The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1876-08-13

and addresses were delivered 7 lie
said they had not He had read de-
scriptions Of many lands and scenes,
curious stories Of beasts and birds OF
insects and fishes every day, all these
years, he had walked over the earth
with its many kinds and qualities OF
soils, its wintry wonders Of frost and
ice, its yernal freshness and beauty the
summer splondors Of its trees and flow
crs, and the autumnal gIOrics Of its pie
turcd woods and ripened fruits he had
heard the wild scream of the tempest
the Ao!ian murmurs Of the zephyr, the
deep bass of the thunder had watched
the sheen and sparkle Of the stars at
night, the Frightening flash Of coming
day and the gorgeous skies Of sunset
he had lived and moved and had his
being amid these omniprcscnt wonders
Of the material world--had his teachers
sought To interpret them to him, to
awaken his interest in them, and to
bring him into loving relations with
nature, with the objective, the visible,
and tangible; had they in any way
sought to redeem the drmcss and lit
tleness Of words and books by showing
their relations to the freshness and
greatness Of ideas and things had they
hidden him watch the curious powths
and processes going on about him all
the time the perpetual maryels plant
life and animated beings; and to move
about with every sense awake and alert
eager to note the lessons and revelations
coming up from every creature and
thing that God has madc2 "Why no.
said he they heard me rccitc what
was in the books. "Or course" pun
sued did they not do more than that ?
Did they not supplement and enrich
the daily lessons Of the books by inlor-
nation, facts, and illustrations drawn
from their own reading observation,
and experience, 50 as to whct your APP
petite for general knowledge Did
they not tell you again and again that
the few studies of the district school
we're chiefly valuable as necessary in
strumcnts for future acquisitions, that
You might through them become intel
ligcnt wcll-mlormcd useful, and hap.
| py" They had not done amy Of these
things, John said
A day or two after this conversation
took walk with my son through the
gardens, stock yards, fields and prares,
resolved to bring this painful inquiry to
~ conclusion, and bitterly reproducing
myself for having so long taken it roi.
granted that all was well. OF the
ground beneath our feet he only knew
that it was u part of the earth : surface;
of the gardens he knew that vegetables
grew in one and flowers in the other:
he knew the names of the various do
nestle animals, but he did not know
which of Il cows jaws was destitute of
front teeth, nor when she rose from the
ground which end of her got up first;
the grain in two adjoining fields was
six inches high, one wheat, the other
oats-hc could not distinguish them; all
he could tell Of the meadows was that
they contained grass; of forest trees he
could tell the names of but few, while
of their respective characteristics, and
values for fuel, lumber, etc, he was IL
noraut. But the worst of all was that
the boys senses seemed inactive, his
perceptions bluntcd and his mind
stupelicd by the habit all these years
of studying mere words instead oil
things also, and Of regarding school
work aS something separate and apart
from the outdoor world, having but q
vague and unimportant relation tc
everyday life. ThenccIorward | tried
to arouse the childa dormant senses
and faculties, and to show him what
great things God had done for his cduca
ton; to give him fresh baptism into
the spirit of nature and the world Of
realities from which, alas, his SCHOOLING
had seemed to separate him.
This farmers letter is no fame,
sketch, 1t is II truthful portrayal Of
the results Of the present educational
system of Texas. Ii is for the intclli
gent public sentiment of Dallas ant
Dallas county to say whether this con
dition of affairs shall continue to exist
Whether their boys shall grow into al
intellectual, highly cultivated race o
men, or shall stop down and out hetor,
the advancing culture and knowlcdg,
of the coming century