Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1873-03-08
Educated Observers.

lN talking TO the San Franciscans no,
long ago. Professor Agassiz urged upon
them the prOpriety Of establishing in their
mid,t Museum of Natural Science. not i
merely because u collection of scientific
specimens, such as they have the means
OF making. would be an honor to their
city and state, but more especially because
| such collections serve to make educated
observers. whose habits of observation
will enable them to become worthy con-
tributors to the general fund of human
knowledge.
Now, in that one happy phrase. ''edu-
| Gated observers" the professor struck the
keynote of all true educational principles.
The habit of observation is, above all else.
the educator, and the man or woman who
cultivates that makes sure work i'm the
matter of acquiring information. whether
the habit be accompanied by much or lit
tie OF scholastic culture. All that We
know OF physical science, of course. we
owe to observation alone. But this is not
all. In thousand other ways the study
of things and the study of men is of even
more value than the study of books. In
deed. the very books we use, if they be of
any account at all. are the mere or less
immediate fruit of intelligent observation.
All that we know has been learned orig
inally by this process. We observe fact,
and learn that it is fact. From it and
Others we draw conclusions. And this is
the genesis of all our knowing. We get
from books only the results of other peo-
pies observations, and, while these are of
great worth without doubt. we can not do
more foolish thing than to rest satisfied
with them, and neglect the countless op-
porturities we have of questioning the
things about us fer information at first
hand. As well might we refuse to look at
Niagara because We have already seen
pictm es and read descriptions of the cata-
ract.
Training of precisely this sort-the cul-
tivation of the habit of looking at and
looking into the things with which we
daily come In cOntact-is one of the great
educational needs of our time, as il has
been OF all other times. The only wonder
is that professional educators i'm the past
have been so slow to recognize the want
and to supply it. We observe flcts, and
we question them Of their cause and
meaning instinctively. We do it even in
early childhood. and ordinarily the ten
dency is pretty effectually checked then
by those who ought rather to encourage
1t, and To 20 direct it that it will bear
abundant fruit. The child who sets him.
self down to commit something to men,
0ry, however worthless, or however un- |
lntelligible to him that something may be. |
Is sure OF encouragement. But if he ask |
why iron sinks and wood floats i'm the |
water, he is shut up like jack-kpifs-
with some idioticallyu w'"o
!" aS'iit is not merely the habit of Observ-
ing that We need to cultivate. We must
learn to observe intelligently-tO look at |
things with our wits about us, and to |
learn their causes and consequences as
well as the facts themselves. Anybody /,
may see the bud, the blossom, and the |
fruit of a tree i'm all their regular order, |
but if he see no more than these, his Oe- !
serving is of little woith. He must see
in the bud the beginning of blossom. in
the blossom the promise, in the fruit the
before his looking will have
taught him even so small thing as why
the bud and the blossom are. We can
hardly fail to be observers so long as we
have eyes and ears, but we may, if We
will, make ourselves educated observers,
which is quite another thing. We may
learn to make teacher out of everything
around us, and thus draw instruction
from hundred sources that were other
wise sealed books to us, and indeed we
must do something of this sort if we
would be really and truly educated.-
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