The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-05-28

CLOVIS in the mind Of every man, wo-
man and child, perhaps family, bat
nevertheless it n there, and oh how IL
cries out for food to feed and grow up-
on-how the mind Graves culture, how
it scars aloft, then ont into inhnity,
then down into the depths Of the low
est deep to satisfy its hunger. and end.
ing it not the man cries out "Oh /! If |
only had an education"
Reader, if you have such prowptings
as these-if you crave something more
than drudging at slavish physical toll,
TO enrich corrupt monopoly dare to
make the effort to emancipste. yourself
These secret promptings are not false
prophets; they are none less than God
urging you on to put your talents to
higher use 70 bearing better interest;
nature seldom mistakes her work or her
servants when the cause of humanity
is at stake; If you are thus called, do
not pray you, stand needless to the
call it is L divine spark within You
that speaks answer it Hear the
world is calling for reformers, will you
stand idle The nation languishes for
good noble, honest educated men !;
these must come from the ranks Of the
artizan, mechanic aud workingman-
will you respondP
Our professions are all actually de-
caying for want of integrity Legislative
halls and the pulpit make demands on
our workshops, not on our universities !;
we have enough Of college wrecks and
theoretical reformers; we want practi-
cal, observing men and women, who
have met the stern realities of life and
conquered them. The man that can
make iron his servant, the artizan that
can make the shafts of the forest bid
defiance to the angry ocean, the man
who can convert dead matter into stu
pendous cities, can make himself mas
ter Of Instruments that will illuminate
the mind.
Now we want this education we
are willing to do the best we can; we
must have higher type in all depart
ments Of our government. Aye, in the
pulpit too we want ministers like the
great Palestine reformer that preached
to the poor. and the poor heard him
gladly; that assailed the corruption Of
money getting, at the expense of the
flesh and blood of human lives.
Yes, / believe with w. L. McNair,
of Pittsburgh, that the reform must be
carried into the pulpit, and to this end
we want no milk and water men there,
but fighting men men who know the
rights Of the race, and knowing dare
mention them. We want this, we believe
that we can conquer if we but take
hold but You say we have not got the
time; we are poor, and cannot go to
school, and we had not the chance of
education when young, so there is no
use in our trying to do anything; we
win have to take it out in wishing
and-stop! you have gone far enough,
let me answer these excuses.
In regard to time, know it is a
greivous wrong you have not more
time, but do you use wisely the time
you have? What about your evenings
that many spend around street corners,
saloons, and in idleness all these
might be bene6cially used in reading
and thought. What about your Sunday
and Saturday evenings? these might
be put to gathering stores Of historical
and scientific knowledge, which might
prove to be good paying capital in fu.
ture times. What about the many
spare moments in shop and daily avo-
cations? Now many new ideas might
be created, if only the win was applied
Do you not know that the mechanic
has the best teacher the country affords
much better than college professor
his trade; this is his education, the
battling with matter is great school
master; it has made some Of the bright
est figures in the worlds history.
Hugh Miller's teacher and book wai
j the sandsto1ea he chipped. Hiram
Powers, the great American sculptor,
found his intellectual food in the rough
block Of marble. Elihu Burritt, the
learned blacksmith" found the inter
probation Of fifty languages on the
blacksmith's anvil, while working up
iron, the king of metals, into horse.
shoes. A Scotch shepherd found out
great astronomical truths, while tending
sheep, by studying the book Of nature,
rs seen in the heavens. David, the
psslmist, was shepherd; Christ was q
carpenter; these, and thousands OF
others waited not, but took the oppor-
tunity that was offered them all poor,
an hard workers, yet what great mo-
mentoes they have left on the tablets
of time.
Yes, I repeat it, you shop, you trade
is full of instruction, if you will but
grasp it, and assimulate Il. Thus you
have your school at home, and in the
shop. Some of the greatest men of the
present century never spent one day in
school. Study, home, the shop and field
was their school room.
All can get books and papers, and
these study not specifically; read but
mediate and reflect as well. The great
sources of knowledge are open to us all.
The five leading avenues TO knowledge,
those Of observation, rea ling, CONVEX
sation, lectures, and meditation, II
shall treat Of at q future time: first
collectively, and then separately. How
to make the best use Of these different
instruments Of acquiring an education
without loss Of time, or need Of colleges.
But am too old, do you say? You are
mistaken. II is an old maxim, and we
may say in addition, an almost eternal
truth, that man is never too old to
learn )" consequently, man is never too
old to begin TO learn; many Of the
great scholars began their education NJ
thirty, AID even forty years Of age, and
were the stronger in great works in the
end for it, as they had good physical
constitutions-good soil for the brain
To draw nonria i n. ont fror, q aouA;..l