New-York tribune., 1870-11-01

Law
To oevery man born int the world, Professor h"A,s
remarks il was once as fresh and new as was :,
Adam In fart even now the world IL as i've, ~ -"
was the first day and as full of untold INV. - 80,
him who has the ewes to see them YAM h;,os
in hand from the moment OF our o''" "a, d,oa
evorv moment of our waking-hie "i,u'i ,;t
+;onol ;nanence; she imparts ins'r"e'oi ~ ~
o,or,, one who wishes il can have uhco"u'''o"'' -"
every ons ,hav who take the highest honors IN her
IL, catholic university, who gam the i"os' p,o
sna knowledge of her vast and subtle laws are .he
ioo,,u ond successful men in this world the
:h, masters of their age and who rule the spirits
e oi,o generations from their urn. All artihcial
~snoot;on ought to conspire to the same end WIN
natural education This decides as to the true char
acter of liberal education, which is not at all
matter of sines and tangents of Hebrew roots OF
Greek particles. THAT man, says Professor Hux-
lev "has had liberal education who has Deeh 80
trained in youth that his body is the ready servahto
his WILL and does with ease and pleasure all INC
work that as a mechanism, II is capable OF WHOSE
intellect is clear cold logic engine, with all its
parts of equal strength, and in smooth working
order ready, like steam engine, TO be turned W
any kind Of work. and spin the gossarners as wen as
forge the anchors of the mind whose mind Is stored
with knowledge of the great and fundamental
truths of Nature and of the laws OF her operauons
one who no stunted ascetic is full OF life ana hre'
but whose passions are trained to come to heel by
vigorous will the servant Of a tender conscience;
who has learned to love all beauty, whether of
Nature or Of Art to hate all vleness and to respect
Others az himself. Such a one and no other, con-
ceve has had liberal education for he is, rs COM
pletey as a man can be, in harmony with Nature.
lie will make the best of her. and she Of him. They
viii get together rarely she as his ever beneii-
cent mother he as her mouth-piece, her conscious
self her minister and interpreter"
As respects the benefits to be derived from classical
learning the author expresses himself with his char
acteristc wisdom and discrimination. He deprecates
the extravagant importance which is attached to the
dead languages while so many studies of immediate
and positive use are almost totally neglected. The
pupil in the primary schools of England receives
little instruction in the first principles of morality
He learns nothing of the history political organ
ization of his own country. Nor does he gain the
faintest conception of the laws of the physical world
nor of the relation of and effect among its phe-
nomena The higher schools to which the great mid
die class of the country send their children. are
scarcely of superior character. There is indeed
little more reading and writing of English. But it
is rarely that pupil can read aloud decently or put
his thoughts on paper in grammatical language to
say nothing of elegance or force of STYLE There is
little arithmetic, little algebra little Euclid but
probably not one boy in five hundred ever heard the
explanation of a rule in arithmetic, or knows his
Euclid otherwise than by rOte. Modern geography,
modern history, modern literature, the En-
glish language as language, and the
whole circle of the sciences, physical, moral
and social. are wholly ignored In most of the
great public schools, boy may gain the highest
distinction without ever having heard that the
earth goes round the sun; that England passed
through great revolution in 1858, and France an
other in 1889; that there lived certain famous
men called Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe,
Schiller The first might be German and the last
an Englishman for all that he knew.
what does the mdde-cass school put in the place
of all these things which left out IL substitutes
of the classics that is to say the languages the lit
erature. and the history OF the ancient Greeks and Ro
a Wa known to these two great NATIONS Of antiquity
Now do not expect me TO depreeiae the earnest and en-
least desire to speak i'll of such occupations. nor any
tfary, nv opportunities had lain in that direction
there investigation into which could have thrown
What science can present greater attractions than phi
lologyi How lover Of literary excellence fail to
consistency could whose business lies 80 much in the
to % a hs pis n@ % SG Of %
ings fail to take sympathetic though an pDearned
Groe Classical history is great section OF the pale
ontology of man and Ihave the same double respect
|
a respect for the facts which it establishes for all
facts and still greater respect for it preparation
Il But if the classics were taught as they might be
taught-f boys and girls instructed in Greek and
pathological science if vivid picture Of life on the
shores of the Mediterranean two thousand years ago
imprinted on the minds of scholars; If ancient
history were taught not as weary series OF feuds and
S' saeR condto1s IF IT, ssty the study Of the classical
books were followed in such manner as 10 impress boys
with their beauties, and with the grand simplicity Of
their statement of the everlasting problems Of human
life, instead Of with their verbal and grammatical pecu
lares still think it little proper that they should
form the basis of liberal education for cotempo
raries should think it fitting TO make that sort OF
palRonology with which am familiar, the backbone OF
modern education.
But classical teaching as now conducted in English
schools is of very different character 1t is dry and
pedantc in its methods, and unfruitfu in its results
II getting up endless forms and rules by heart
IL turning Latin and Greek into English for the
mere sake of being able 10 do IT, and without the smallest
regard to the worth worthessness of the author read
IL means the learning OF nnumerabe not always decent
fables la such shape that the meaning they had is
dried up into utter trash and the only impression left
upon boys mind Is, that the people who believed such
things must have been the greatest idiots the world
saw; And nd means Al, & finally, that after dozen years
tent To interpret passage IN an author he has not al
ready got up tha he shall 0athe the sight Of Greek or
classical writer again, UNTIL wonderful TO relate. he in
These he your GODS Israeli For the sake OF this net
result and respecabilty the British father denies his
life, not merely for the achievement of vulgar success
bt for the great crises of human existence
This Is the stone he Offers TO those whom he bound
the strongest and tenderest ties TO feed with bread
| The power of writing lucid and expressive En-
glsh, exhibited in the style of Professor Huxley
himself, affords striking proof that devotion to
physical studies is not necessarily unfavorable to
literary excellence, He makes pretensons. it Is
true to the artificial graces of composition he has
rhetorical tricks to for holiday hourishes
and his thoughts sometimes flow too rapidly for oily
smoothness of utterance but he everywhere betrays