Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-04-23
EDUCATIONAL.


The study of tC cla-- cs does give degree Df euI
tire that uothin. se does. hut the me devoted 90
who have pursuei them fr u ailer ig tlc 1ter.e
ugity oi thr times drives Them from tle Lla1 and
memory AttsrIfl-
The writer of these Sos!- has stated Iai-
lacy, widely current, just now. BOT very pal
pahle.
Beef,teak does afford O degree of nuui-
ment tlat nothing else does, bat the time
devoted o this food is surely lost to the ma
i1rity Of those who cat it. tlr IN o. icw hours
the intense activity Of lie drives i' from the
stomach. Practice iu cory-book- does give
o degree Of culture To- writing t.at nlthinS
else ijss but the time devoted l-c.V .Vy-b' s-
L. nearly lost 20 the majority 1i .d1-e who
use them for 10 ai-ei lite the intense activity
of husiue-s causes the copy books -u hc thrown
aside. and drives them from the mind and
memory The piano On which Miss Minnie
takes her lessons "doe- give degree of mu-
-ical culture that nothing Sc does, bot 10 l7
useless TO her because, iu after life, Miss MIN
ME will never more thrum that particular
piano. The iucessant uuruusci u- movement.
ofa lttle child, in ir- play. gives degree Of
physical culture that nothing else gives. but
the time devoted thereto is lost, because tAc
intense activity Of after life drives The ports
of childhood from mind and memory.
Are Classical studies the only studies that
are f0rg item How much does the respect
able Mr. lapeman. who has been selling dry
goods ever since he was eighteen, remember
of the geography. the natural philosophy,
the pars.ug, the compound proportion, which
he learned at school p How much of bis al
zebra and geometry can Rev. Mr Sarcenet
recall ? Our friend Cmnks. the machines.
once carried oh the prize in ,ncutuu. Nha,
does he know about infections and mp.ases D
How many lawyers in any given gity can ~
peat the multiplication table How many
doctors can tell the length of Ihe Mississippi
river How many clercymen can reckon
compound iu-eras,2
Most men mlt up the knowledge they use
in business Even the lucts they ouro learned
at school, they have o. lca.n over aglil before
they can use them There is q g01j reason
for this. We cannot see FAR enough ahead
to tell Just what facts we shall want % cm-
pluy We cannot prepare all our coISs be-
iurehand to fit our bottles. because we do
not know precisely what bottle We shall want
them to fl.
Is it therefore useless 70 learn ANYTHING
Nobody viii say that it is OF the fifty vials
which DR.. Emdee carries with him in his
ride, to day, he will have occasion 90 use two
or three it is worth his whilo to take the
fifty. for the sake of having the two or three
on hand OF a thousand things which we
learn at school, we may have occasion direct
" to use a dozen, and indirectly few dozen
more. 1t is well worth our while 20 learn
the thousand for the sake of the few. As we
do not know which the few Will be- We must
learn the thousand in order 10 know what
we want
But this is only the smallest part of ho
advantage we gam. Why does our little
Miss spend three hours day lingering away
at those odious exercises o. Does she IN
tend to play them, by and by, before COM
pany in mamma parl0r OF at the Dorcas 80
F ciety concert? To be sure not She play,
+ exercises that tins playing may help her
play tunes. She wants to acquire skill. She
wants to get her fingers timber, and her mind
and I've trained. SO that when she sits down
/ before the sheet of notes she las never before
seen, the music, in all its sweetness, will at
once run into her eyes. and drop from the tip,
Of her fingers upon the key board, and I'LL
the room with delight When she has reached
this point, it makes little difference whether
she remembers the old exercises or NOT It
Is lust 81 when we lean anything. We de
rive some advantage from knowing the things
But the great point Is 10 get oar kHOiring Gp-
pGrdtuS INTO good lro'kiHg 0rder,-to get
ourselves 50 trained that we shall be able al
once 10 seize upon new knowiedge, lust az
we want it If Miss has never taken a sin
gle piece, but has learned to play any mu-
sic at sight she has accomplished more thar
if she had learned hundred pieces by note.
In even those studies which are most d.
rectly connected with actual business. dlsci
piine is a far more important object than in
formation. Which Is worth the most to th,
graduate Of a commercial institute, the !acu
he has learned, or the habits of neatuess, or
der and system he has acquired.
Now, these same principles apply TO the
study Of the classics. If, as nearly every one
admits, this study gives a degree Of dirci
pline which can be gained nowhere else
what difference does it make, if many classi
cal students do forget their early acquire
ments? They still retain the discipline they
gained. They use every day the correct hab-
It's Of careful investigation, which they &C.
auired in translating and constituting. They
have the great result Of classical study. W hat
if they do not retain all its lesser results
Is it useless to have your dry goods transport
ed in boxes, because after you have unpackeC
the goods, you throw the boxes out into The
back yard q? Were you not benefited by the
skating and ball playing of your childhood
which gave you your present broad chest
and plant muscles, and confirmed health
even although you have now given up ska
ting and playing ball ?
Widow Van Coot is a licensed Nethodis
preacher in New York, and the New York Con.
ference, now in session, is agitated over tbs
question of allowing her to continue in the pas
| fnral Nnrk Il is stated as an EVIDENCE Of hel