Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Indiana) 1864-1865, 1865-01-19
Published by Request.
Address, Delivered before the school
at Spartansburg.
BY NATHAN BUTTS


cipline which is intended to enliehtel
the understanding, correct temper
ard form the manners and habits o
, youth, and fit them for usefulness il
: their future stations. BY develop
ment Of the mind we have bettel
understanding, more correct iudg
ment, purer thinking, and unwaver
ed habits. 1t not only teaches us tC
think, but how to think. As the
mind has paramount preference
over any thing in the universe, its
advancement and cultivation should
claim our uppermost thoughts and
consideration. Academies and col
leges have been founded, free schools
established, and ever since 1899, in
stitutes have been held in different
parts of the country; and every pos
sIble means devised for the improve
ment of the unlettered mind. =
Hence We have no excuse whatever
for growing up in idleness and folly,
leaving our minds entirely destitute
of useful knowledge, and our intel
lects undeveloped. If we wish to
become useful, we must persevere.
Every man or woman who has occu-
pied an exalted position in life, OBJ
tanned it by perseverance. No mat
ter what your avocation may be, or
how poor you arc, if You succeed in
storing your minds with useful knowl-
edge, YOU may rise to some of the
most honorable stations in life, and
leave name that will be an honor to
your country long after You have
passed away. The perseyering stu
dent will find instruction in the cat
tie upon thousand hills, in the birds
above him, and the fishes below him
He finds books in running brooks.
sermons in stones, and voice in
every thing, bidding him to great
feast of intellectual pleasures. To
him the sun pours down his glorious
beams of warmth and life, laden
with instruction which science teach
e. of that glorious governor of the
solar system; each ray of light filing
the mind with knowledge of the
great and powerful influence the sun
eNerts upon the earth, with his lumin-
Gus atmosphere, giving light to the |
inhabitants of every planet, beauti-
flying all things. The stars bring to |
him intelligence of the regions they I
inhabit, affording the information
that without their united assistance |
of heat. our globe would be en-
tirely uninhabitable, in consequence !
of extreme cold. Even amid the
heat of the sun, sufficient to melt
shell of ice one hundred feet thick,
flowers and all manner of vegetation |
would cease to grow. The comets |
furnish him with hght of their in
conceivable velocities. The moon |
pours down her food of light, bur !
dened with knowledge The clouds .
over him. but tell the story of their
mission. We might co on and men
ton almost every thing in nature.
calculated to furnish Improvement
for the cultivated intellect The
blind old bard Of Sclo relates to him
the story of his Grecian heroes; the
immortal .Tully speaks to him the
words of fire and flame, of thought
and power, which rang in Roman
ears; Milton spreads before him the
wings of lofty Imagination; Shaks
peare opens the human heart to his
view; Byron makes bonfire OF
human passions for his delight
Melancthon and Luther tell him OF
the great Reformation BY intellect
divine came the earth, performing
her circuit among the numberless
hosts of the family or worlds: by in
teIlect came the glory flashing mag
nificence of heaven; its blazing suns
lit beyond suns; by intellect came the
secondary creation. that marks with
lines of thought and skill
the career of man-the cultivated
fields. the-love lit homes, the village
decked plain. the city girt continents.
the steamer covered streams, the
wire woven and iron bound lands and
sail wreathed oceans. Therefore
would ask, is not the cultivation of
the intellect worthy of our attention,
when the treasures OF memory must
be immortal? I
The power of thought which man
possesses, will live when the sun has
grown dim with age; the perals which