Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1869-07-24

MNAM AMAM ANNrsn AAAA"AH"1n NHHHN4HH
ias, ARi then Nhal a luSury q
learh such a Pup,l, An oasis .his
ia tho teachers otherwise desert
life, OF gushing I0unlalns, ringing
birds, shady lawns and fragrant
flowers les, leg the teacher insis1
0n lhOn0ughnoss in every recitation,
and ia this as in many other ~
speels, he must detect Tat, little
beginnings make great eHilngs'
"A pstbls in the slTeAmlsi seAnl,
Has IuFEsi the coarse of lA4ny : river
A iss-irop GA lLs inishi plaHi,
Has warped ihs giaH' oak isTeNsE'
3. As closely allied to thorough,
ness, brief mentiOn must bo made ol
tho power Of concentration as an
alluVanl OF no mean class TO the
success 0fany student, coneentra,
ton aud thOroughness seem 10 stand
correlated; tho ono implies the
other, No pupil was over thorough
without concentration, and no pupil
can abstract his mind from every
thing but the orc object without
some good degree OF lhoroughness
as a preparatory TO il, Aud yet
they are not identical one is an
acquisition, almost synonymous
with knowledge, the other is pow
er Of tho mind that may DO aug
men.cl by effort or degraded by
neglect, Some of tho pcripatotic
and stole philosophers were re-
markablc rs possessing this power
of mind in liberal degree, Ono Of
them deserves especial notice in
this, that Mt his meals, he would
not unirequently forget to extend
his hand for food, so lost was he in
the one absorbing train Of reflection.
Another ono, buried in tho folds of
the profoundcst contemplation over
that beautiful Gcomctrical problem,
"Tho square erected upon the
hypothcnusc of any right anglcd
triangle is equal to the sum Of the
sqrarcs on tho other two Sides"
convcrging all his cultivated power
upon its solution, when tho light Of
demonstration blazcd through it on
his mind, in the first transports Of
delight over tho achiovct'ient, he
rushed out into the streets of Athens,
shouting in the widest delirium of
Joy, 81 have found it, | have found
IL, | have found it'll" These alb.
stractionists however, regarded this
dthomplisRRcnt as In end, rs n
felicity in itself, and SO taught their
pupils; bit We must labor after il
in our schools, as in the case of
physical development, rs only
means 10 an end-advanccd mental
and moral improvement. Conccn-
tration may DO little difficult of
at FIRST, but effort adds
to tie power, till finally asparkling
river never glided more gracefully
over its pebbly bed, than the pupil
glides down the current of literary
success. When he can walk into
his room, shut his door, light his
lamp, concentrate his mind fully
upon his books, or as Aristotle was
won't to say, "hold sweet converse
with himself and his thoughts" he
is already II man :! Tho pupil can
not proceed without this quality Of
mind, and it is cheap at any expcn-
diture of time and labor in acquiring
it. You shall have two boys, for
example, of equal age and capacity
with this quality Of mind, ono sue
cecds, and every evening writes In
his diary, ''labor ipsc est voluptas;"
the other, without it, passes through
his College curriculum as, a slave
goaded to his task, mayhap pro-
cures his diploma and returns home
n drone in society, scholar only in
name and n hopeless Ounce in fact.
Ponce De Ieoti once traversed this
Continent in quest of the Fountain
of Youth; he is said to have knelt,
with cagcrncss. as the Indian legend
inspired him, at every spring and
1uatfed Of its Waters but the sppcr-
stitious and misguided Spaniard
lied on his return, tour, and this
evening, his cncoffined form sleeps
On his alluvial pillow, his only
,pitaph this little patch Of history,
md his perpetual requiem is the
,ullen music from the ccaseless flow
# the Father of Waters. He did
not find that Fountain; poets have
'aid that familiarity with tho MUSES. |
would conduct ono to II; but it |
,Gght rather to be said that thought |
n whatever high and earnest and
,irtuous forms it may manifest it.
elf will conduct the aspirant to-
wards it. 1t is a curious fact to
ome, though attested by observa-
ion and experience, that men Of
hought, profound thought, not on
y live longer, in the aggregate,
han other men, but while farmers;
mechanics, merchants, artists, law
-ers, clergymen, who are in fact
lneducated, their powers of mind
lot drawn out by thought and dis
ipline, ordinarily die-if old age
omes at all, under the clouds and
mbecility Of a second childhood,
hey, the sceptred few, most gene
ally preserve their manhood and
of thought to extreme
I'D age. Witness, if you please,
|amucl johnson, Liebnits, Hcrschel,
ioethe, Liebig, Humboldt, EN-
mons, Dequincy, Calhoun, Webster,
ohm Wesley, Bishop Soule, and our
'wn, "old man eloquent" Doctor
.ovick Pierce, who to extreme old
&c, preserves the discrimination,
act and JUNCTION of his young and
trong manhood, when multitudes
at for hours, charmed by the magi-
al touch of his silvery eloquence.
OF course, in an address Of this
lass, you would not anticipate the
expansion Of this idea, but in con-
exion with thoroughness and con-
in our educational train
ne, II vas thought eligible to this