The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-02-27

ton.
The ,reas-. commenced by relating Il
personal experience when quite q young
man. gsiag invited to a dinner-party where
n.hsr g~Eil,:cAn wele also guests, he went,
.nt met n gentleman whoTa he had never
met before snd vas unfortunate in not I'M
isr-;Rni:ng his nama in the introduction.
Entering latc a conversation with him, he
was soon amazed and COMPOUNDED to note
the elder mans ability, the elegance OF his
language, the soundness of his arguments,
the superb case with which he handled every
argument presented on the other side and
proved its u~nsoundness and worthlessness
Through all the elder man maintained the
highest courtesy and self possession, cool,
calm, cutting, yet perfectly polite. At the
close of the conversation the younger man
was given 10 understand that it was carried
through simply to give hml a lesson-to
teach him never to enter into an argument
until he had given the subject Thoughtful
study, formed SOUND opinions upon it, and
had thereby plenty of material on hand with
which TO maintain his side Of the argument.
He learned afterwards that his opponent
WAS one of the smartest judges in Massa-
cbusetts II taught him a lesson That lie
never forgot. He lecture was deduced
from this incident.
The Professor is evidently a disciple Of
the French philosopher Macoomb. Said it
WAS not true that one man had " one talent,
another two. and another five " that each
and every mind, when undeyeloped, con.
'ained the same latent powers, the same
capacities for being great That through
development Of these powers a man be-
comes greater than his fellows in Just THE
number of degrees that his powers IRE edu-
Gated more than theirs. Here the talents
Iuight be in the proportion Of one to two
and TO five, act in Eult61, but in substance
aud strength.
The definition and derivation Of the word
education " was given Cduco-t0 lead out,
70 drdn out. He made a distinction between
education and knowledge which / fail to see.
II, as he says, to 6dWcdtc the faculties of the
mind is to draw them out, to develop them,
to make the man skiIful, his perceptions
quick, clear, then wherein lies the distinc-
ton hH0ur, to understand. 10 perceive
khOtriHgiy, understandingly kHOiriedge,
clear perception. skin. knowledge, not
oi the e~nistehee Of anything, but of the MiHg
hsef. The former. which is not true knowl-
edge. may he the result Of observation,
making little or no impression on the facul-
tie~ themselves. The latter, knowledge of
;he thing hseJ, requires a higher develop
iucnt of the faculties or of n faculty, that it
NAY grasp and comprehend the truth.
Then true knowledge must be develop
ment. und inversely development is drdtriHg
sgt or education. This exterior knowledge
Lhay be called Information. Instead of say
ing a man might have a great deal of
knowledge and still have very little educa-
:iua," he might better have said, a great
,i,al Of Information with but little cduca-
zion. Ha spoke of there being such n thing
- a man having Too much knowledge. which
Iuight I've this ]CItcFiVr knowledge true
knowledge. which developed the mans fac
ilties and dreic out the capacities OF his
powers. En could not conceivably have too
much of.
He said We should have command of our
faculties, so that they can act when we want
them to act. In other words, they must be
so educated as TO be widc-awake and on
hand at an instant's notice. to bear an active
part in the work in which they are required.
That it is of Importance what educational
groove the man has been sliding in. The
demand of the times is man The question
in not, Have you studied Latin. French,
Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, etc. but, if YOU
hare studied these, Of what advantage are
they to you? What can You dor What
are youH " He said, the point is right here.
the man who is the most, or the man who
kao,cs the mosts Ishould say the man who
kHoses the most, and consequently l. the
most, or the man who boasts the most and is
the least. Still water runs deep"
He said when the man is lcsigEsd it will
lie his weight, not in avoirdupois. but in
troy, that will be required.
Speaking of our colleges, he said, many n
young man was less n man when he left col.
lege than when he entered it. The fault il
not in the college, nor yet in the young man.
but in the iedy in which his learning has
been dPpLed. II it has failed to dcvelop
his powers, it has positively injured him.
1t is not what he gets of college, but what he
dammit rraf thn. 80 I.Frfr,au.l O.. ~
sure indication that because a young man
is in Yale College he is beng educated, nor
that he will be u smart man when he comes
into the world. Our common schools and
colleges are not by any means the ONLY
places where education is attainable. Edu-
cation does not end with the bestowal of
;Ee diploma or certificate; nor is this cgrtii.
cate ~; guarantee of the mans ability.
Tho question What is a man IL max.
lug havoc with our diplomas and certificates.
Many n man leaving college finds himself
utterly unable to compete with some other
,oan b has had no such collegiate advan.
.ages. but who by his own unaided cxer
tioEs has diciplined and educated his mental
powers till he is far ahead OF the collcgiap.
The nzn .oiling on the farm or elsewher,
may collect and grasp such knowledge n,
u draw out and increase his capacities
and make him q truly educated man The
world is taking MEN where she finds them,
He dic not mean to be understood fasnv.
Ing anything against our system of corltp:n
hcLoo.s and colleges; nor that college cdu.
cation WAS not u good thing for 4 man tn
bavs. 1t was the gay in which tina: ,Guca.
;ion was used. One man world p-,. On,
hundred degrees of knowledge whore an.
other would NOT get ten. Some young me,
would enter college and go straight ahead and
not be turned aside by anything; the. tim.
spent there would not be thrown away. The
great trouble secins to be minds are 20 ana.
thetic. 4 man may commit q whole bGol;
TO memory and still be no more edyrrtSd
than before. i. is not Whit We fat. but
what we digest that benefits US. The same
with books-not what we read educates us.
but what we digest To gain physical
strength and perfection, one must exercise,
;anst develop the power in the muscles; SO,
to gain mental strength, we must dJuo out
me faculty of our faculties, the power OF
our powers, the capacity Of our capacities.
he gave Q superstition of n people t.
The elect that if one could kill n very hand.
some, noble man, he would become nos.
sessed OF the dead mans virtues and he as
handsome, wise, etc. This was trUs in our |
education: When we found ANYTHING
particularly difficult and hard to conquer
u we persisted until we did master IL, tho
power in 1t became our own, u part of our
own being. An army of 800, 900 earnest
teachers was what was needed. Scholars
TO become educated by anything, mus; frs.
be interested in it.
They had an idea tina lessons were too
hard, that the education could be gained
with less ~exertion on their mart, that the
books should be made q Gtte easier; but. |
inst so long ms the hooks yyere ,n,Io 70 ~