The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-09-27
EDUCATION in the South.

Education in the South.
Education is the paramount necessity
of the Southern mind, and to q greate
; degree than at any previous period ot-ou'
history, should this important -interes
command our attention. We donotrefel
9 exclusively TO the learning of the schools
to those scientific and scholastic attain
ments which beft the dignity and erudi
ton of the Professors chair, or those
purely professional studies which quality
the aspirant for eminence in the various
walks of science, and less still dc. we mean
to uree here, the value of those esthetical
ACCOMPLISHMENTS, which heretofore have
e-,ti Given such an aspect of elegance to the
Ieisure. and of vernal .trifing to the frivol-
ity of many wealthy men in the South.
For thesfature the necessity OF labor is
Imposed upon every Southern man, OF la
Dor in some sphere, which shall rebound
to the benefit OF the community at large,
and thus to his own individual prosperity.
The advantagesof intelligence in any con-
ceiyable sphere Of human exertion;. how
ever elevated or however humble, are too
obvious and have too many illustrations
in everyday life, to require demonstrar
tion. A diffusion of knowledge, an en-
larged, liberal, comprehensive and health
Sfuf system ofinstruction, will exercise a
more potent influence, IN the advancement
@ofSeuthern interests, than any other sim
2glesagency: 's'N =.
Il cannot be maintained that the litera-
trv and educational features of; the South
have been so. distinctly pronounced or
have attained such. a degree of elaborate
development. as have our political and SO:
scisl system: It cannot be denied, ,howev-
ser, that the deyelopmentof of oureducation-
oil interests, SO far as it has progressed,
has been. based upon the safest and most
correct principles, and has been marked
by the unmistakable Southern features OF
purity, simplicity and accuracy. Now
that the Chinese wall of African slavery,
which dsbarred the entrance among US,
of many of the customs and habitudes OF
ths world, which some consider the. evil
dences Of Civilization and Progress (al-
,yvavs with a big P. and Others as the
marks of corruption and degeneracy, has
been Ieveiled with the ground, we are
brought into active competition, upon our
own Soil, with foreign ideas and alien en-
erpies. Not only must We make our,
choice speedily between our own, and.
other systems of intellectual and social
development, bat we must be. prepared to
assert the supremacy of, our hereditary
and time-honored principles and practice,
actively. and vaKantly, orr at once to sur;
render the field: %. e
ez.W with no sectional purpose of fostering
aniinosity, or promoting alienation, do we
maintain the superiority of the Southern,
system. of education over that OF the,
North, and urge upon our people, the.
dutv of nurturing Southern institutions of,
learning, and OF patronizing such institu-i
tions as more peculiarly and distinctlvely-
reject Southern ideas and associations.
We have alluded to the purity and ac-
curaeysof Southern scholarship as distin-t
onisheed from that of the North; eshould
Rave added another feature, that-of thor
oughness. tits undeniable- that North
ern. institutions have given to the world
many more graduates who would be call
ed, in current parlance, learned men, than
. have Southern colleges.
The legislative, political and religious
history Of the Union furnishes striking il
lnstration Of the superior accuracy and
purity of Southern scholarship. The
North can exhibit a longer catalogue OF
snowy statesmen, sensation preachers
and instances of political corruption that
should startle the dry-bones of Walpole
and Wither. It is to the South that we
qn,,sts leok for those examples of lofty
etatesmanship, true philanthropy and ele-
waited theology which. during the seventy
wears Of Southern supremacy in the Fed
sraI Government, carried the Republic to
the,yery pinnacle Of prosperity and re,
nown.I Charles Sumner, that 'boastea
light of Northern literature and states
rIanansship, is but'a "paie reflex" OF the eli.
lorescent learning and false philanthropy
of Exeter Hall, at best but sophomore
in mind and lilliputian in heart. What
Southern man, could desire to see any
representative minister of the Southern
pulpit the counterpart of Henry Ward
Beecher, with all his dexterity ofparadox
ofantithetieal juxtapositions, OF startling
transformations and side-shows? - 5;
We take.it for granted that the South
ern people are alive to the vital necessity
offosterring and encouraging their owl
institutions with aszeal, an activity and
;ealohs, discriminating partiality to-
Southern institutions and Southern teach
ers. never known among us before. W.
cannot afford to suffer our individuality
as virginians and Carolinians to perish
1t would be to measure the depth ofabase
ment, could we become Indifferent to tn
,perpetuation of that noble record of valo,
and devotion made in our four years
struggle for nationality, as it will. be tn
acme of distinction. when we shall hay