Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-01-26

/
beautiful and pleasing in the term COM
sfon school. How many of us to. night,
lifting the curtain Of the past and going
back beyond college days and COM
mcncement exercises, recall with pleas
ing recollections those days when, with
light hearts and smiling countenances,
we swung our sachels DER our arms and
mcrrily singing our childhood songs,
pursued our way to those sylvan shades
! where rustic school house stood and
when those tiresome hours were ended,
and the dial marked our dismissal, we,
in the distant meadow, would Gull the
daisy and chase the butterfly. There
in that dingy school room we first
counted our beads in our scholarship,
or, in the humdrum of confusion, gave
our teacher to understand that six times
six were thirty six. And yet these were
golden hours. Alas! how quickly
flown and the glorious sunlight, as il
streams through the vistas of life, has
thrown heightened shadows around our
boyhood days.
Need ! speak of the Improvement
which has taken place i'm our common
schools ut this time? Suffice il to say
that "Onward" has been the watch
word, and upon our banner has been
written "a on his who firmly marched
through "snow and ice," the soul-stir-
ring and significant motto, Excelsior"
And we believe that as time wears away
and new improvements suggest them
selves, ut length our common school
system will at least equal, if not sur
pass that found i'm any other country
Switzerland and Prussia, of course, not
excepted.
Let the great object of our common
schools be, to cducute the young of our
nation, to ennoblc and elevate our race.
And here remark, that were this the
main object, and the greatest endeavOr
of all interested i'm educating the masses,
it would be to the moral world the Ar
chimedian lever, overturning and dcs-
troying every system of wrong. Should
oppression raise its hydra head, and
strike the fangs of venom into the vitals
of his victims, legion of bold resistlcss
SONS of liberty would spring from their
cherished homes to eXterIninate the
unholy monster. Or should unprinci-
I pied leaders arise to undermine Oul
cherished rights, and deal damnation
round the land" that "etcrnal vigil
lance" the price of all liberty, would
soon disclose their unhallowed designs,
and cover its authors with everlasting
infamy. No system of iniquity could
| long exist without feeling the anuihlat-
ing thundcrbolts of Truth and Flo
quepce, hurled from hands trained to
the use of those rcsistlcss weapons OF
/ Omnipotencc.
That was brilliant answer of the
Young boy to the traveller in sturdy New
England, amid its rocks and cragey
peaks, when at the door Of an humbi.
school house, he, viewing the rugged
features of the landscape, inquired what
was raised there. AS quick as the fork
ed lightning irving the storm-riftcd oak
the youth replies: awe raise men hcrcr'
Glorious answer for the boy. Though
the soil was rocky and the landscape
| forbidding, New England had raised
men! Not mere automatons, not drones
in the hive of social being, but men!
So we look to our common schools ia
our young and thriving State of Iowa,
that they, by their treasures of knowl-
edge, and elevating and cnnobling prin-
ciples of truth and wisdom, garnercd up
lin their treasures and ditl'used by their
teachers, may scatter those seeds of in
| tcllcctualty which, watered by the
dcws Of Heaven, may eventuate in hui
manizing and ennobling our race.
And now, in fitting terms with the
--lj-----ss-7-r, 49,, -----s -sy7zr'~~' -.
you, my friends, upon the success of
your enterprise in Cedar Falls. AS a
citizen of your place / am glad of the
completion of this cdiiicc, and the rcali-
zation of your proudest hopes. Long
may it flourish in your midst to perpct-
uatc your benevolence, and ditfuse its
cheering rays. AS our children gather
around one common altar, within its
dear retreats, may the Angel of Instruc-
ton drop lessons OF deep remembrance
among them; and from that altar go
forth those uplifting and purifying in
fluenees which, in after years, shall
benefit and bless the World.
In an other place will be found a no.
tice Of the death of Mr.. j. q. Davenport,
i'm San Jose, Cal, on the 9th, of Dec,
1865. Mr. Davenport was well known
to the people of this city and county
In 1856 he bought out the Cedar Valley
Times office and continued as publisher
and editor Of the Times until the lst Of
Oct, 1861.
Upon the election Of Abraham Lin
coin, Mr.. ID. was appointed postmaster,
which position he held until about the
lst Of Jan, 1868. He went east, and
then went 10 Cab, i'm hopes of regaining
his health. He had been in poor health
! for several years before he left this city.
--Cetiar Rapids Times.
| THE BEST He COULD DO.--An army
chaplain relates the following funny
story: Seeing a dirty faced butternut
urchin at the fence in front of a house,
the preacher stopped and said:
Is your father at hOmew
No; he's gone to church."
Is your mother in?"
"No; she's gone too"
"Then you are all by your yourself?''
No; Sans in there huggin' the
Niger gal"
% That's bad!o
"Yes, it's bad, but it is the best ht
can dO.o
THE COUNTRY EDIToR.--A city co
temporary gives the following descrip.
ton Of country editor, and remark.
that he would not be one: "A country
editor is an individual who reads news
papers, writes articles on any subject
sets type, reads proof, works press
folds and mails papers, prints jobs, run,
errands, saws wood, works in the gar
den, talks to all who call, receive
blame for n hundred things which ar,
no ones business but his own, work.
n IA 4 A a..