New-York tribune., 1879-03-27

advice or reproof was getting little unsteady ana III
want OF admontion his custom was to ask MIN 70 come
to bis house upon his stated evening THIS was COM
pliment to begin with The visitor was reoeiVed WIN
the kindest urbanity. set at once at MS ease anu
passed An agreeable hour. When 1t convenient TO
do so the Doctor would take HE visitor aside and gchty
"deal with him." as the Quskers say. The winning
manner afectonate remonstrance and tender expostu
ations OF Dr. De Koveu were rarely wasted. The most
unmansgcable youth became doclle unaer such ueaV
nen and felt keeny shame OF giving pain TO so eA
celent man. The students OF Racine college, oecan'o
exceedingly OF their president, as well as prou Vi
him. He had found ont that the secret OF good govern
ment was not in harsh reproof In mortiying
dsgraceful penaltes No doubt there are other coeee
presdeuts who to a greater or less extent pursue
similar course but the method was so wei maj aiheu "
President De Kovens administration, and its results
were so eminently satisfactory, that mention OF IL
due TO his honored memory.
Mr.. Bonamy Price, Professor OF Polucal
Economy at Oxford is brilliant and ardent advocate
of classical education. He insists that the question:
issue Is not whether public school education is NOT III
fact the best to be had and has not trained our pest anu
,blest men-whch can hardly be denied-b1t whether IL
s right 70 make study Of classics essential part o
IT, and that when experience proves that Only i
nory Of the boys thus trained VIII acquire more than
very superficial acquaintance with the ancient tongues
lie asks whether sucn a case s capable OF being de-
Tended,
hold that the Nation Judges rightly in adhering to oas
sjcal education a con ynced that for general excel
Ience no other training compete with the classical
The education the boys Of the upper classes Is neces
sarlly composed of two parts-general ualhing' anu
special or as il is called useful training-the genera
development Of the boys faculties OF the wnoie OF us
nature and the knowledge which is needed to enable
him TO perform certain specific functions In life. or
these two departments OF education the general far
transcends in importance the special and hliaiIy
maintain that for the carrying out Of this education
the Greek and Latin languages are the most
efficient instruments which be applied" Knowl-
edge as he observes Is ability, and cram Is not
power. But the intellectual process which even an
average boy is forced 10 through in acquiring any
toerabe knowledge Of Greek aud Latin-the elements
of thought with which he is brought into contact IN
reading eg Caesar and Tacitus Homer, Herodotus and
hucydides-canDot but leave permanent Impression
on his mind Whole stores of arithmetic and algebra
may be amassed without calling forth any considerable
conscious effort Of ratocinaton but the demands for
reasoning any sound study Of the classics are abso-
luely endless man may be able to count accurately
every yard distance the stars and yet be most I'm
perfectly educated he may able to reckon all the
kings that ever regneu and yet be none the wiser or
the more efficient for learning. But the unfedged
bow who starts with mind empty, blank and upper
ceyinc is transformed passing through Greek and
Latin; thousand ideas. a thousand perceptions are
awakened in him. that is thousand illnesses for Ire,
for its abors ana duties The mastering OF the gram
mar and syntax compels boy TO think and all who are
engaged in these studies from the little urch1n in the
third the learned Greek professor are obliged
constantly TO perform acts OF perception and 1udg
ment to observe distinctions. TO discriminate and Sc
lect"