Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1879-03-08
OUR CORRESPONDENCE.
Common Sense Education.

j "
precious boon and privilege, happily
placed within the reach Of every man,
and uncircumscribed by limits either
social or legal, The poorest man has
the same right and title to its acquire
mot as the richest, and in this gem
GRAFTON ignorance can only be regard
ed az reproach, for the fountain of
knowledge is open to all, and "who-
soever will, let him come and partake
freely"
But the question here arises, shall
we educate all alike and to the same
extent? OF course, the obvious an
swer to this lies in its impracticabil-
ity, inasmuch as an extended collegl-
ate and scientific course involves con-
siderable expenditure Of money great
er than most men in moderate circum-
stances can afford for their children.
The true and safe theory is to
thoroughly educate a child in those
branches which will fit him for the
path in life marked out for him, and
that path in life must ordinarily be
determined by the parents position
in the community and precuniary re-
sources.
Poverty ard humble extraction are
20 disgrace, yet how many wcrking-
men toll unremittingly, and almost
deprive themselves of the necessaries
Of life, in order to educate their child
ren for positions in life for which they
are in no wise fitted, and in which
they meet with disastrous failure in
nine cases out of ten.
If B can write a eentenco, o1tho-
graphically and grammatically correct,
he is designed for the editorial tripod;
if Q declaims Mark Antony's Grafton
in treditable manner, 10 he must
figure at the bar, while D, who is fond
Of looking over the cuts in the First
Lessons in Anatomy is prepared for
the career of medicine.
So, Jeremiah, who is a member 0f
,ne SUNDAY scnooI ana church, ls dis
covered to possess remarkable "gift"
in prayer; the brethren gather in SOL
emn conclave and decide forthwith
that he is called to the office of the
sacred ministry, and they proceed to
take him from his work in the mine,
which has hitherto helped to support
the struggling family of which he is a
member, and pack him off to third
or fourth-rate college, from which he
emerges, in the course of few years,
a third or fourth-rate clergyman, but
with skin no longer stained with the
Crime of the sha1t-a theological
limb henceforth of one Learned pro-
feasions."
! One of the popular fallacies enter
tanned by many, especially by such Of
us as are of foreign birth, is that in
this free and enlightened republic
class distinctions are unknown, un-
recognized, and arastocracy and caste
are altogether confined to the old
world.
Never was there a greater delusion
To be sure, in our own town and
among our people, such distinctions
are not recognized, and can have nj
true foundation 10 rest upon, owing te
the fact that all are yeomen born or O
yeoman descent; but in the grea
world outside of US, from Maine t.
the Gulf of Mexico and from Mary
land to the Golden Gate, the entree tx
what is denominated the "highes
circles" and ergo the most cultivated
and refined, rests altogether upon I
satisfactory solution of the query
"Who are you?"
We have grades in the mine, grade
in the workshops, grades in the store
and there must and necessarily alway
will be grades in society.
While it is an indiputable fact tha
men of the most obscure lineage hav,
leaped into fame, and compelled thei
admission into the "best society" it i
still a lamented truth that, althouql
courted, fattered, and their geniu
and learning acknowledged, yet thei
origin was never forgotten.
1t is a sad commentary on our re
publican institutions and democrati,
pretentions that, to-day, more mer
and women pride themselves on a long
line of so-called noble ancestry thar
tie noaa"asion ct aEorling virtue c.
even-pounds sterling.
Yet the assertion of these aristo
cratic claims are not more prevail en-