The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1879-09-25
EFFECT OF .IEOUE SCHOOLS"
UPON EDUCATION.

rather free thinker ~ politics, ep-
proving neither the T,idenism of the
Republican or Grsutism of the whisky
ring organ-the Globe Democrat. Mr..
Mitchell, not very long ago of the New
York Times, is an accomplished scholar,
and in his paper of Sunday says:
''What shall we do with our boys
durlng the most critical period of
:heir lives Z" becomes one OF painful
interest to every thoughtful parert
Our larger cities are well supplied with
good schools and higher educational
facilities, which furnish all the advan-
tages necessary to the scq1isition OF
useful knowledge snd intellectual
training, but this ia only half of
the work required in education. Man
has a heart and seSse for beau
ty in all its varied functions,
all esthetic nature and tender social
nature, also, which link him to his
KIND, and last, but not least, physi-
cal nature without whose heslthy de.
Yelopment all otaer requirements are
of little value. Public schools and
colleges dea. chiefly with the intellect
the mind--but the heart, with ''all
that the term implies" must receive
its culture at home, or take care of it
self. But who shall administer it
thereg can the mother with her null
tiplied household cares and claims of
society, OF the father, can he spare the
time, or will he take it, when the in
exorable demands of his business en-
ploy him from early morning till late
at night? The parents should do it,
but do they? Alas, for the boys; they
are sent to schools and colleges ami
graduate, perhaps with the high hon
ors of their class and come home ma
chimes, or wrecks, or, il not immedi-
atelY so, they have acquired those
tastes and habits which must end ere
long, if not in ruin, at least in an igno-
BILE life.
In the older States home schools for
boys are by no mesns.rare, while in the
West they are not so Common, aud un-
til quiet recently the parents of our
own city, who desire to place their
sons in such a school, were forced to
send them thousand miles from home
to accomplish their purpose. This,
however, is no longer the case. Parents
have the satisfaction of knowing that
there has been established schools of
this kind, which, it is believed, it is
no exaggeration to state as second to
none in this country.
Home school for bcys, which should
be organized and administered upon a
plan which takes account of their
complex nature-the physical, intel.
leetusl and moral, combining hea' thy
exercise of the body in outdoor sports
and recrestions, well arranged cur
riculum of the varied departments of
study, a cultivation of the social char
acter and kindly, uneeltish feelings,
self-reliaDc", manly independence,
honor and reverence, along with the
refinements OF esthetIc culture. There
are many such schools.
In England such schools are the rule.
while in this country they are the ex-
ception. There they fill to good de-
gree the place occupied here by our
academic and high scho ,ls. 1t ia not
saying too much, perhaps, to assert
that the great majority of those whose
names are most conspicuous In the his
tory of English classical literature &C.
quired that biss of the mind, those
habits of thought and the grand men,
tai impulse which made them great in
letters. in these boy schools, rather
than In the colleges where their edu-
nafinnoi nOurao uuoc O0nplataA
DR.. johnson, who, in his accurate
knowledge of Latin was excelled by
no man of his time" as Boswell says,
declares his Indebtedness to the severe
and painstaking instruction of his ear
ly teacher, Mr.. Hunter, without which,
to use his own words, II should have
done nothing" But he makes little
account of his long course of study
at Oxford. In Mr.. Hunters school 1t
was that he acquired those habits of
analytical and synthetical thought and
that power of concentration which
made him the great thinker he was,
and master of the English language.
We look back to his times with won-
der and admiration at the array
of intellectual giants who were his
contemporaries and successors; and the
question suggests itself: What were
the causes which produced such mag
nifcent results in the domain of liters-
turea There were no public schools in
those days, and the boys who secured
respectable education were gathered
here and there, in small groups, usu
ally In the family of their instructor,
where, while the number was large
enough to excite q wholesome degree
of emulation and ambition, yet not so
large as to annihilste or repress the in
dividuslity of each graded pupil.
Thus, there was time and opportunity
to study the temperament and capacity
of each one, and so adapt the method
to suit the individual capacity of all.
While it is not contended that this
was the sole producing cause of the In
tellectual greatness of the men referred
to, it seems fair to infer that their
early trsining in such home schools
had much to do in developing the char
acter of those men whose names will
shine with undiminished brightness as
long as the English language endures.
Very certainly the popular school
systems have failed, tine State not
furnishing money enough to destroy
the best private academies that ever
existed in the capital. But what would
have been the effect if a million dol
lars he'd been dispensed by the State
and the large public schools had ut
terly destroyed these private schools,
az would have been the result, as DR..
Sears foretold with perfect clearness
of vision2 1t were wiser to thrust this
sum into the sea than bribe the people
to abandon and destroy private in order
to maintain these crowded public
schools. The truth is, the school
fund and Legislative appropTiatlors
should be devoted exclusively TO the
education Of the impoverished and
helpless, and the people should not be
bribed to destroy the virtues and re-
press the intelligence and personal in
dependence, and corrupt the morals of
themselves and their children.
PRESIDENT HAYEs's campaign speech
-h.-ll -..,h - 10 sa1ao~,.k A. L.