Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-11-27

, matter OF education TO the practices
{ working Of school established in cor
r nectiOn with st. PatriCk's church {
this city. 1t will show, If nothing more
! whether, as appears to be broadly hinte
at by more than one OF your correspond
I ents, Catholics be enemies of education
"whO try,n as one OF them SAYS, st
dwarf the mind that it may more essil
become the victim Of superstition, @
not; besides illustrating what miQht b
done to educate the rising generation
with less expense to the community a
large. Besides paying the taxes leviet
for the support of the city school system
OF which they will not, because they cal
not in conscience avail themselves, tn
Catholics of st. Patrick's parish hay
formed themselves into an association
for the purpose Of providing a schoo
where the Catholic children Of the parisl
receive an education free of charge
Three hundred children are now receiy
ing an education there, at an expense {,
the association of nine hundred dollars
or three dollars per head for each pupi
in attendance, while it costs the tax
payers Of Memphis one hundred an,
three thousand eight hundred aud ter
dollars to educate two thousand sever
hundred and fifty children, or an averag,
Of twenty-six dollars for each pupil
These are facts, aud the public may
draw from them what conclusion they
please, but to any one it is pretty evi.
dent that, If the various religious de
nominations in Memphis took the mat.
t-r IN hand, as the Catholics Of ST. Pat
rick have done, they would settle, to 8
considerable extent, this question Of ex.
cesslve taxation, on this head at least
These observations were suggested or
the occasion of a fair, now being held al
the Assembly hall, to aid in supporting
these schools. A CATHOLIC.
cur City school System.
EDITORS APPEAL-The city school
system, IS advocated by the partisans OF
the board, is most pernicious in its ef-
tect5 up N the morale Of people, and
woult in generation or two, il uni.
veTsal in our State, destroy public and
private virtue and eradicate relf-reliance
and individuality, characteristics indis-
pensahle in the composition Of a free
| people. 1t is the basis idea Of cOmmup-
ism, that the State is the parent and all
the people its children, and the people,
instead of being taught manly self-ieG-
ance, and having their individuality de-
| VelOped-elements of character indis-
pensable TO self-government-are taught
10 look TO the state for education. fOT
! employment, for everything. A people
once thoroughly imbued with this idea
and habit are no longer fit for self-Qoy-
eminent and must Inevitably become
subjects OF despotie government. The
atmosphere OF the public school has the
same depressing, benumbing effect, as
that ofthe almshouse. 1t is ri ant TO place
an elementary education 49, the three
X Sin reach OF every child in
the State at public expense, where the
parent Is unable to give it-just as il is
right to provide food aud clothing for
the child in infancy, until it is able to
ciothe and feed itself; but having given
Tie child the key of knowledge, reading.
"iluDg, and arithmetic, with which he
can always unlock its inner cbamNe
u be has the energy aud spirit to do so,
II would be as destructive to him to
carry him through all the branches Of
knowledge at public expense as, when
having clothed and ted him until able
to earn his own living, you should sur
round him with wealth and relieve him
OF all necessity to labor. / do not think,
in the long roll OF the great men of
America, half dozen have been edu-
Gated through full course at public ex-
pense, though some Of them may have
acquired rudimentsl education in the
common schools. [ do not, of course,
refer to the men who have studied the
art OF war at West Point or Annapolis
at public expense, for private schools
could not educate thoroughly in the art
Of war. Another evil effect of che
public school is the entire sever
ance OF parent and teacher. The
latter Is under no responsibility
to the former. The teacher does not
know the parent or regard his wishes in
the least. The child is taken from the
parent, put through an arbitrary routine
OF study prescribed by the board regard
less OF bis mental constitution or adap-
tstiOn TO the subjects taught, thus again
utterly Ignoring and DIES roying his in
Every child is put through
the machine, and, so far IS the sys-
TEN and the teacher can overcome
the variety and Obstinaey of human
nature, they are turned out like
pins, Of uniform mental stature. You
nave but TO carry the system one step
communism is rapidly adj
vanciug it-and we shall have the State
to pry into and regulate the |
domestic affairs of our families, aud to
dispose Of our effects SITTER death. The
great benefit to the poor claimed for the |
is almost entirely imagin- |
airy. Like the Sundsy-sehOOls OF the |
DAY, they are mostly for those who
IRE able to pay, and would pay, /
4 the high-schOols were not main
aimed at public expense. Ex-
sept in the Bethel, there ia
lot a Sunday-schOol in the city where
he poor and the lowly are found. The
OF the well-tO-dO people, nicely
iressed, are there, but the poorly clad
md humble find no place in the Sunday
chOols of the churches. The high
chools are filled mostly by those who
re able to pay for tuition-the very
DOOR, for whose benefit they are profess
IDLY founded, are seldom found there.
am twitted for sending my children to
he high-schOOl. As long as / am taxed |
lesvily TO support the high-schools, |
ave the right TO send TO them. and 1
axe this occasion to acknowledge the
Efficiency of the principal, Mr.. Ander-
on. and the assistant, Mr.. Collier, under
whose kind and patient instructions they
ave been tutOred; and were the high /.
chools abolished these gentlemen would
ind abundant work in the educational
Ield. am for abolishing the city board
t all hazards, and if we are to have
igh-schOols at the public expense let it
e done under the county superintend-
Mt. AS regards religious instruction
q the schools contended for by some, ! /
m ipfieXibly opposed, and our State |
aw has wisely forbidden it, Ifreligion
to be taught, each denomination will
lsist on the adoption Of its creed as the
My true faith. II the bible is to be
cad, each sect will insist upon theirs as ]
ne true Interpretation, and strife inev- {
ably follow. From the council of !
lice, when the bishops ana clergy came {
} blows over the Arian heTesy, to this
God hour, men have quarreled over {
latters OF faith, and the world has been {
eluged in blood in the name of the 7
tristan religion. Philip the second OF [
pain issued an edict in the name Of re-
gion for the wholesale slaughter of the /
and found ready I
I'D able instruments in the Duke l
Alva and the Prince of Parma @
execute it. His father, Charles V, I
hose genius aud Statesman ship saved q
urope from the domination Of the v
Urk and founded the most magnificent q
npire Of Europe, and who abdieated U
D imperial throne to 90 into a clOistsr, 4
as no less bigoted 81 The pilgrim d
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