Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1878-10-17
Se1E.Mad0 Men.

Under this head the Sacramento Record.
Onion has the following well-written arti-
Gle. 1t is so peculiarly applicable to the
people OF this coast it will pay to read It
carefully: a
I'VE have among us class Of strong
men, whom we are pleased to call self.
made mcn. These began life with but
few advantages. rs We assume, and work.
ed their way to personal strength. But
are they therefore in any peculiar sense
self-madc men! Another starts in l;tt.
with a good education furnished By tie
wealth ot another, wins personal strength.
and we call him an educated man, to dis
tiDguish him from tie sell.made man. We
assume that the self-tlade man is not edu-
Gated. and that the educated man is not
sel!-made. Wherein do these two classes
differ from each other? In nothing but
| the supposed difference in early advantag-
es. which may have been more serious
obstacle than their absence would have
been. Both OF these cl,sscs OF strong
men are fducated, and both are, perhaps,
s,lf-made. The peculiarly OF the So
he was naturally endowed with power to
absorb the spirit Of his time. and make 1t
part Of himself, without the aid of aca-
demic apparatus. lie is an educated man,
because his natural powers have been
drawn out, fashioned and trained for plac.
teal use. lie can command and Use his
faculties, his personality. for tie purposes
Of life; he is, therefore, sn educate man
in the highest sense. Cne WHO has used
the formulated system OF education from
the primary school to the university is
called an educated man by sound thinkers,
not because vast amount of learning has
been poured into him, but because it is
educed-educated, drawn out and strength
ened-in Il. manner that will enable him to
grapple with and use the instrumeatalties
of his time. In obtaining this drawing
out or education, lie las been operated up
on by the spirit of his age through
schools, books, and his own Inherent
strength. If he has not been so drawn
out he is not an educated man in any sense
known to sound thinkers. He may be
filled with book lore, and saturated with
the spirit Of other days, but he is not eda-
Gated, nor is he self,;,.de, or made at ali.
He is what Le was in the start. plus !,
stuffed memory. The so-called self-msle
man has been educated, drawn our.
strengthened. inspired with the spirit Of
the times, by a somewhat different appa"a-
tus. TO h;n the absence OF the school
an4 ak.e e4sfss 6f sh nax ,e hays been no assdyan
Society, the world o. strife. the great
struggle, conflict and contact with mrii
and things, were in all probability 'etter
adapted to his wants than schools. And
he is rs really educated as the man who
spent his early lite in schools. He n,aS
not retain in his memory as many facts o.
4 certain kind. but he has the education
that is evoked by schools. Schools and
colleges are useful to all, but they are all
so..tely necessary only TO mediocrlfy.
While the self-made man, all other things
being equal. il therefore as truly educated
as the scholar" lie is nevertheless no
more a selt-.nade man than the man who
has acquired his education in schools
and colleges. Men take entirely too much
credit to themselves for what they are or
are not. The real maker is the spirit CT
the age and the people among whom we
live, and We absorb this according to the
degree of our susceptibility. Place the
University Of California in England and
the ''spirit' of the people will produce
through it the English type Of mind and
character. Place the Oxford University In
California and the Cosmopolitan type will
still be produced The ''spirit'' Of peo-
ple oyerrides and molds men, schools and
colleges. This is the strongest power
known among men. The difference be-
tween the so-called ''selfmade" man and
the man who has been made in or throng'.
schools. lies in the fact that sel.-made men
have been more thoroughly under the IN
fiuenee of tie spirit of the age than tie
other. TIE one did about rs much SELF
making AS the other. Being strong men,
and therefore powerful in absorbing and
assimihting. they ere exponents OF their
times. by which they are both made. Tie
we:k may be housed somewhere and be
manufactured by something. but the
strong are. when grown, the em3odments %
of their times. Among these two classes.
the ..self-made' and tie ''educated,' thee
are neither seli-made nor nneducateu men.
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