Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-07-03
4 ETTPNTS APPEAL
THz PUBIIC EDUCATI0EAL Con.
EEWTI4H.

Chattanooga. One OF the most thorough
educators OF the southwest, as he is one
of the foremost Of our scholars, no
truer sentence, we venture to say,
ever sell from his lips. But,
IS he also says, "this is the
lower view" There is higher and
a better, which only those, however,
catch a glimpse Of who have sounded
the highth sud depth Of the beneti-
cence3 Of 3 good system Of public
schools, q view that is reached after
careful study and years Of experience; q
view that the philsnthTopist only COM
pyehends, the man whose heart is open
TO the sorTows, the dissstisiactiOns, the
disappoiDtments, the trials, and the OBJ
staeles that poor and struggling humsn-
fty encounters on the roadway Of life.
The man who dreams OF 8 millennium
who longs for an enduring peace be-
tween the nations, and lsbors, even
against hope, for the advancement OF
his kind in face OF multi
tude of lesser minds, who regard
him visionary, and give him place as
one who is joined TO his idols. Such
men have furnished the world its great
est reformers and given the largest quota
Ofthose who ve,labOred not only with
unquenchable zeal but rare practical
good sense ia the true interests OF the
people. With them there is neither the
trimming nor chicane Of the politician.
They have a mission to move in the
cause Of the people, it may be as relig-
ious reformers, as educators, or as stern
republicans determined on govern
ment Of and for the people. No matter
what they move on, neither turning to
the right nor the left. They work from
the ideal to the practical, and leave the
world their debtor. History furnishes
q long list OF such men. Their
names and deeds are the priceless lega-
CIV Of humanity. 1t was thus that the
reformers who preached, and enforced
by their example individual liberty,
personal accountability and public edu-
cation, laboTed. When they begun their
task the world was as little disposed to
tolerate il or them as it ever has been to
make room for refOrmers or their WORK.
Their following was easily counted, and
they were often regarded with distrust
by those even to whom they looked for
protection against organized power in
church and State. But nothing daunted
they Iabored with the eye OF faith, look
ing far into the centuries before them,
and perhaps catching visions OF the great
republic, with its schools and colleges,
and its religious freedom; upon Ger
man empire resting upon public educa-
ton; upon public schools.in all the civil
lied nations, and even In the islands OF
the sea but little,while since.surrender-
ed to seuli-baIbarism and vice. Perhaps,
like Moses, the greatest reformeT and
prophet OF his dsy, they were permitted
to feast their eyes on the prom
ised land, TO see whatgwe now seei
and perhaps more, were allowed TO look
beyond and to time when there will
not be man or woman found to ques-
ton the duty Of the State to fit her
children for the battle Of life by the edu-
cation and quickening Of every FAC
ulty, adapting them to the high
est appreciation of liberty, of the
numberless beneficences Of deity, |
aud making the path Of life |
and Iife's duties so plain and so easily |
reached that law and the restraints Of |
law will have become almost things of |
the past. 1t never entered into the |
minds of these men to conceive Of the |
mere money value OF education. To |
them money itself was an unmixed |
evil, save as it was used for wise /
and beneficent purposes. They knew |
thst the purse was the.alIy of the sword,
and went hand in hand with tyTannies
and abuses which education could alone |
combat. Hence their desire and lab0rs |
for education. and hence the higher
value they set upon it. They, them
selves, in spite of adverse circumstances,
had reached the ears Of monarchs and
Of peoples by reason OF their education
aid the abilities awakened in them by
2if anu tAiCS ACAA tAlhk AhuCl bCLACA Ill
cumstances the same results might be
reached by other men. What benefited |
them would benefit others, and what
had enabled them to appreciate the
higher motives and incentives Of life
would work like results in others They
had found the key that unlocked the
barriers to human progress. Thinking
only of the good they could do, mindful
only of the people and their future, they |
unlocked the door and threw the key |
away. The passage has ever since been
open and free to all who thirst after
knowledge. Millions have walked that
wsy, some to peace and renown, but all
to acquire that which Outweighs money
and makes the possessoT rich indeed,
for knowledge is power" In
the past ten years the people
Of our State and section have
followed in the footsteps so plainly
marked, meeting, before they reached
the portal, some opposition. But this
they overcame, and inspired by the
spirit Of the sturdy reformers who had
walked before them, they now beckOn
to those who are behind and urge the |
laggard or Indifferent 70 come to the aid /
of public sehOOls-tO join the great army |
who are battling with ignorance and |
vice, and who mean to battle with both |
until the southern States can write |
themselves, in educational results, |
among the first OF all the States in the |
Unicn. 1t is in this spirit that the Ten
nesseans who are in attendance upon |
the Interstate educational convention |
at Chattanooga are working, inspiring /
by their presence and by their words a
hope Of success for the future that neither
petty cabals nor local Prejudices can
neutraIize. We bid them and their Co
adjutors from other States "GOd speed" |
and predict for Tennessee the happiest |
results from the meeting OF so many
cultivated men ard women lsboring in
tine cause OF popular education.
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