Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-03-04
BEECHER ON EDUCATION.

The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher lee
|. .ured in New York, recently. at Associ
alton Hall on Compulsory Education.
He said:
Although all the great elements O
thought have now more or less gathered
lin the worlds history there we're periods
when one or another Of the great ele
ments Of human interest rose prominent
SO that it seemed almost as if there
were waves Of thought as there were
waves of atmosphere. The earliest was
the element of war and nations have
given to that and its correlated interest
all their attention. Then came politics
not in the narrow sense, but the consid
Grafton of the rights of man, the nature
of man, the nature of government, the
duties of citizens, and all that belonged
TO the social life. Then there had been
theology, and at periods that has dis.
possessed almost all other interests; not
! religion, but theology, or the philosophy
of religion, which sometimes had beer
the groundwork on which all other inter.
ests of tho atate had been embroid-
cred, and il might temper the ALMOST
audacity of theologians if they would
but recollect how the themes that at
different periods Of history had sup.
planted all others, which had been
looked upon as tho very frstupon which
the world turned, had gone out of sight
and been SO forgotten that they now had
| to be hunted for in the books Of anti
auarians. In the present day the indus
| trial element, political economies have
occupied man 8 thoughts as meyer be-
fore. and the element which was making
itself most felt was education, national
education, for there never has been q
time when the rich mems sons we're not
educated, but in this day the education
of all classes, from the top to the bottom
of society. An educated man was like
a knife with forty blades; the uneducated
man had only the right to open one. 1t
meant the right to be men, the right to
be free; and that right carried with It
the right Of expansion or Development
as the right to be the acorn carried with
Il The right to be the oak. As a mere
matter Of political economy the whole
world was demanding that pSopIe should
be educated, and the remarkable theory
about this was that the ignorant them
selves are demanding education. The
great mass Of the laboring men all over
the world are beginning to see that the
reason Of their hard work and small
wacesi is their deprivation Of education,
Great Britain is not moving for revolu-
tion-she Is too wise for tbat--but she is
moving for education, aud the question
is shall the state educate, OF shall the
church, Shall the schools be secular or
sectar;an? Aud there was no doubt how
the question should be settled in all ma,
tions-that the state shall educate and
not the priest. There was no doubt but
that edueationin the hands of the priests
had been of great bsneft to the world,
bnt in the advancement Of society 1t
had come TO pass that the priest was for
the spiritual and the schoolmaster for
secular education, and the school-mas.
Ter had become o separate and distinct
-ofessioH, as nnch as that OF. the law
?, OF the physician As 10 Great
yer SO IL Germany, education had
britain, afthe very idea of life, and 1t
been paIs par, n that had raised her to
s,and was e a head ana shoulders aboye all the
natiolas VI EuioP@' ~
: Gm.tr;a accepted from her eonqgs-
o.. nusisa@ he svs,or; Of common schools,
ma sr I after INV wears shs will stand with
more iIlustrious slrengsth .thsn ever
she did. SO France-the 10 ~ess W.
of the nations, but a little while aso
the proudes.-France was found When !
struck with the mailed hand of Germany
TO be hollow, and it was the want OF
knowledge among her common people
that put France down. She had an ig-
norant peasantry, and her army was
moor compared with that which came
forth from the German schools, and she
never will stand as she did before until
she educates her people. Where educa-
ton prevails bad government is dihieult
and good government is easy. In pro-
.ortion as people are educated you
ievelop popular sentiment. and public
,entiment is the sum total Of the think-
nr OF the great community. Education
llso increases the wealth-producing
,ower of the state, which makes u easy
= levy aud collect large taxes. There
r.. men in the community like moths,
hey take continually aud never give
there are others that just give
Is much as they take, but upon an
,veraVe one industrious mau takes care
n about ten. There we're some classes
hat could be allowed TO be non
,roducers, children and old men, bat
~ great middle class between childhood |
md old age ought not 10 be allowed. /
rhore we're some that classed men with I
ne uou-waalth-producing class, but I
le (Mr. Bsecherl thought that
Foman in her household duties 4
vas the, fair partner ot mah ln /
De wealth acquired. There we're many |