Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-09-25
written for the Herald.
Parents and Their Schools.
N0IXXIX.-

In its relations to our free government.
The character of the school is determin-
ed by the character of the families of
which it is composed, ! and the State must
become what the family and school have
madeit. f rre e-e.ls sv-gT- f.-
The American common. school,, as
planted in New England and transplant
ed in every free State in the Union, is, in
an important sense, a political institution,
and the very corner stone of our govern
ment. 1t is not purely scholastic,
domestic nor ecclesiastic institution, and
yet, it has close connection with the
university, the family and the church.
In it the American people have their
first drill in public life. The child who
enters the public school-room for the first
time knows public life, and there can
be no substitute for the peculiar educa-
ton in citizenship he there receives. A
public school in America is little re-
public, where children of all orders
of society and every grade of cul-
ture, are taught to live together under
a common system of law, governed by
public officials whose authority is backed
by the whole power of the State There,
during the period of school life, he re-
hearses every phase of the public life of
his country. There he receives that
mental Illumination and rudimentary
knowledge which helps him to be an in
telligent citizen. There he gains the
more important instruction in personal
character as related to others living un-
der law. There he learns how to CON
duct himself in his relations to his fellow
men, and to respect their rights. When
we consider the exclusiveness of family
life, the clannish tendency of all bust
ness connections the violent preiudices
that influence individual members of
homes, churches, and professional
cliques, we can realize the Importance
of that generous discipline of manhood
and womanhood which alone can fit our
children for American citizenship The
public school only can instruct the mass
es of American youth in what pertains
to public character and public virtue It
stands next above the family, and is the
first step out of that divine institution.
into that either divine organism, the
State.
And if we can determine what ia the
most essential element of our national
prosperity and pepetuitY we shall ua-
derstand what is the most important les
son to be taught in our public schools.
And can any doubt that that element is
public virtue, and that lesson the NOR
atty of the Bible There was no ques-
| ton among our practical, wise and de
| vOut ancestors, who established the
American public school, about its right
| and imperative duty to teach morality,
and so much of religious truth as is es-
! sential to it, Indeed, the original com
mon school of our free States was a semi
nary of earnest moral patriotism. Moral
instruction bore large proportion to the
! entire work of the school. The Bible
was the reading book The master who
failed to maintain high standard of
| character, and who could not preserve
! order, was turned out. Tho sornlonc,
! exhOrtations and prayers in the school
room were often more effective for the
/ youthful congregation than those enc
! mating from the pulpit. This emphasis
! on moral and patriotic culture in the old
! schOol-hOuSe, was one of the most DOW
I erful elements of our national success.
The common school of our day have
/ made great progress in the line of out
/ ward accommodations, and methods of
| scientific and literary instruction but
| it is feared that it is losing its original
| power as the national teacher of public
character AS scientific agency, it has
! been prodigiously enlarged, but it is in
! danger of losing that which once made
! it our national shreet-anchor,a as the nat
ural teacher of public virtue and the
training school of American citizenship.
/ Intellectual brilliancy is too often, under
! the name of couture, allowed to over
ride everything. Instruction in morals
/ and patriotism are neglected. The
| bible, if not put out of the school, is so
| formally and contemptuously used that
it avails nothing. The personal, moral
and religious character of the teacher is
too often a secondary consideration with
those who are entrusted with the guar
dianship of public instruction Con
tempt for the peoples school, is felt in
! some quarters, to an alarming extent.
And there is a growing party in our
! larger towns and cities pledged to change
! entirely its character and office, and to
| turn it to secular or partisan purposes
! Toe hue and cry against bible reading
! in our public schools, means much more
! than appears on the surface; it means
! the subverSion of the whole system of
public instruction, and the substitution
of schools wholly under ecclesiastical
and partisan control.
Now if we would cherish and sustain
our free institutions, and preserve I'M
furnished for coming generations, the
blessings of our free government, we
must turn back to our common school
bequeathed us by our fathers, which
took under its guardianship the public
morals and inculcated the great princi-
Piles of patriotism. We must retain in
it the bible, and insist upon instilling its
conservative and purifying principles
into the minds and hearts of our chill
dren, and ENGRAVING them into their
lives. The present form of government
in America, is the logical growth of
CuIlSIldu ClNlllLdGlOu WHICH WOuiu NC
impossible without the christian moral
ity found in the New Testament. All
our great political conflicts are -essenti-
ally moral, and we must realize the
truth that we have no security in the
present or the future, except in the
faithful training of our children in the
family and the school, according to the
| genius and spirit of our free Institutions,
to cast off this duty of the state to
teach public virtue and christian patriot
ism in her schools, would be shameful
surrender to our enemies, and would re-
suit in nothing less than political sui
/ eide. PARENs.
LIGHT IN DARKNESS. -TThe Paris FL
CARO- gives the following method of OBJ
tanning light, instantaneously, without
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