The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-11-29

where men most need them, 1t is not
enough that Boston has magnificent
schools; 1t is not enough that Chicago has
schools; it is not enough that New Y ork
and Brooklyn have schools, that Philadel-
pbia and Baltimore have schools 1t is
desirable that they should but the scat
tered populations, the outlying populations,
the emigrant populations. the col0red
population Of this country, are more needy
than the populations OF our great centers,
10 that they are more ignorant and less
able to have schools and supply them with
adequate teachers. 1t must be system
that will take into consideration the ne
cessities of that part of the population who
are least able to help themselves. The
children of the poor should be helped be-
fore the children of the rich, and we must
begin in this sense at the bottom just as
the Gospel began at the bottom; for be
sure that any system which is strong
enough to take care of the poorest aud
most difficult to reach will be stronger to-
ward tn richer classes. There must be
enough of them, accommodations enough
for the whole.
BUT NOT UNCLEAN.
They must be ample, comfortable, and
wholesome 1t ought to be considered
misdemeanOr and crime to poison any
body, and it is when it is done for revenge;
but poisoning a whole 200 boys and girls
in common school is not less crime.
Schools in which ten are put where five
should be, schools that are crucial tests OF
the endurance OF the little urchins, are
shame. We are also to make them com
mon by making them better than any
other schools. 1t is shame for the state
OF New York. it is shame for the cities
Of New York and Brooklyn, to make jails
and call them schools, to make holes and
call them halls. and to take teachers in
proportion to their cheapness. Leave the
children of the vast Democracy to these
lazar- housesl 1t is an abomination. APP
clause.
THEY SHOULD BE AMPLE AND FRATERNAL.
In behalf of the great unthink
ing and ignorant masses, every common
school should be made so rich and So large
that you cant make private school live
under it, We are bound to MAKE our
common schools ample, because there are
results, political and social, coming OF
system OF educating together the children
Of all grades in society, of all political
parties, aud Of all religious sccts. Chill
dren should learn to esteem and sympa-
thize with each other in regard to the fun
damental elements of human life. In
passing through the common schools,
everybody'S dunces-in putting Your
ounces and my ounces and everybody 5
Ounces where they don't weigh one whit
more for their name, where they are no
richer than the spelling book makes them,
where each has to make his place in the
school by what he is and what he can do
this is an influence that rubs men together,
this is an Influence that tends to smOothe
the attritions and tends to generate the
sympathies that hold men together. The
common school is the molding trough
where we make up the old original batch,
and tie whole OF it ought to be dough of
one kind. Laughter and applause
Sweeten it as you have a mind to after
ward, but there it should be pure. simple
| flour Our common schools lie at the
| foundation Of common wealth, as intelli-
gence lies at the foundation of civilization.
Childhood friendships are thought to be a
very poor thing and don't 60 great way.
1t would be better for us if they did go
further than thcy do Everybody is sorry
to find out that the world is such ;hat the
generous cnthusiasms and friendships o!
childhood cannot be carried out. Common
schools make a common feeling in the
city, 10 the state. and in the nation,
THEY SHOULD BE NON-PARTIZAN AND
PURE.
Secondly, cur common schools must be
so constituted as that they shall enable all
political parties to unite in their mainten-
ance. Their existence ought not to de-
pend upon the caprice of oyer shifting
parties. Our schools ought not to be like
the floats in a harbOr, changing with the
variable tides. Our schools should he de
livercd irCm any such mutations. Their
general scope, their machinery, should not
be subject t. the alterations Of party
Above all, political influences should not
be suffered to officer and control the Schoo
in creating departments. If Goliath is tC
be slain, it is shnme to send a wet-nurse
To do it. Fit things for fit functions AnC
to make n department to be othcered by
: the hireiings and offscOuriDgs OF pOlltica
combinations is blaspheGy against tht
Holy Ghost t intelligence. And parties
ought to he considered as doing a religious
crime that undertake to PIT the manage
ment Of education into the hands of mel
with foul mouths and foul hands. AM
when know that in places not far from
this men have been appointed to the gen
eral conduct of schools who make the graft
fication Of their lust the price of appoint
ments as teachers in those schools. whe
| know what ta,orirism has been used b
; those that have been put as high priest
over culture, am glad that it was enoug
only to see past the corner Of the screen
= Continued ON thru Dage