Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1869-03-10
educational Column,


in Philadelphia, on January 2lst 1869, is
well worthy place in your columns.
Yours, ?. S. W.
Directors oFTHE DIsTRICTAND FRIENDS:
1t affor3s me great pleasure to be with
you to day, so that IN person, [ may thank
you for having conferred upon me an unmer-
tied, and certainly an unsolicited honor.
This building has been called by my name
Why this was done is to me unknown 9th
er members of the bench and of the bar,
other citizens of this great county, have la
bored in the cause of education for years,
and theymight justly claim the right to be
thus remembered aid rewarded and be-
cause. Notwithstanding the merits of others,
you have seen fit to confer upon me this dis
tinguished honor, desire again and again
to thank you for it.
| have said that it is an honor thus to be
remembered, and the reason is plain, for
the building has been erected and is to be
dedicated to the cause of education. Here,
children from generation to generation are
to be taught here are the foundations to
be laid, strong and deep, which shall endure
forever.
1t is not my intention elaborately to dis
cuss any subject on this occasions; and yet it
certainly will not be considered out of place
very briefly, to refer to the general cause of
education, the present pressing need for ed
Gated men and their future.
Pennsylvania legislators never did no
bier work than when they established the
common school system. All honor to the
around him foremost among whom was that
distinguished lawyer, recently deceased) who
determined that the children Of PeRnSylca
mia should be educated.
Nature had showered upon our beloved
Commonwealth untold wealth; her valleys
were beautiful, her streams of water pure
and noble her fields yielded rich harvests :;
her boundless forest waved, and her noun
tains lowered in majesty; her very bowels
were filed with the richest treasures oi iron
and of coal. Why should this Common
wealth be disgraced by an ignorant popula
ton of men, women and children?
The God of nature never intended his
masterpiece, man, to wander up and down
the earth unconscious OF the power within
him. Material nature is indeed great, but
man, developed man, is greater, and when
our common-school system became the OBJ
ject of governmental protection, then was
1T determined that man should assert the
power which education. cultivated intellect
must of necessity possess, and that field and
to him lawful homage, be subject to his
WILL and pour their combined wealth at his
feet.
What glorious page in the history OF our
State did the superintendent of our com
mon schools write, when he DECLARED that
with us there are l.9lS school districts,
l3, 766 schools 1911 teachers, and last.
and best of ALL 800,5 pupils.
What matters it that Sc 200. 537 96 were
expended in sustaining the schools In the
Old World, and even with US, splendid
specimens of architecture strike the eye If
the traveller; he stands delighted and
amazed; in one sense, what matters il how
much they cost who pauses to calculate
the value in dollars and cents of St. Peter 5
at Rome?
Behold eight hundred thousand children :;
consider each has an immortal mind, des
tined to ripen into a maturity of ignorance
or of knowledge.
If we cannot, will not, stop to calculate
the value of splendid material structure,
how can We how dare we, measure by a
meaner standard the cost to the State of a
chii's education? Architects of the minds,
teachers, go on; the temples you are erect
ing shall survive the crash o. worlds; other
builders live to see their works crumble into
dust yours shall be everlasting. They work
for time but you labor for that which shall
endure for eternity
Just here | must pause and utter word
of complaint. Do all the children in Penn
sylvania attended school? | fear not VIII
you believe it, in Philadelphia county alone
10000, and in Pennsylvania over 5000
children las will appear by the last message
of the Governor) do not attend school. Must
we open the doors of our houses of refuge.
prisons, and penitentiaries. and permit this
army Of youth TO enter. No, mol This must
not, shall not be; 90 forth into the high
wavs and byways, and, like angels of light,
gather up the little ones, bring them to the
schools, rich and poor alike. and when you
have done this effectively, You find that for
every dollar expended upon the education OF
a child, you have saved hundreds, yea,
thousands to the country and the Lommon-
wealth.
While we thus speak of the cause of edu-
cation, let us not forget the men and women
who mould the youth of the State and nation.
| mean the teachers of the land.
We honor the hero who leads an army 70
victory; we hang in raptures upon the
burning words of the eloquent orator or
statesman. They earn, and Justly, an i'm
mortality of fame; and yet the teachers who
taught them, each in his sphere, to com
mand armies or thrill Senates, are too often
forgotten. Nor is this all they are not only
forgotten, but starred Yes. this is literally
true For it will all appear by rhe message
of the Governor, already referred to, that
The average amount paid to each teacher is
the magnificent sum oi$I95.I74 per annum.
Understand, this last information is intend
ed for the ears of Pennsylvanians alone III
ought to make them tingle), and is to be
considered confidential.
Do not, l beseech you, inform the inhabi.
tants of our sister Commonwealths of this
fact If, however you do so. prepare to
blush, for blush you must and will IF you
desire to relieve our fair fame of this blem-
ish, whisper into the ears of your county
and city officials ''our teachers receive on an
average per year Sl95 II! Whisper int 9
the ear of every citizen Won meet, Our
teachers receive but Sl95, III rer year and
then, when YOU have awakened the interest
of everybody, cease To whisper, and in a
voice of thunder shake the Senate and House
of Representatives with the cry Our
teachers receive upon an average the sum oi
$I95, III per annum = They surely will lis
ten to vour voice. and in hot haste remedy
the evil in an act Of Assembly. to be entitled
An act to increase the pay of our teachers.
as macter of common justice, and to wipe
out a Commonwealth disgrace.
Let me now refer TO the present pressing
nead for a1ucatad men Won will ba mis-