Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1870-08-09
CHARLESTOWN VIRGINIA. TUESDAY. AUGUST 9, 1870.


solemn dirges in honor of her noble sons,
whose reverend tombs their gentle waters
lave. Yes, speak of Virginia as she thus
stretches forth from Maryland and Pennsly-
yania on the North, to North Carolina on the
/ South from the blue waters of the Atlantic
and Chesapeake on the East, to the rolling
tide of the mighty Ohio which Iayes her
Western border.
But what are the dangers.that threaten us
| Where is that principle of universal equality
which is now gnawing the very vitals OF our
sunny South 1t would make an idiot sage;
brainless, conscienceless, feelingless carpet
bagger, a ruler to be respected by intelligent
and honorable citizens; an unprincipled igno-
ramus, as suitable a statesman to guido our
storm-tossed ship of state over the roaring
breakers, as Webster, Calhoun, or Clay /;
and thick.lipped, tongue-tied negro, as dis
tinguished an orator as Patrick Henry. 1t
would apply the vile radical, more blood>
thirsty than the leach, to Virginia's already
almost exhausted veins, and suck the last drop
of her precious life's blood. Universal suf.
frage has already been forced upon us. 1t
has proven fatal draught of hemlock to every
people that have adopted it; and such it will
prove to us, unless we nerve ourselves up to
the task of removing it in the course OF time,
by patient and forbearing toll. And our
future struggles will be but the paroxysms of
| despairing hope, and the death agonies of
dying Virginia. Yes, my mother, the foul
| serpent has struck his venourous fang into
YOUR sacred bosom, and infected your very
life's current and you must die unless we edu-
cate your sons, so that they may become the
honored physicians who shall extract the dead
ly venom. You, my fellow-citizens, are bound
hand and foot You are the victims OF an
unjust and cruel tyrannical oppression, un>
paralleled and unprecedented in the annals OF
civilized parliamentary regulations. The hope
of our country is in the rising generation.-
Your duty then is plain. Educate them to
meet The Demands of the Crisis. The ex-
amples of our ilIustrious ancestors render their
very tombs vocal with their appeals. Our
once glorious republic, now almost in the ago
| MES of death, breathing out her very existence
! into the jaws of those cruel monsters, anarchy
and confusion, call to you, to educate the
rising generation. If we would have our
country as prosperous, glorious and happy in
the future as she has been in the past; If we
would have her sons guided by truth if we
would have them shine in the galaxy of great
ness and renown they must be educated.-
Would we see the day star of liberty and in
telligence dawn upon our horizon, and its re-
fulgent rays penetrate the dense shades OF our
political gloom? Then Virginia's sons must
be educated. Yes, christian mother, from the
time that you instill into the young and tender
mind the primary truths of religion, let it be
thoroughly imbued with the principles of true
patriotism, and moulded according to the
theories of a wholesome statesmanship.-
| When you implant within the tender bosom
of the little one the sacred truth, "The fear
of the Lord is the beginning Of wisdom" )"
don't forget the important and obvious corol-
larry, the fear of man is the very consumma-
ton of folly Is there Virginian within
the sound of my voice to day, so base as not
to engage heartily in this work If so, l de-
nounce him an unworthy son of his noble
sires and traitor to the fair land of his ma
tivity. Has the day for Virginia's great men
passed ? Arc we to have no more such states.
men as Jefferson, Henry, Mason, Randolph
and others, whose clarion voices rang with
eloquent appeals in behalf of liberty? Shall
we suffer the fires of elOquence they kindled
to be buried with them in the silent tomb or
live in memory as lasting rebuke and shame
to our own slothful aud inactive age; or shall
we not rather fan the sacred flames, and quail.
! ify and send forth from among US, those who
shall wake to living power, the slumbering
echoes of eloquence
In the midst of disorganized state of So
ciety and of government like that in which
we live, anarchy and confusion may triumph
temporarily; and tyranny may dethrone and
trample justice for time unpunished. But
! remember, "Justice may sometimes sleep, but
can never die" If you educate your sons, in
the course of events, when passion shall have
subsidized, and tyrants shall be drunk with
blood, the superiority of native, treeborn Vir
ginians will appear, and Radical vandalism
aud universal equality, will vanish away like
the morning cloud or the early dew. AS long
as memory serves to recall our former great
ness and aur present degradation; as long as
faltering tongues can syllable the names of
Ashby, Stewart, jackson as long as the cry
for vengeance rises from her boOd-soaked
soil ; Virginia cannot always remain the VIC
tim of universal suffrage
| "For lust experience tells in every soil.
That those who think must govern those who toll !;
And all that freedom's highest aims can reach,
Is but to lay proportioned loads on each"
Let us not then sit idly dreaming of the dig
mites and glories of the past whilst shudder-
ing amid the destitutions and degradations of
the present. But let US acquit ourselves like
men, aud ere another generation shall have
passed away, the star of Virginia's glory will
glitter with respondent brlliancy, upon the
brow of this political night.
What then is the education we need? It
is thorough, complete and liberal educa-
ton. The system of education taught in the
free schools can never prepare our youth to
meet The Demands Of the Crisis. The pop
ular idea, that a classical education is unne-
cessary, is erroneous. Our language is in a
great measure derived from the Latin and
Greek, especially the former. The techni-
calties of Natural Science are SO largely de-
rived from the Greek, that no one can be-
come proficient in this science without con-
siderable knowledge of the Greek language.
He who knows nothing of the classics, can
never appreciate the full force, fexibility, va
riety and beauty of his own vernacular tongue.