The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1865-06-10
Public Education.

e.
q The establishment of a thorough Public Schoo
system is now before the people of this State
We hope they are fully alive to the inportanc
Of the subject and will give it that personal anC
liberal support which it demands. Public Schoo
Education 1.-The education that comes down t.
our fields and work. shops, that adorns tn
humblest fireside equally with the grandest par
Tor, is to as q matter of 'such vital moment II
the prosperity of the State and nation, to tn
happiness and morality of the people, that i
seems waste Of time and labor to urge its atten
ton upon the ,public;, The following is an ex
tract from a speech, made in Boston some years
ago,sby the Hon. Robt. C.oWinthrop, and will
bear attentive perusal. sa4oW tsgf 9di eTaw
-'"s We have been accustomed to regard free
school system as the chief cornerstone of our re
public, and popular education as the only safi
and stable basis for popular liberty. So though
our fathers, before US; and the principle may bt
found interviewer ina thousand forms into the
very thread and texture Of our political institu
tions, Observation-Disclosures and civil, the edu
cation Of The sanctuary and the school house
was, we all know, from the first establishment
of these colonies, matter in regard to which al
property was held in common, and every man
bound tocontribute to the necessities ofevery 9th
Der man as much so as personal protection public
Justice Or any other of the more obvious duties
Of government or rights of the governed. I'd
~ Children should be educated as those by
whom the destinies Of the nation are one day tc
be welded and free schools cherished as places in
which those destihies are even now to be woven
It has been recorded as o saying of Mahomet
hat kl,n s,,1r nH ~ IL
martyr are equal" It would be difficult 10
bring anIArneriean of this generation, especially
1T he happened TO be standing, as we now are
at the foot of Bunker Hill, to acknowledge thai
there could be anything equal IN its claims upon
ms regard and reverence, or equal in IFS influ-
ence upon our national welfare and freedom-to
the blood of onr Revolutionary martyrs But In
this we must all agree, that nothing but the ink
Of the scholar can preserve what the blood of the
martyr has purchased. The experiment of free
government is not one which can be tried once
for all. every generation must try for itself
Our fathers tried IT. andwere gloriously success
tul.diWe are now engaged in trial and thank
COP, we have not failed. But neither our sue
cess nor that Of our fathers, can afford anything
but example and encouragement to those who
are to try 1t next, AS each new generation starts
up to the responsibilities of manhood, there is
as 1t were new launch of Liberty and its vow.
age of experiment begins afresh. But. the ora.
cles have declared that its safety and success de-
pend not so much upon the conduct of those en-.
gagged in it during the voyage, as upon tbeil
preparations before they embark The wind;
and waves mnst be propitiated before the s.ort
is left or wreck OF. rpin will await them. ~
this Precipitation consists, not in some cruel pr
ceeding, like that prescribed by the heather ora
Gle to the Grecian fleet, i'm binding son or laugh-
ter upon the bile of Sacrifieeli and oferinu mn
their tortured bodies and agonized souls to ap.
pease an angry deity butin process which is
not more certain to call down the best blessing
OF Heaven upon the enterprise, and to secure a
peaceful and, prosperous voyage, than it is to
promote the truest happiness and welfare of those
upon. whom il is performed. Sons and daugh-
tiers devoted to education are the only sacrifice
which Con has prescribed to render the progress
Of free government safe and scertain.D oilG'