The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1876-12-27
ALECTURE,
DELIVERED BEFORE THB TEAcHERs' INsTI-
.d TUTE OF FOREST COUNTY ny
REV. WIN. ELLIOT.

Mr.. PRESIDENT, ladies and gentlemen,
teachers of Forest Co.: c4ae
am happy to meet you this morn
ing to encourage 700 in your noble
work, and will endeavor to lay before
you a few facts which may help you
in the school room and every day life.
The age in which we live is an age
of facts, great discoveries and progress
in all directions. The railroad has
become the magician's rod the electro
telegraph wire Of wonders, and ether
and!chloroform mysterinos alchemies.
A tooth can be extracted, leg cuto fl,
or an incision made into the sensitive
parts, and the patient at the close ask
if the operation has begun. Speeches
uttered at ten o'clock at night are
printed while we are asleep aud they
appear in beautiful type upon our
breakfast tables, at eight o'clock in the
morning. The rapidity with which
change follows change is remarkable.
Things that took century to do some
time ago, are now. finished off in the
course OF day. Events follow upon
events; crisis comes crushing upon
crisis, that we no sooner begin to Won
der at one than we are overwhelmed
by the startling splendor Of another
The whirlwind is the chariot of the
nineteenth century; the lightnings
are its lamps; days disappear like
mile posts; politicians and cabinets
like stations; and occasional crashes
only serve to urge on at greater
speed those who are behind. Every
body seems to act as if he felt the time
was too short and the remainder Of the
world barely sufficient to accomplish
the great work he has to do. On they
rush and if any falls down, like the
wolves of old who ate up the weary
ones, he is trodden down and cast
away.
Look at our progress in education
to-day compared with the past. What
profound geograpber was the boy
half century ago who could repeat
without failure the capital of every
State in the Union! What an object
of admiration the lad who could cipher
in fractions, and the rule of three!
What a cyclopedia of knowledge was
he who could tell the very day of the
adoption of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, and could prove to our sat
isfaction that the sun did not rise in
the east! How charming those days
when Webster's spelling book was a
work of deep research; Coughs Arith-
metic the sum of mathematical. sci
ence, and our worshipful school mas
ter, next to George Washington, the
greatest man in the Union. The Joy.
Gus holidays, the, trainings, the ami
versaries, the vacations, how did the
very thoughts of them once thrill the
heart with pleasure!
Such was the school: yet there the
spirit of many strong man was disci-
| plined for q noble purpose. The school
IS still growing in power. The school
how vast its influence, how grand
the results it has wrought out, how in
dispensible to the full education o.
the young. The college may form thc
few, but the school is the mother o
the many; the college may perfect The
teacher, but the millions of the taught
who in time as fathers and mother
are to teach the young in their frs
stage OF education; who are to NOV,
the vast operations Of human society
build cities and towns, reclaim tn
earth from its curse and bid it brini
forth food and flowers, spread com
merce from continent to continent,anC
make the desert bloom with all tn
life of civilization these reverence tn
school as their AEma Mater.
From her walls they 90 forth pos
sessed of the elements of intelligence
and prepared to cultivate the bOunte
Gus heritage given to them of thei
Heavenly Father They ascend th
mountains, they I'll the valleys; the