the lessons he
| learns even from us. When we think how very
| little of what makes ourselves, do we mad due
| TO any conscious teaching whate' err Nay rather
unconSciously, every parent, eve pastor, every
teacher is training necessarily tor good or evil
| IL is A solemn hing to think on
But the point | want you TO zee is this, that. at
conscious educators, we are simply working out
n mart of the whole world 4 design and we can on }