The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-10-16

themselves to the duties of the hour. Chief
among these gratifying signs is the universal
interest felt in the cause of education, and the
reports we receive from Washington College,
Lexington, and the Virginia Military lnsti-
tute show that the youth of the country are
at W rk i'll large uumbers--nunbers vastly
larger thar could have been expected-pre-
pairing themselves or the duties before them
1t is ofthe last mentioned school that we
speak just now. Having received copy of
General Smiths a imir,he address, pronoun-
ced before the Cadtts tho mode Of education
adopted at that school naturally suggests it
self as a fit topic for +, few reflections.
The cu3ricuap, embraces subjects which
are of the gfayest Importance to us Mining,
Agriculture, Manufactures and the Mechanic
Arts will all feel the impulse which the wise,
practical coarse laid down at the Institute is
designed 10 give these branches of industry.
General SMITH has for many years seon that
the purely speculative turn of the Southern
mind was damaging to our material interests
and has sought with sagacious forecast to give
it more practical direction.
1t has been clear to him that the study of
the exact sciences and the severe discipline OF
the mathematics, combined with the rigid
rule of military education made men equal to
the most prosaic duties of life while at the
same time it prepares their minds for whole
some and well ordered study Of the Human
tiles
In his address, which every youth in the
land should read, he develops the experience
of many years which is coincident with that
of the great Dir. Arnold, aud is reinforced by
the dictum of Bulwer.
There never was, in the history of Virginia
or the South,a time when energy, labor, aud
self-rel lance were so needed as now and the
idea of personal responsibility for individual
action" which he rightly enforces with such
sober eloquence, is text which should be en-
graved upon the minds and hearts-whlch
should be woven in with the inteects and
-~>arals of the rising generation The "desti-
ny that Shapes ~--~ ends" has its throne in our
own bosoms, and the more 70 .,.un our own
paths the smoother and more certain VIII
they be.
According to the just views of Gen. Smith
the control exercised at public school should
be thorough, absolute, and christian" and
it is precisely in proportion to our approach
to this standard that good scholars good citi-
zens, and good men are sent forth from the
portico of the Academy to the active duties OF
life A distinguished German once made an
examining and reporting upon her institu-
tons of learning and when his task was
done he declared that for the fist time he
understood the true source of the power OF
the British empire, which he attributed to the
just ideas of personal responsibility and sub
ordination to the authority incnlcatei in the
schools of England.
OF The address of General Smith, the main
idea of which we have shown and illustrated
no praise can be too extravagant. 1t meets the
demands of our day, and ann ounces princi pies
of government which will perpetually apply,
inasmuch as they are based on a knowledge
of human nature aud the special requirements
of our position.
Gen, Smiths modcsty, however, has kept
him silent on one point on which his friends
dwell with mingled pride and surprise
Pride at the result, surprise at its attainment.
We mean his restoration of the School which
the barbarian Hunter plundered and burnt.
When Gen. Smith stood in the midst of its
ruins he might we'll have been partloned
for despairing of its re-establishment; but, the
word "tal" is not in his lexicon, aud with
an energy, above all praise, he devoted him
self to its reconstruction In beholdirg the
result of his labors we may be pardoned for
feeling Of local pride at the reflection that
Norfolk gave the Institute its superintendent,
of whom our best praise i, the opinion that
he is the fit custodian of this monument of
his own indomitable will and administrative
genius. That his worth is appreciated is
shown by the fact that, already the Corps Of
Badets is two hundred strong, and We trust
these young gentlemen will prove worthy the
traditions of their school. We commend to
them the closing sentences ofthe Surpintend-
ent's address, in which he says.
In the great work of education we cannot
too highly estimate the power of snch an insti-
tuition az this The cultivation of order and
respect for lawful authority, the habits of in
dividuai responsibility which result from its
daily discipline, the reverent regard for Divine
truth, and implicit faith and trust in God as
the author of all truth, which the spiit If the
4
the mighty agencies would employ, that
by the i, tluence of our educated youth,
heaven may be difused which may icaysn the
whole mass