Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-06-29

for government in the future to grow up In
ignorance and vice? we sow the wind
we shall surely reap the whirlwind.
Ignorance is the parent of vice and the
bane of republic, and the only remedy
right to tax AS property to send BIS chill
dren to school involves the right TO COM
pei BIS children to attend school. Social
order and civil security are threatened by
an army of ignorance. Has society no
power to protect itself? Shall our nation
continue to nurse the viper which will
one day destroy her? He enforced his
argument by forcible and cogent reason
ing, and by examples drawn from history,
which we. for wantof space are compelled
to omit.
We squander 100000 annually in
Vermont by the non-attendsnce of chill
dren at school, one half of which would
be saved by judicious law, and an officer
in each town to enforce it. II this sum
was saved it would give one thousand
dollars to each town to enforce the law.
He was astonished lately to bear cler-
gyman remark in the pulpit that "Cul
ture, in its spirit and tendency, is diamet-
really opposed to Christianity" This is
not true. Education cannot take the
place of Christianity, but is its hand
maid. The child who has been educated
and taught to behold God in nature is
not less prone to believe in the truths of
Christianity than one whose mind has
been left to grope in darkness and ignor-
ance, 1t is not fact that the men of the
highest culture have been opposers of
Christianity. To the name of Voltaire
may be opposed Cowper, John Quincy
Adams, Mitchell and others.
The teacher is the grand agent who d.
reefs the machinery of enlightenment and
public instruction. Like the poShle
thrown into the lake, the influence of the
teachers of Vermont will spread wider
and wider, until it splashes against the
distant shores of time. They stand at
the fountain-head of knowledge, and give
direction to the stream; they nurture the
mind of the child by the sunshine of their
smile and encouragement, and the child,
by their fostering care and culture, is
placed in the ranks of the great and the
good. Noble purposes are formed in the
school-room. How great then is the respon-
sibility of the teacher. Let the teachers
of the country cease from their labors, and
We should soon relapse into barbarism. 1t
is the effect of the teachers labors that tho
forests are swept away and converted into
fruitful fields, that lifts the ore from the
bed. |
Think not that your labors are mental !,
you are sowing seed that will yield an
abundant harvest. How little did the
teachers of Solomon Foot, Jacob Collamer,
or of Justin s. Morrill,. think that they
were training minds that were to exert
so great an influence. Who of the teach
ers here dare say that they are not train
ing such minds. He then referred to
Horace Greeley, and to the inscription in
memory of Sir Christopher Wren: /" If
You would behold his monument, look
around you," and said that the teacher, If
faithful, might point to the bar, the bench,
the pulpit and the halls of Legislation for
their monuments, and bid the inquirer
read the record. He closed by advising
the teachers that though their life was
one of toll and care, yet after they are
gone the gems that they have polished
would shine with resplendent lustre, and
they will have left behind them powers
that will toll on, moulding the world for
noble destiny.
Fight on, then, your noble warfare
with ignorance and crime with strong
hands and resolute hearts, and re shall
reap in due time, if We fsint not.
OF the past there now remains to US
us, and will lead US with gentle hands
into that unknown, shadowy country
which men call the future.