Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-03-22


culture means only training in literary and |
artistic knowledge, valuable TO such schol- |
ars. not for its use, but for its possession.
Every farmer knows that true culture is |
very different thing from that. In Agri- |
culture and in Horticulture our blowing and |
narrowing is not for the sake Of blowing |
and narrowing. or simply TO attain skill ia
that kind Of work, IN order to brag Of it. |
with us it is for the sake Of some use
USE, rs President Hubert would say. We |
pillow and harrow to fit our land for bearing |
crop Of something that is to be Of some
value and benefit To- ourselves and Others
That Is the true end Of all culture-usc-
fulness and this bastard culture that is
mainly for scf-glorifcation is satanic
trayesty Of She real thing The Swedish
mystic, Emanuel Swedcnborg, says Of tile
learned men Of this class, that in the other
life they are the most ignorant of persons
almost idiotic, in fast because, he says,
nothing becomes really a mans own, until
he puts it to use for the benefit Of others.
True mental culture is the acquisition Of
knowledge for the sake Of increasing our
ability to benefit ourselves aud our fellows.
And it is truly law OF the mind, that we
can really get no grip Of knowledge except
as we bring it into action. The knowledge
Of the selfishly cultured man is mere sDmu-
iacrun, phantasm. that slips away, even in
this life like an eel from the grasp just
when we think we hold him tightest.
This being true, it follows that the men
who most need culture, and deserve it, are
the workers, those who make practical use
Of whatever information they acquire. Is it
possible for them to acquire it, and how
We have given our readers number Of
articles. recently upon the "labor question"
as it is called In them we have desired to
draw their attention to the fact that the in
ycntive genius Of mankind, so surprisingly
developed in the past centennium, is fast
changing all the conditions of life by its
rapid production of wealth This rapid pro-
duction must soon reach the point of an
oversupply Of all useful things so that un-
less by wars and other destructive wicked
ness, men wantonly destroy the useful works
Of their own hands, it will follow that few
hours work. per man, will hereafter produce
al that can be consumed.
Let this wealth be distributed with any
uniformity or regard for justice, and work
ing men and women will find such remission
OF toll that every day will give them many
hours applicable to the supply Of other than
material wants. Their sneerng foes, and es-
pecialy the men Of spurious culture, and their
echoes, will say that this spare time will be
given to riot and debauchery II is not in
the South alone that contempt for the Ia
borer, and for the labor by means Of which
these cynical men Of culture live their
useless lives exists and is dominant. The
spirit Of caste is limited to no section. 1t
North that freed the slaves. Among them
the slave-power found its strongest allies. 1t
was the sympathy OF the laborer free, for the
laborer bound, that made the whirlwind OF
righteous wrath in which the aristocracy OF
the South was overwhelmed.
Andnow, to-day, we hear repeated like an
echo on every side, the wittcisms at the ex
pense of the coored people, which represent
them as class of hopeless thieves, slug
CARDS licentious, and in their religion mer,
enthusiasts without morality. All thes,
vices exist among the colored people as they
exist among white people. SO far as they
appear more active and conspicuous in the
enfranchised slaves, sufficient reason is
found in the fact that these human vices are
the very ones that are the most naturally
and most strongly developed by slavery
Why should an ignorant, unlettered slave
all of whose earnings his very wife and
children, are stolen from him by his edu
Gated master-think theft crime Why
should man who never can better his con
lition by work, be industrious How coulC
women who were ever the helpless victims o
the passions of their owners, cultivate pu
rity A? And how can we ask race whC
have seen the entire religious organization
Of their white masters used to support th,
system of theft, debauchery and idenes
which was based on slavery, to think there i
any necessary connection between pety ant
honesty
On the other hand, where is there the his
tory of a race of freedmen that has bette
colored people of the South ? Their oil
masters testify of them, that they are tn
best laboring population in the world, am
deprecate the very thought of their emigra
ton Their eageness for education is pre-
verbal, and we would like to see the profess
ors and students of some Of the white co
leges that stand whining over their insult
eient endowments, or seek to supplement
them with funds that rightfully belong +
the working men--we should like to Sc
these white scholars 90 about the work O
raising their own money with the energy
skin and success OF the jubilee singers O
Hampton aud Nashville.
Riot and debauchery are not the charaC
teristics Of working men anywhere Eve
in England, where capital has oppressed an
depressed labor to the very lowest possibl
point, il is mainly either the hopeless an
sickly factory hand, or the hard-working an
utterly illiterate miner, that spends his carr
ngs in drink. Whenever kindly and hell
ing hand has been held out to the Englis
workman, his manhood has always responde
to It. The ragged schools, the mechanic
institutes, the cooperative factories an
stores, the model factories Of Sir Titus Sal
and few other rich men, who remembt
that they are men, prove conelusively this
the working men of England are mainly
self-respecting class, and that when the
have a chance they will improve it.
Doubtless there are many weak and in
pulsiye natures among the poor as anon
the rich, who cannot bear prosperity. BIZ
the mass Of the working men are sound, an
worthy Of the better fate that awaits then
Let them see To it, by the judcious exercis
Of their political power in this country, this
the means Of that better future are ne
snatched away from them, through the con
binations Of capital. There need be lit
doubt that whatever increase of wealth thu
falls to their share will be quite as well use