Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1868-05-29
@ o m M u n i Q ationa 8.
FOR TIE KEOWEE COURIER.
Educational:

columns Of your paper wish to call tho at.
tention of people at homo and abroad to the
educational facilities afforded by tho section
Of country in which VIC live
| In this day of enlightenment, when, by
means of scientific discoveries and tho appli-
cation of tho arts to the common affairs of
life, tho humblcst man can enjoy advantages
and luxures once beyond the roach of kings,
it is useless to enter upon formal proof Of the
benefits conferred upon individuals and com.
munities by a severe course of intellectual
| discipline. Our mentality is all that distin-
guishcs us from the brutos that perish, aud in
proportion as our powers aro developed by
skillful culture do we rise in dignity and true
worth. A glance ot what " mind" has dono
in rendering earth, sea and air tributary to
mans enjoyment and happiness, is sufficient
to demonstrate beyond cavil that education
is the clue thread which is to guido our
gropng feet out of tho darkness Of mise
rvs cave into tho light, life and freshness of
the upper world
Indeed, sir, in contemplating the triumphs
of mind ovor matter, and in witnessing
what it already has accomplished in ma-
king tho whole material world subscrvicnt
to the wants and wishes of so puny orca-
turc as man, my heart glows with feeling of
dcvout gratitude to the Gycr of all Good, not
more for tho impcrishablc gift of mental en-
dowmcnts and its wonderful and indeed Tim
sttess capacity of inauguration and expansion,
Than for tl,o ~ =.
Gently providing, particularly in America, for
the cultivation and enrichment Of the noblcst
part of our being
Solomon, in tho first part of his Proverbs,
speaking of Wisdom, says: "1f thou seek
est her as silver, and searchcst for her as for
hid treasurer" in this verso tho obruptncss
of the termination shows the incomplctcness
of the idea. The omission is we'll supplied
bya clause in tho 29th verso of the 1st Chap
ter of Genesis: " You shall rcplcnish the
Earth and subduc it," Education has already
accomplished SO much that who is bold enough
to set boundary to its onward march? Per
haps in few years the most ardent dreams of
tho most enthusiastic philosopher will be in-
conceiaybly distanced; and mans condition
81 wonderfully amclioratcd that faint sem
blancc of the lost Eden may be restored to the
| Firth.
Cast your eyes over Europe and America,
studded with cities aud adorned with trophies
of art, where life is jealously guarded, prop
erty fenced around by just laws and where
few distinctions are placed in the way of a
rational happiness, s,-and then, on the other
hand, glance at Africa, blessed with q tropi-
Gal cltuiato, etsile coil and alb other natural
advantages. The negro, deprived of tho On.
nobling arts of education, has remained in the
Identical condition hcoccupicd 5000 years hgo
Without written language, withoutlitcraturc,
With but the faintcst conception Of moral du-
ties, they afford a striking commentary on
what man would be, if deprived of mental
culture. Livingston says that some of the
native tribes (thc Papuan particularly have
no houses but roost on trees, and communi.
cate with each other by signs and cries
thus manifcsting a lack of even "Spokcu'
language Yet degraded as they are, imbc-
cle in mind and dwarfod in spirit, system
of instruction applied long, long ago, would
have gradually developed them into higher
quicker and more apprchensiyc race.
I am, sir an old man, shock of ripe wheat
ready for the sickle of the cleaner. am
passionately devoted to the Southern States,
and while am glad as man at the elevation
of any in the scale of manhood am espec-
tally socitous that my own race should con-
tinuc to mako rapid upward and onward
strides. 1t is palpablc that tho Constitution
recently adopted places nearly all the common
iischool advantages in tho hands of the blacks,
Vile the money !s furnished by the Whites.
The prejudice o. race Ga just and good one
it is too) will prevent the whites 1lom par
ticipating in the benefit rather than incur the
odium Of social equality. This iniquitous ar
rangcmcnt cannot be permanent, but while it
docs last, it behooyes tho whites to SEQ that
their own schools arc we'll sustained, and not
suffered to drop and languish, perhaps to die,
for lack Of encouragement.
ln this connection I will romark that this
section of country appears to me to bc cspeo-
tally adapted to boarding schools. What bet
ter site for good schools than WalhaIla, for
instance, four miles from the first formation of
| ~ .