Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1867-01-16

mOc0 10 overcome. II We W0ulQ equal the
one, or stimulate the other The recent con-
vention of County School Superintendents
of Pennsylvania exhibits some startling facts,
which deserve the attention of the people
and their representatives Yet it is not by
legislation alone that any people can be
brought to understand their relations to each
other as citizens. Their best instructors are
themselves. However liberal the appropri-
ations may be, if these are not seconded by
that oomnendable spirit which Impels the
parent TO impress upon the child the neces
sity of sound moral and intellectual train
ing, your representatives are generous, in
vain. Every thing depends upon the peo-
pie; hence the great complaint, preferred
by the convention of teachers, of shortness
of terms in some districts, of the small at
tendance of enrolled scholars, OF the en-
ployment of unqualified instructors, and of
the want of proper school houses, results
unquestionably not so much from the indif-
ference OF the State, as from the negligence
of those who are invited to share and to en-
joy the blessings of cheap and admirable
system OF popular education. If my fellow
citizens will only recollect the difference be-
tween the opportunities.of the present gen
Grafton and those of their fathers, and how
much is to be gained by cultivation of
modern facilities they will require little ex-
hortation to the discharge of duties which
relate almost exclusively to themselves and
TO those nearest and dearest to them.
The importance of common schools, in a
republican government, can never he fully
estimated. To educate the people is the
highest public duty. To permit them to re-
main in ignorance is inexcusabe Every
thing, therefore, should be encouraged tt at
tends to build up, strengthen and elevate
our State on the sure foundation of the
education of the people. Every interest and
industrial pursuit will be aided and promo
ted by Its operations every man who is ed
ucated Is improved in usefulness. in proper
tion as he is skilled in labor, or intelligent
in the professions, and is in every respect
more valuable to society. Education seems
to be essential to loyalty, for no State in the
full enjoyment of free schools, ever rebelled
against the government
Pennsylvania should be the vanguard in
the great mission of education. She should
remember that as she has been the mother
of States, she should also be the teacher of
States. ''The great problem of civilization
is how to bring the higher intelligence of
the community, and its better moral feel
ings, to bear upon the masses of the people
so that the lowest grades of intelligence and
morals shall always be approaching the high
er, and the higher still rising A church
purified of superstition solves part of this
problem, and a good school system does the
rest
THE STATE MILITARY.
Nothing, after the education of the peo-
pie, contributes more to the security of a
State than a thorough military system.
The fathers Of the Republic, acting upon the
instinct ofpreparing for war in time of peace
embodied this knowledge among the prima-
ry obligations of the citizen. Yet the rebel
lion found US almost wholly unrrepared.
Our confidence in our institutions was so
firm that the idea of an attack upon them
from any quarter, much less from those who
had been the spoiled children of the gov
ernment, was never believed possible, howev-
er threatened. The first clash of arms found
us equally undeceived ami unorgauized, and
we very soon experienced that the contriv-
ers of the great slave conspiracy had not on
ly strengthened themselves by the stolen
ships, arms and Notifications of the govern
ment but had been for years deaqnealyin-
structing their youth in the science OF arms :;
and when the bloody tempest opened upon
us they were ready to spring at the heart of
the Republic, while the citizens, in whose
hands the government was left, were COM
PEELED to protect themselves and their coun-
try as best they could.
When we reflect upon the terrible sacri-
fees we endured to maintain our liberties
and anticipate that glorious period of our
country when the whole continent will be
dedicated to human freedom, and when the
despotisms of the earth will construe our
example into standing threat against their
tyranny. we cannot disregard the considera-
ton OF this important subject
As before remarked, Pennsylvania con-
tributed over three hundred thousand troops
to the national cause Deducting the loss
of nearly thirty thousand by wounds and
disease incurred in the field, what an i'm
mense army has been left to circulate among
and TO educate the mass of our population !
Properly comprehending this thought, we
have at once the secret of our past success
our present safety and our future power. 1t
would be easy to create an emulation In the
science of arms among the youth of the
State, by proper organization, and to dis
seminate, III all our schools, that loyalty to
the whole country, without which there can
be no permanent safety for our liberty
In their late report, the visitors to the
West Point Military Academy laid a signifi-
cant stress upon the necessity of such pre-
ceptors, IN the future, as would teach the
students OF that institution their first and
unavoidable obligations to the principles
upon which the government itself reposes.
The neglect of tn kind of instruction was
felt in almost every movement during the
recent conflict; and it is not going too far
to say that many who disregarded their
oaths, and who drew their swords against
the government that had educated and
nourlshed them, found a meritricous cor.so-
lati0n in the fact that they were permitted
to cherish an allegiance to the State IN which
they were born, which conficted with and
destroyed that love of country which should
be made supreme and above all other polit-