Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-12-06
FORD COUNTY, Pa, DECEMBER 6, 1866.

of hours every week afterv ards till he is
/ sixteen. This makes education a necessi-
| ty, unless the children are incompetent to
learn. And there is an enthusiasm on the
subject of education surprising even to an
American. The various grades of schools
meet the wants of all, and fit the young for
any department of life's great work In
this village the Cantonial College, or High
School, is located. Any parent may send
his son here from any part of the Canton,
and he is educated at a trifing expense
Young men go from this school, at once, in
to mercantile employment in Asia, in
France, England and America. And there
are pupils in it from India, from Smyrna,
from South America, Mexico, and New
York. haard a trampling in the street
last evening, and, looking out of my win
dow, saw host of boys marching by.
learned by inquiry, that they were a school
of l2O,--making pedestrian tour through
part of their native country Switzerland.
Accompanied by their teachers, they thus
walk day after day, getting health and
knowledge and fun, for they make play of
it as they go. Early in the morning was
awakened by hearing them again. They
had been lodged, how | know not, at the
inns in the village,-and now at three
o'clock, A. M. (for | looked at my watch,
they were up and off Just then they
struck up one of their merry sougs, and ser.
enaded the sleeping villager, as they took
their leave. And even now, while | am
writing these lines, | am called to the win
dow to look out again, and here is large
school Of girls, some of thom small, and
other young ladies grown, making pedes-
trian tour. Both Of these companies are
three or four days journey from their
homes. They will be absent, perhaps
week or fortnight. And they will be
wiser, healthier, and happier for their tour.
| mention these pleasant incidents to
show the interest which teachers, parents
and pupils must take in the business of ed
ucation, when the school is thus made
part of pleasure, as well as the labor, of
the young Perhaps our teachers at home
might take leaf out of this Swiss chapter
and put it into their own system. Nor is
the moral culture of the young neglected.
Far, very far from it. These schools are
not goddess schools. Religious instruction
is not legislated out of education in this
country. In this Canton they are nearly
all Protestants. But in St Gall, where
they are nearly equally divided, the Ro-
mansts have their own schools and the
Protestants have theirs, both supported by
the same system, and working harmonious
ly,so far as any cooperation is required, but
kept distinctly in the matter of instruction
And it is not likely that the same kind of
moral and religious teaching is impaired
as would be most pleasing to our American
evangelical idea of what is necessary to be
Christian This is not the business of
the State to do. But it is the duty of the
State to require in its teachers the ability,
and to exact of them the duty to impart to
all the children of the State such moral and
religious instruction as is essential to a
good citizen. That is what they get here
And that is what they cannot get in the
public schools of America.
Thus have [ shown two grand reasons
why democracy works better here than
even modified democracy, a. democratic
republic, does with you. The people are
compelled by their own laws, to attend
school till they are sixteen years old, and
they are carefully instructed in the princi-
Piles Of religion. Thus knowledge and vir-
tue are recognized, by law, as the founda-
tlon of public order God is acknowledged
in all the operations of government, and
peace, prosperity and happiness are the re-
suit. IRENEUs.