The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-11-16
TRUE TEACHING.

For one to collect the many opinion to
which vast populace is subject and ex-
press them in one sentiment, or to satisfy
every mind which has eueried into this
matter or become posted in the difficulties
of the school room, would require reser-
voir of knowledge, attached to which is
constant manufacturing machine, and out
of which, through an orifice, might pour
the most immense floods of thought burst
ing into the finest oratory and concise dis
course.
To fully open the theme at issue, it seems
proper to state that of which man is consti-
tuted. Man is in possession of moral,
mental and physical being; all of which are
susceptive of cultivation, and it now seems
necessary to decide or rather determine the
proper or true manner Of improving these
possessions Since he has these three quail
tiles, and they are in some sense inseparable,
it is undoubtedly necessary to operate on all
of these powers at the same time to pre-
serve an equilibrium. For, in the neglect
ing of any of these capacities with which
man is endowed, would be degenerating in
place of maintaining the grand height to
which American people have attained in the
scale of education. If we undertake to
cultivate the mental attribute and neglect
the moral, we make mockery of the vast
quantity of good to be obtained from the
powers we possess to be educated; we fail
to accomplish the grand end to which man
was destined in the outset and in this fail
ure we are more than losers. 1t is they
who have had the advantages Of good men,
tai training who are able to perform the
great deeds, both of justice and injustice.
If they are filled with evil intentions, it
makes them capable of swindling the en-
tire nation out of life, property, and the
happiness which may be enjoyed as it is
here, in this the finest, yes most glorious
and highly enlightened country on the
globe. There be may examples to cite by
the score, but by the untold amount OF
evil produced by one who on Americas
fair soil, wrote the most pernicious work
ever read by any people, we must see
plainly the necessity of instilling in the
minds of the youthful, the works of the
great supernatural; who in His infinite wis
dom has given us our endowments. Any
child which has attained the age of six
years has the ability to comprehend right
from wrong, and can then be easily in
duced to endorse correct opinions, and be
taught to look to Him, "who doeth all
things well,' for the assistance that will
relieve him from difficulties and distress,
which he is constantly subjected to in these
fields of labor. Greatest care Should be
taken that pupils speak the truth, and are
free from profanity, or else the school be-
comes one of vice and corruption, instead
of an institution in which minds are nodded
for future usefulness. None can over esti-
mate the Importance of moral culture IN
rooms OF study, and seldomly is the height
to which it should attain, reached particu-
larly in the public schools.
Also the physical ability needs careful
cultivation. There are many cases which
might be mentioned, in which children OF
marked ability, children possessing highly
Intellectual talent have become poor stu
dents, if not invalids for life, and many
have been called to dwell in the darksome
chamber or silent abode, an early grave,
for which no other reason can be assigned,
than that their mental abilities were over
taxed, thus impaired their physical ener-
gies, and finally breaking down the entire
constitution, leaving them wrecked
barque for the rest Of the journey. BY
over taxation of the mental capabilities the
physical energies are stunted, and an 9th
erwse blooming flower is nipped before it
has arrived at an age to burst into beauty
and constant perfume. How much care
should therefore be taken to give vitality
to all your physical nature SO as to avoid
exhausted bodies, depressed spirits, and
constant feeling Of indisposition. Those
who have arrived at the pinnacle Of science,
those who have mastered every principle
in the deep researches of the mathematical
resources, those who have become eminent
| III tue CLASSICAL NC Pal IfiOheS, hoF0 hoo ohiy
cultivated mental power, but also have had
an unceasing drill in behalf Of physical
improvement. 1t is as impossible to make
a great scholar out Of a sickly, puny child,
as it is to make the sun shine on cloudy
day. For no other reason than this we
have no foundation on which to erect an
education; and if you force study on
pupil of the above description, you do GER
tainly rob it of existence below, and send
it to place of untiring rest, where the
rules for logarithms and those of similar
character are wanting. Acknowledging
that it is highly necessary and indisputa-
bly, consistent for those whose duty it is to
teach, to endeaver to bring these three
qualities on a level, and impress as much
on one as either of the others; yet at the
same time we may somewhat differ as to
the proper or true manner of advancement
in these different branches of mans foun-
dation. In the augmentation of these pos
sessions it seems necessary to determine
what a pupil should be required to do, and
what position teacher should fill; also
what and who the pupil is, and what are
its abilities and in the many different tenn
peraments and heterogeneous conditions in
the constitutions of humanity it becomes
difficult problem to solve rightly, that is to
obtain a correct result and at the same
time afford laudable and concise solution.
What is pupil Or student? What is
the desire of those who wish to be ground
in the educational mill? A pupil is a
youthful person of either sex, who is placed
in charge of an instructor or tutor for the
purpose of accruing learning, and although
the term student is generally applied to