Vermont daily transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1868-1870, 1869-04-21

lie lie 1nteIlSc uctlNlty vi huSl1eSS
causes the copy-books to be thown aside,
and drives them from the mind and
memory. The piano on which Nj iss
Minnie takes her lessons does give a
degree of musical culture that nothing
else does" but it is useless to her, be-
cause, IN after life, Miss Minnie will
never more thrum that particular pi-
ano. The incessart unconscious move
ment, of little child, in its play,
gives degree of physical culture that
nothing else gives, but the time de-
voted thereto is lost, because the in
tense activity of after life drives the
sports of childhood from mind and
memory.
Are classical studies the studies that
are forgotten? How much does the re-
spect able Mr.. Tapeman, who has been
selling dry goods ever since he was
the natural philosophy, the parsing,
the compound proportion, which he
learned at school? How much of his
algebra and geometry can Rev. Mr..
Sarcenet recall? Our friend Cranks,
the machinest, once carried Off the
prize in elocution. What does he know
about infections and emphases? How
many lawyers in any given city can re-
peat the multiplication table? How
many doctors can tell the length of the
Mississippi River? How many clergy
men can reckon compound interest?
Most men pick up the knowledge
they use in business. Even the facts
they once learned at school, they have
to learn over again before they can use
them There is good reason for this.
We cannot see far enough ahead to tell
just what facts we shall want to en-
ploy. We cannot prepare all our corlls
beforehand to fit our bottles, because
we do not know precisely what bottle
we shall want them to fit.
1t is therefore useless to learn any
thing? Nobody,will say that it is. Of
the fifty walls which DIR. Emdee carries
with him in his ride, to-day, he will
have occasion to use two or three; it is
worth his while to take the fifty, for
the sake of having the two or three on
hand. OF n thousand things which we
learn at school, we may have occasion
directly to use dozen, and indirectly a
few dozen more. 1t is well worth our
of the few. AS we do not know which
the few will be, we must learn the
thousand, in order to know what we
want.
But this is only the smallest part OF
the advantage we gain. Why does our
little Miss spend three hours n day fin
gering away at those obi Gus exercises
Does she intend to playlthem, by and by,
before company in mama's parlor, or at
the Dorcas Society concert? To be sure
not. She plays exercises that this play
ing may help her play tunes. She
wants to acquire skill. She wants to
get her fingers timber, and her mind
and eye trained, SO that when she sits
down before the sheet of notes she has
never before seen, the music, in all it's
sweetness, will at once run into her eyes,
and drop from the tips of her fingers
upon the key board, and fill the room
with delight. When she has reached
this point, it makes little difference
whether she remembers the old exercises
or not. It's just so when we learn any
thing. We derive some advantage from
knowing the things. But the great
point is to get our knOUing apparatus
into good aOOrking Order,-to get our
selves so trained that we shall be able at
once to seize upon new knowledge, Just
as we want it. If Miss has never taken
a single piece, but has learned to play
any music at sight, she has accomplish
ed mOre.than if she had learned hun
dred pieces by note.
In even those studies which are most
QIIcClly COullcClcu WIFI uCluttl DtlSlllcSS,
discipline is far more important object
than information. Which is worth the
most to the graduate OF commercial
institute, the facts he has learned, or the
habits of neatness, order 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 de-
gree of discipline which can be gained
nowhere else, what difference does it
make if many classical students do for
get their early requirements? They
still retain the discipline they gained.
They use every day the correct habits
of careful Investigation, which they ac-
qui,e in translating and constituting.
They have the great result of classical
study. What if they 20 not retain all
its lesser results? Is it useless to have
your dry goods transported in boxes,
because after you have unpacked the
goods, you throw the boxes out into the
back yard? 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 skating and playing
ball?