The Waynesburg Republican. [volume] (Waynesburg, Pa.) 1867-18??, 1868-02-26

ti0H vi iiic ltScli. l. erNtpS III lnt
form of Minerva, of Venus, of Ierpsi.
chore, or some ideal representation Of
human greatness; or the embodiment
of some living truth whose latent
powers find not otherwise, a more
faithful exponent. Then with wha
care sheuld the Teacher guard thu
portals Of science, of impressions in.
culcated, of principles definitely fixed
of ideas started that are as lasting a.
the mind. Perhaps a germ is plant.
ed whose principles unseen, reaching
"far as man is found" will vet come
forth to bless or curse mankind. Some
intellect, may be under your tuition
whose future life by false instruction
may become a desert, dash anc
dreary waste, of disappointed hopes
of foiled ambitions, whose cynic nature
after sweeping the earth, may retir,
within its self; pointing, as did Byron
to past instruction as the instrumen
which clubbed its mind, or made 6
hunch- back of its intellect for life.
Charles Wesley compares our life tc
dream and our time to stream
gliding swiftly away. In the analyst:
ofhuman lie we find many dreamy
existenccs, many to whom life o
activity is q myth, which they eludt
entirely. And many on awakening tc
its realities would fondly wish it were
q dream. But no, it is not spectre
to down at their bidding. There il
stands, the giant reality that it is, and
they must meet it or quail before its
frewning glance. And how many ga
down before the hand of fate, let
blighted hopes, withered lives, and
wasted fortunes answer.
Asa stream, our lives glide swiftly
away, some lcaping from the noun
tain's side, in wild majestic grandeur,
rush along sparkling and dancing in
their rocky beds, retain their individu-
ality, and clearness of perception long
after minglingwith the common stream
of humanity. Others again drag their
length in sluggish silence DER Shiny
beds, their turbid minds never reveal
ing the pearly treasures hid beneath
a murky surface. Some lives pass
unmolestcd the whole length of their
terrestrial course, Others have here and
there a pebble, large or small, thrown
in their channel changing its course
for all time to come. Sometimes a
vicious hand will plant thorns in pref
erence to savory shrubs. How often
you, as Teachers, realize this last re-
suit ? Even parental authority has
been known to intervene, to check
proper course, but human governm-
ment, especially school government,
is too much Of a monarchy to admit Of
foreign intervention, unless in case of
absolute misguided tyranny. Hap
PLY, however, public opinion often
comes to the Teachers relief, in trying
when unwise parental
affection would come between Justice
and the object OF its correction. II
the power of instructing the mind of
youth, of expanding the intellect, of
training morals, of cultivating manners
and often Of developing its muscle, is
delegated to the Teacher, then why
interdict that wholesome restraint
which curbs the outcropping of the
wayward spirit of children, (somctimes
seen even in grown up children, J
and making it subservicnt to reason
until at such time as it may reason for
itself. If the Teacher is competent
to instruct, the right TO govern should
not be challenged. five delegate the
power of instruction we must delegate
that of government, else the Teacher
is as King without a kingdom, a
Governor without people to govern.
They are at the caprice ofevcry child
ish whim.~ Anarchy as a consequence
must reign, and our Colhmon School
System become an effete organism,
powerless for good. But as human
nature is the same as when mother
Eve partooll of the fatal apple, and
will continue, you may not hope to
escape those cccentricities of life even
when in contact with the rcfinements
If the literary world, yet rising with
dignity in the scale of human intellect,
lou may use those God-given powers
,f mind to mitigate some of the evils
% which human nature in its frailty is
leir.
How many OF u.s.. in passing along
,he shores of times great boundary,
gather naught but shells ? Nopearls,
10 gems, appear in all our vast collcc-
ion. ave gather shells from youth
q age and then we leave them like
,hild." As class, where is there
mother who can so stamp their charac-
er or mould indelibly their impress
lpon the coming generation i? Who
20 control the world of letters as the
Teacher =? Who so readily start the
'ipling stream of patient inv, igation
hatmay comprehend with giant mind
! universe of thought, and with the
calpel of untiring energy, shall lay
'are the deep foundations of natures
hidden mysteries ?
Tisyours tostart those trims of thought.
Which grapple with all hidden truths
And thus reveal those gems unbourht-