Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-01-28
From the Western Monthly for January.
EDUCATION OF THE HEART.
BY HON. SCHUYLER coLFAx.

the is nothing so absolutely helpless a
e a child when it first opens ite eyes upoi
+ the world. And yet there is nothing o
r vaster Importance. The greatest work.
of art will perish. The cataract Of Nj
.. agara will cease to flow. The prUudesl
/ nation. whose conquering eagles have
|, defied a continent, will pass away. Bul
the sleeping infant, in its mothers arms
may even, in its brief span of earthly
years, like Moses, David or Paul OIL
Homer, Plato or DemOsthenes; or Caesar
: Washington or Lincoln; or Zenobia
Joan of Are or Florence Nightingale, SO
due that history shall never tire of the
record of its deeds while time doth last
or this earth of ours endure.
We come, too, into this breathing world
with Good and Evil mysteriOusly COM
bined within us. But a little time. cnm-
paratively. passes by before the child de-
velops temper, self-will, defiance, anger,
revenge, in greater or milder degree,
and compels that parental restraint SO
valuable and necessary in every house
hold. And thus the Spirit OF Good and
the Shirt of Evil struggle for the mas
terry in every heart. With every good
impulse drawing US toward the Right,
and every wicked temptation and un-
restrained passion drawing Us toward the
Wrong, We commence the earnest. cease
less Battle of Life. ra.a
I sour birth is but starting place,
Life is the running of the race,
And death the goal.'
Properly trained, conscientiously direct
ed, the child grows up into the affection
ate enlightened, energetic, self-denying
man or woman, an honor and a blessing
and when life's fitful fever is over, re-
membered by many hearts long after the
funeral flowers of the cemetery have
blossomed on their grave. But how diff
! ferent the life and character of him who,
unblessed by healthful and virtuOus sur
roundings, or madly defying them all,
cuitivates only the evil side ef his ma
| tureI Like the rank weed of your gar
den, it soon extirpates all that is good
and valuable; and you sae before you
| life, of which you cannot truthfully say
that 1t Is worthless, because it is far
worse. -.--
All around us We see this contest
And the responsibilities for its results lie
at our very door. Whether those who
are to come after us shall have every adj
vantage to arm and strengthen them
selves against the influence of Evil, de-
pends in large degree on the conduct
of the generation which precedes them
in the family circle, or the wider sphere
of the community wherein they dwell.
1t is men that make The State. An is
land full of savages can be nothing but
a savage State. Where the people wor-
ship Idols of wood and stone, mankind
call il a heather State. A country of
impure men must be an impure State
But where morality and ndintelligence pre-
vail, and Right bears sway, and Con-
science is respected and obeyed, the on
looking world recognizes that there is a
country worthy to be embraced in the
circle OF Christendom, and to rank high
among the civilized States of the earth.
The hope of any country must, there I
fore, always be with its young. With
them we see the candle of life, not like
us of middle age, half consumed, but
nj; and so to be trimmed that it shall q
burn brighter and brighter till it expires
in the socket. And this fact has BEEN
recognized in every age of the world {
Heraclitus, who twenty-five hundred /
years ago was called the crying philoso-'
phcr, refused to accept the chief magis-
tracy of his nation, preierring to spend
his time i'll educating children than even
10 govern the corrupt Ephesians. Cati- I
line, when he sought, two thousand years !
ago, to overthrow the liberties of his
country, and-as traitors in our own era
the land which had given him birth, and
honors, and power, attempted first TO
corrupt the younger Romans, and thus
to win them to his nefarious endeavOrs
If you concede, then-as you must, for
History is full of its prOOls-that the
hope OF Il country Is with its young, how
priceless are the hundreds o. Institutions
like this, and the tens of thousands of
schools of other grades in which our land
rejoices to-day! How truly did Cicero
declare: Study cherishes youth, de-
lights age, adorns prosperity, furnishes
support in adversely, tarries with us by
night and by day, and attends us in all
onr journeyings and wanderings!" And
again, when, on another occasion, that
eulogiZed Wisdom For
wnat Is there" said he, "more desirable
than Wisdom? What more excellent
and lovely in itself? What more useful
and becoming for man? Or what
more worthy of his reasonable nature ?" .
And. in the inspired record, Solomon,
In even loftier strain than the master
Of Roman eloquence. exclaims, Happy
is the man that findeth wisdom, and the
man that getteth understanding; for
.hs merchandise of it is better than the
OF silver, and the gain there
IF than fine gold. Length of days is in {
ler right hand, and in her left hand rich
IS and honor. She is a tree of life TO i
hem thatIay hold upon her, and happy {
$ every one that retaineth her. Exalt
Ter, and she shall promote thee. She l
hal. bring to thy head an ornament of {
grace. A crown of glory shall she de- 1
Iver to thee" .
Recognizing, as trust all of you do, !
without further gument OrillustratiOn,
nat the mind, like the earth, yields the q
ichest fruit only when cultivated | wish
o improve this opportunity accidentally
opened to me by u few remarks, first to e
he teachers, and lastly to the taught. {
OF all the earthly professions L know
# none more honorable, more useful, @
in its influence, than the c
Profession of the teacher. If faithful in Z
his vocation, they have a right to claim, v
IS John Howard did, that their mOnu- {
nent should be sun-dial, not ceasing s
o be useful even after death. They are I
o SO fill the fountains of the minds COM
nitted to their charge, that from thence
hall ever flow streams fertilizing and
'enefcent; and they are to be the eX a
mplars for the young before them i'll
lealthful moral influence, which is the
sundation of character.
As no one is fit to be an officer in war e
Who has not heroic blood in his veins, or '
o he an artist who has no esthetic taste,
# to be poet who does not understand 0
he power of rhythm or meter, or to be v
historian or statesman without r
road and comprehensive mind, SO no l
he should be teacher who has not .
Ieart full of love for the profession, ana .
n energy and enthusiasm willing joy II
usly to confront all its responsibilities. r
t requires great patience, untiring in .
uStry ahnuntinp kindnpss ntlr.a rusaI.
lshness, and fidelity to duty and princi-
'le And when happily combined, sue e
ess is absolutely assured.
nd LOT l.hildrof, v