Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-08-26
THE RUTLAND HERALD.
FRIDAY. AUGUST 90, 1869.
state Teachers Association.
TUESDAY, Aug. II, 1861


opened at Brandon on Tuesday evening,
August 18th, 1869. DIR. G. l. Case stated
the object of The gathering this evening
to be for mutual interchange of senti-
ment and acquaintance.
WEDNESDAY MORNING.
The Association was called to order at
0 o'clock, a. m, by J. S. Spaulding, LID,
President of the Association.
Prayer was offered by Rev. Franklin
Tuxbury of Brandon.
j. S. Cilley, Principal of the Brandon
Graded School, welcomed to the the town
and rendered its hospitalities to the mem
bers of the Association.
The President responded to the cordial
welcome of the people of Brandon, allud-
ing to the origin, history and objects OF
the Association, and expressed the hope
that the present meeting might prove
profitable not only to its members, but
to the inhabitants of the community.
The President then announced the fol-
lowing committees:
Lewis A. Austin, Manchester: Judah
Dana, Rutland; Edward Conant, Ran
dolph.
ON NOMINATIONS.
L. f. Ward, Westminster; j. E. Good
rich, Burlington: Chester w Merrill,
Montpelier.
ON PLACE OF NEXT MEETING.
II. II. Shaw, Springfield; c. Ii. Kile,
Nergernnes; John B. Mead, Randolph.
After singing, the President delivered
AN address on The Necessitysof Chris
tian Educarion," of which the following
is a brief abstract:
The speaker commenced with the pro-
prosition that in the Divine economy the
idea of permanency is found resting on
certain conditions that must be fulfilled
before the desired result can be reached.
Gods direction to the Israelites, showing
the manner which their children should
be- taught, contains the elements of a
thorough practical system of education.
The child according to divine law, must
be taught carefully, he must be instruct
ed while sitting i'll the house and also
must be made a subject of thought when
hc lies down at night and when at early
morn he rises mp. Nor is this all. "Thess
words" must be bound as signs upon his
hands and as a iroutlet between his eyes.
And the fathers We're also required to
write these same words on the posts of
the doors and the gates of their houses,
and when. in the time to come the chill
"A -, IL 10
monies and the statutes and the iudg-
ments?' the father should reply, The
Lord commanded us to do all these stat
utes to fear the Lord our God. for our
good always, that He might preserve u
alive, it is at this day"
In considering the subject of education,
there seems to me to be underlying the
more prominent feature of it living and
breathing principle which, in our discus
sion, is too often neglected. There is in our
country a necessity of christian education
To secure for our people living progress
sive civilization. The civilization of An
Client Greece, Rome, China, Turkey and
Spain, is the best fruitage that can be
grown in a country upon whose inhabi-
tants the light of the sun of righteousness
does not shine with its genial and invig-
Grating rays. In these countries will be
fund nothing of progress in any of the
arts or sciences, nor in the pursuits OF
agriculture has any advance been made.
Olden customs and utensils are yet in use.
With such Il civilization, progress Is i'm
possible the whole body Is dead, its life
and vigor have been exhausted, the root
let's of an etiere civilization are decay
ing in the very heart OF humanity. Spain
il IA specimen of this civilization. She
has blotted out her progressive institu-
tons, and has now become third-rate
power among the nations of the earth.
So will every government fail that refuses
to adopt Christian education as its
foundation stone.
The speaker proceeded at length to adj
vocate Christian civilization and Chris
tian education, such az was planted on the
American shores 10y the Pilgrim fathers
az the true system adapted TO the wants
of the present era, and III our vast, ex-
panding country giving the elements es-
sential for living, progressive ciyiliza-
ton From true Christian education
flows the intelligence and self-conscious-
ness which give character to the inhabi-
tants and permanency to the character OF
our country, giving dignity to labor, i'm
nplse to enterprise and vitality to the
State, and gives life to the germs which
blossom in our common schools and ripens
in the highest institutions Of our land.
The Puri'ans did not fully comprehend
nor in form Inaugurate a system of free
schools, but when the principles became
known and understood, they, like Luther
in the presence of the Emperor Charles
the 9TH boldly took their stand and left
the result with God himself. For dis
seIninating religion, morality and learn
ing the fathers of New England estab-
lished a system Of instruction, charac
teristic of that civilization which has the
Bible for its Cornerstone The common
schools within our own language consti-
tutes the foundation of our whole future,
md out of which springs that peculiar
organism that gives life and vigor to our
whole country, and is assimilating the
different nationalities that are constantly
resorting to our shores. InhalIng the
very atmosphere of a civilization drawn
from free schools and the word of God,
they cannot long remain encased in their
European or Asiatic ideas, and two or
three generations Is incorporated with the
body polite, adding strength to its mus
cles, elasticity to its nerves and energy to
its enterprise. In every society there are
under currents that are drifting it's men,
hers into better condition, or gradually
swallowing them in the vortex of ruin.
After an exhaustive review OF the civiliza-
ton of the old world, contrasted with
that given by the Puritan fathers, the
speaker concluded as follows:
American civilization, embracing the doctrine
that all men before God are equal, has history
reaching far back among the nations of an 1quits
a 9
old, it had here and there few to advocate it.
cause until injustice and production wrought out
the materials of which nation is constructed
As teacher and citizens in this great republic
We must b. ware, Lest in zeal for improve
ment lose sight Of the fundamental principles
underlying the institutions of our country. A
lzati,,n HAVING its origin in Christianity can