The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-08-21
COLUMBIA.
Monday Morning, Aug. 81, 1865
Education in the South.

dragged ruthlessly into the field all
the able-bodied men between eighteen
and forty y-five-nay between sixteen
and sixty-has been disastrously felt,
and the greater evil is yet to be de-
vcloped, in the denial Of education to
the youth of t@ country. All those
designed for the professions, between
the ages Of sixteen and twenty-onc,
are especially the losers; since, i'll AL
-dition to the loss of four valuable
!; years of study, must be considered the
evils of those desultory habits, Of
mind and body, which are so-eatago-
mist to all methodical efforts OF any
kind, and which army life necessarily
engenders. The whole body of our
people now labor under Il painful
mental arrest, which will need the
stcrnest exercise Of will and moral to
restrain and regulate. Those who
were in the war arc especially the Vie
TINS Of this sort Of unrest; and it vii
be we'll il they can escape from it
without the contraction of other
lu,bits, wholly sensualistic, in which
the mind naturally seeks to quiet its
pert,lbations, by Il resort t. those
stimuli, which, through temporary
excitatiOn. invariably conduct, in the
end, to equal mental and bodily pros
tration. The only pre- entive of this,
L.
likely to induce i, must be emploun1eu.
Those who are yet young enough to
resume tllcir studies, and who can
command the means to do so, cannot
do better tnau to address themselves
doggelly to their tasks; take up their
books, go into the solitude, and, by
tin. ass artion OF Il brave .>,Il resolntc
rourage--it viii require all that they
can comm.lnl-seek to ne,ltraliZc the
evil influences of the last four years
upon mind ana body alike. TO the
create. numh"r the want of means
Sil} rtndcrstiIis impossible; and many
a noble mind, Which, iln'lcr Il gene
ro,ls culture, might arrive at great
professional distinction, must be con
tent 10 forcgo, for II season, any hope
OF this nature, AMI bc satisfied to cx-
tract from t.leir muscles that support
which trey 'l..l hoped tn obtain from
,:l> j,::.:.': .;,:,,"::;5 of .::2 mind. But let
not these despair or desponl, or hest
tate ur dr:;t;, to- long, in graphing
With tie SIM pie tasks OF Industry, no
...,4te,' in what obscure t;r.i, through
whatever nledii.n, tAc necessity needs
TO be par upl .4ot e;:.il grapplc with
;hc task that IS most ready to his
hand, without pause or questioning,
and do The thing that promises thc
best return, quite satisfied if the re-
suit shall be no more than the simple
maintenance of existence, through the
daily sweat OF the brow. Labor is
not simple dr,ldgery where the mind
is cheerfully resolilte; whegc the heart
is right; where the will is fixed, and
where generous sympathlcs, with IA
ther, mother, brothers and sisters,
call for the sacrifice OF the individual
vanity or ambition. TO the generous
mind and the noble nature, thus work
ing h.lmbly to Il virtuous end, !1bo,' IS
c,l!calion, ard etuclaiou If die uo5(c1
und most o;auuLle hintE 1t elevat IS
together the heart and intellect, puri-
tics the passions, cnnoblcs the ener-
gies, and lifts the posscssor into the
nearest approach to wisdom that
human nature is capable Of. And the
true object of I'LL education, fully
summed up, is wisdom not mere
learning, or the acquisition Of any
specially, either in art, letters, science
or mechanics. These are to be re-
garded simply as tributaries TO the
great object of wisdom, which implies
the blending together OF right think
ing and right working, under the
direction of leading virtue, until it
becomes the perfect and matured re-
liyior. Labor, with cheerful will,
leads to observation, which, i'll process
OF time, conducts to inquiry; this, in