The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-03-08
POwHB - EARLY RDUCArIoN.
1t is related in history that on \ certsil

of their youth as hostages FOR their goo
behavior and as pledges Of the fuliilimen
III their treaty stipulations, and that th
Spartans o8ered hundred Of their chic
citizens instead. The. stern character Q
the Spartans forbids the idea that thi
offer Of substitntion was prompted by an.
weak or fond affection. twas rather th'
dictate Of Spartan policy, and an indica
ton of their estimate Of the rela&ive valu,
to the State Of the rising generation aat
of those who had already passed mature
years, done their work and achieved th'
highest positions in community. =.
The Spartan was a warlike State. Th.
growing youth, for whom msny years o.
manly vigor and pshlic usefulness might
jet be counted on, were regarded as faI
more valuable than the citizens who had
sttai ned their acme and for whom but Q
brief period Of able-bodied yigor yet re-
manned. The idea is one which our pso.
PIE could not possibly appreciate and
hardly comprehend prior to this grea,
war, which is begianipg to develop some.
thing of the importance of able-bodied
men. But there may yet be future 70,
US also. in which we may estimate the
value Of youth to the American Republic
at a. high figure as the Spartans did in
their day.
1t would be doing great injustice to the
sagacity Of the renowned pupils of the
code of Lycurgus TO represent them as
basiug their estimate of the superior value
of their youth over their mature men on
the embryonic bone and muscle of their
Juvenile population. These wise and emf
nenty practical Spartans made it the
chief business of their State to educate
their youth, to train them by physical. in
tellectual and moral discipline for the So
rious duties Of manhood, and for the
severe trials to which all the citizens of
that proud little State were exposed.
Only by Spartan education could they
become Spartans worthy the name, and
qualified for the duties Of citizens under
the code Of Lycurgus. To surrender
them as hostages TO their enemies to pass
| the period Of education in foreign land,
was to denationalize them, to deprive
them forever of the possibility of that
early education and discipline which
formed and constituted the Spartan char
acter; for they recognized 10 their day.
as we must recognizs in the light of his
tory, that the education and discipline,
the customs and habits formed in their
youth. were. the real foundation, the &C.
tual ground work Of the Spartan character
and the source of the difference and supe-
riority in that character over that of the
citizens of neighboring States.
Sparta has long since ceased to be, and
the most instructive lesson she leaves on
the pages of history is the power of early
education to form the. character of man
and mould the manners of nation. But
there is another people, whose history is
familiar to US all, and whose representa-
tives are found in all lands, even in our
time, living examples Of the omnipotent
power. of education in moulding and fash
ioning human character. In their own
country IN the early days Of their national
existence. and during the eliminating pc
riod oftheir prosperity and power as well as
| in their decline, and now in all lands
whittier they are scattered they derive their
early lessons from Moses. They are all
trained in their youth in the same books,
in the same lessons and by men and wo.
men too, who have gone through the same
system of early education in their youth.
The result Of that education in all lands
and through all time is--the Jew. 1t mat.
ters not whether he was born in Asia, AT
RIGA, Europe or America; whether hi.
mother tongue is Arabic, German
French or English, in bis manhood you
End him always bearing the characters.
ties of the Jew. Because, mainly-and
we can conceive no ostronger reasonable has
been educated in his youth in obedience
tothe injunctions Of Moses in the common
Hessons and institutions peculiar to thei,
national customs and their national faith
And il it be the Divine purpose that they
should forever remain peculiar people,
it only furnishes the stronger evidence
Of the power Of early education; tha,
God himself has adopted that power i.
the means BY which to effect his purpose
People generally of former generation,
seemed to appreciate the Importance O
this subject and the omnipotsnoy, 50 |.
speak, ofearly education. much more thor
! oughly than we in our generation. II
religious matters the Quakera alma an,on,