The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-02-06
Wednesday, Feb. 6, 1878.
Gen. Gary on Classical Education.

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 1878.
Gen. Gary IN Classical Education.
"The study of Latin and Greek mus be
droprCd fronlhc curriculum OF ourSrh"ois
and colleges. They are dead languages
and should be allowed to sleep QuleiiH
in their tornbN.
These be strong words. Nctake them
FROM a speech delivered in the Senate on
Monday week by Gen. Gary, and pup
1isl,ed in our columns this morning.
The Senator from Edgeiield was oppose
to the paSsarc of the University Bill, all"
took occasion during the debate to pro-
nouprc sentence of death on classical ca
ucstion. and to wish long life ana pros
peritv to agricultural chemistry, geology
mathematics, aud political economy. ne
Inns Turned from the error of his ways,
from 1.-THE absurd theology of NeSioG, the
slpcrstitious cpics Of Homer, and the las
ciyious odcs of Horace" AMI he Is guard
ing his pictv, his intelligence, and his no
rails bv the study of gypsum, salt, ana
ammonia. l, is evident that he has, been
converted by reading the works OF lluN-
lev, Tvndall, and Herbert Spencer. HIS
familiarity with the writings of the last
mentioned philosopher is so intimate thai
he involuntarilv makes use OF his very
words. Gen. Gary refers regretfuily 10
-.tbc Ten wears that he was delving among
the lead formulas of Latin and Greek
and was thereby prevented from learning
-~geology and agricultural chemistry.
We are reminded of Byron, who makes
his Childc Harold refer to the sweet Tyr
les of Horace rs
A drilled dull lesson forced down word for
word,
In his repugnant youth.
We are disappointed. We had thought
of Gen. Gary, the lawyer, tho planter, the
soldier, and the Senator, as also the schol-
ar, who found solacc and delight in the
works of the poets, wits, and historians
of Greece and Rome. We had been ac-
%custolncd to think Of the General as one
who had, during his Virginia campaigns.
relieved the rigors Of a soldiers life by
holding sweet converse with Homer anu
Horace, or by coming the pages OF Aen-
ophon and Julius Cesar.
We are surprised too at the Generals
introduction of this trite subject OF de-
bate on the right side of which the cul-
ture and intelligence of the civilized
world have been arrayed for centuries.
We offer no arguments in favor ofclaSsical
education, for the iucontrovertiblc argu-
ments therefor have been crystalllzed into
maxims; and it would be as vain for US
to utter mere truisms us it is for the learn
cd Senator to gain>ay them. The world
has surely had good reason to concur for
centuries in giving the prc-cminence rs a
means and basis of culture to the classic
literature Of ancient Greece and Rome.
All countries have agreed that 4 knowl-
edge Of the classics is the only sure foun-
dation Of letters. The Universal senti-
ment of Europe and America considers
all men imperfectly educated who have
not been ~"grounded," as Dominic Salnp-
son grounded" his pupils, in the Greek
aud Latin tongues. The "humanitcs' is
tho expressive old-iashioned term for
those languages in which genius first
made itself felt as a power in the world.
And nothing has occurred in all'the CEN
lures since,-no discoveries, though so
many have been made,-no develop
mentS, though their number is infinite
no new thing, though everything is new,
have shaken the power or diminished
the influence Of the two parent tongues
and the wonderful inheritance of letters
which they have left to US. And though
the unitarian and "practical' spirit
would strive to weaken that power by
substituting for the time-honored classi-
cal education instruction in modern IAN
guagcs and ''useIul,' "practical' science,
yet no one, not eve Gen. Gary, has been
bold enough to assert that the highest
education Of all is possible with this
foundation left out or imperfectly laid.
The learned Senator has been led
astray by the unlucky n~alnc-dead Ian
guages. He can not call that Hellenic
language dead which in the Illiad has
like the Father Of Waters rolled its course
unhindered down three thousand years,
and which still gives forth sweet music
in Plato, and the tones Of u trumpet in
Demosthcncs. Nor is that Latin speech
dead which in Virgirs verses flows calm
ly but majcstically like his own Eridanus,
gives forth. an organ-swell OF Miltonic
music in Cicero, and sparkles in our lIor-
acc like generous Falcrniau wine. Those
languages arc not dead, they do not wen
sleep. They have more life in them than
some OF these so-callcd ''living' lam
guagcs. The very words in which Gen.
Gary coucllcd his illumination against
them borrowed their force and beauty
from those dead languages which he
says should be allowed u sleep quietly
in their tombs."
His conception Of education is emphat-
iraily the utilitarian-asking what we
shall eat, what we shall drink and where
witlal shall We be clothed. He forgets
that tue life is more than meat and the
body than raiment; and that those studies
-~"urnuulental' he calls them-which
cmbellish, ennoble, and elevate that
life" are more to be desired than those
which do little more than help US to pro-
cure that '.meat-"
Classical education apd practical" edu-
cation are not rivals. Life is long enough
for both. Neither ought to exclude the
other. We have DON and time for the
ORNAMENTAL" rs well MS for the bread
aud-butter studies. Many men are alive
to-day, younger in years than Gen. Gary,
who takedelight in reading the poetry Of
Homer. and Horace and yet are able to
read and understand "tlle grand epic
written by the finger Of God upon the
strata of the .earth;''-(a beautiful saying
this of Herbert Spencer's which the
learned Senator unwittingly quotes.)
The Press and the University.
We publish this morning several lead
ers extracted from our State press on the
university questions, both pro and con.
The Keonee Curriers' article is an able