The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-12-16
EducatiOn.

There can be no satisfactory guarantee Tor {
the permanence of any government unless
the people love it, If such be the teaching
of reason as well as of history, then it must
follow that each State has duty, as it re-
CARDS this matter, to itself. a 1t should not be
thought strange or impracticable to teach
men to be patriots, or an unwonted work for
a government to insert itself in the hearts of
its citizens To bind them to their country
by lgaments more enduring than steel.
Rebellion on the part of the unworthy, adj
versity and danger only makes good gov
eminent worthy of sacrifice and efforts for its
preservation, to such as have learned to love
III. This noble and selfprescrving work,
however, can only be accomplished by
State when it becomes the source of blessings
to the people. A State, that by its indiffer-
ence to the welfare of the people, or by its
hard and oppressive treatment of them, ellen
ates their minds, has made sad mistake. A
government that would rear patriots, that
would live in history, must be made attrac-
tice. The highest good of the people must
be sought. This is really the end of good
government. 1t looks not to the rulers in
terest, but to the well-being of the governed,
and that not of the few, but of ALL of every
degree. ....t. 5.-.-s. s,l
1t is an act of egregious folly on the part
of government to discriminate in the be-
stowment of its gifts. Like the great Parent,
so the State should be the father of all. Let
it create pariah class aud from it must
spring jealousy and discomfort, that in them
selves will make it an object if not of hate,
yet of aversion. Most careful, then, should
every State be that its statute books haveno
laws that degrade any or necessitates the
feeling of being wrongfully treated. How
easy it may be to see in its hour of distress
and trial, whether State has dealt equally
and justly toward all. When justice and
equality have guided its conduct, then all
will rush to its defence. If not, it is often
left to perish before the assault of the enemy,
aided by the indifference of the citizens.
Beside this, it is not required alone for
State to act justly and equally, but it must
efficiently and persistently labor for the well
fare, happiness and progress of all the people.
The people of State seek for the proofs of
interest in them from the government 1t
will not do to allow them to vegetate I'M
cared for, and to grow at their own free will.
3 1t is demanded, in order to hold the loyalty
of people that they can point to the acts of
care and beneicence of the State toward
them 1t is in its deeds, that they will find
that for them it has been :" the best gov
eminent the world ever saw" AS wife
adorns herself with view to become attrac-
tive in the eyes of her husband, so the State
adorns itself with unselfsIl deeds in the in.
terest of the citizens in order to preserve their
affection. r."
To carry out this purpose, to live in the
hearts of the people, it is the States duty to
educate the people. We do not mean eaucu-
ton in the narrow sense of enabling all to
acquire knowledge of letters simply. We
use the word in its wide sense of cultivating
the mental and moral qualities of the people
so that they will be prepared tojudge of the
qualities and to appreciate the conduct of
the State. This is needful in true patriots
the structure of the government-its work
ings-their duties and their powers under it
should be fully understood by all in order
that its excellencies may be known and val
ued. As a matter of course, at the bottom
of this it is desirable to have the knowledge
of letters and to give every one Of the people
a good education in the common acceptation
of the term but there is a deeper, a moral
training to be added to this to insure loyalty
to the State. In this connection we will
state the significant fact that in the late re-
bellious States it was those, in a large degree,
who were illiterate that remained at heart
loyal to the old flag. These seemed to be
penetrated a by deeper-felt sense of the price
less value of our civil government and of the
nature of the benefcent government under
which they had been reared. 1t is to this
more thorough education that every State
should give heed SO that with every acquisi-
ton the people make there be also obtained
more exalted sense of the blessings of liber-
ty as they are secured and dispensed by their
oun government. We do not, at this time,
propose to go into details to show how such
education may be given people. All our
purpose is secured when we have indicated
its nature and stated its absolute necessity to
the end of making patriots. Yet here we
may say that much may be done to this end
by making the glorious deeds that adon
the history of our Republic as familiar as
household words, and the other is that under
its protecting power alone can equal justice
and political liberty be perpetuated for all.
A State that would have her children all
to be patriots must, as far as possible, give
them personal interest or right in its soil
They must have a home of their own then-a
castle that none dare enter but with their con-
sent, the shelter of their defenceless wives and
children when they are no more. Not alone
must it be their country, but they must have
property in Tits soil must be theirpossession.
While this is means to cherish patriotism
it lis also means of prosperity. 1t is the
surest source of wealth and greatness in
directly Yet still further does this stimu-
late affection for the State, for as human