Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-10-17
Education at the West.

Concerning tho leading of our
Western Colleges, and the progress of
education in this State, Rev. A. p
Peabody, a professor at Harvard
College, writes to the Congregation
aliSt as follows:
ut was my privilege a few weeks
ago, to make my first acquaintance
with the interior of Wisconsin, its ed
ucational institutions, and its educa-
tors. | attended the commencement
of Boloit College, which being
among the latest in the series of Col
lege festivals, drew together a large
number of presidents and professors
of similar institutions in Wisconsin,
Illinois, and Minnesota. | attended
also the Annual State Convention of
teachers at Madison, an assembly
which nearly filled the large Repre-.
sentatives Hall in the Capitol, and
held its three days session with un-
tagging zeal, energy, and interest, -
body animated and unified by the
single-hearted purpose Of educational
improvement and progress. The i'm
preston left on my mind was in the
highest degree hopeful as to the fu-
ture Of the Northwest. There per-
vades the teachers of every name
and grade, profound sense of the
magnitude and sacredness Of their
calling, of its claims on them for the
most diligent self culture, and of
their responsiveness for the political
and social security, and weIl.being
of the coming generation. No.
whore have | witnessed, not only in
the high places Of learning, but equal
ly in places that are made high only
by the noblenes of soul that occu-
pies them, so much of the true priest
ly spirit,-the consciousness as of
veritsbe alter-service in the felt
presence of the Most High. 1t is not
ostentatiously proclaimed, but recog-
niZed as q truth too obvious to de-
mand formal statement, that educa-
ton is prominently a religious, a
Christian work, alike in its processes
and its aims. 1t is regarded, too, as
the only and the sufficient means of
neutralizing the deleterious influences
of rapid immigration.
Beloit College deserves emphatic
commentator. With its small corps
Of teachers, it of course offers a less
extended range of elective studies
than Harvard or Yale but in the es-
sential departments of liberal culture,
in the discipline that shapes clear
and strong thinkers, and able writer's
it need not shrink from comparison
with any of its sister institutions
The graduating class being small
every member of it appeared upon
the stage, and the poorest Of these
performances would have done credit
to the best scholars Of class in
New England college. They were
all the productions Of vigorous and
earnest thought, manly ia sentiment,
displaying breadth and freedom of
intellect, and indicating definite
opinions and profound convictions en-
the part of the speakers. At the
same time, they gave evidence of the
careful training in rhetoric and ora
tory, the decline of which in our old
er institutions OF learning is atoned
for by no actual or possible enlarge
ment of the curriculum. Beloit,
though It's founders and first profess
sors are still in the prime of their
usefulness, is already MOTHERHOOD
lege. Among her graduates are two
presidents of younger institutions,
both of whom are manifestly destin>
ed to chief places in the republic of
letters.