The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-08-02

Is right for once in his life anyhow
knowledge is-but I won't say that
don't want to startle you tonight wit
novel propositions. won't say, therefore
that knowledge is power,' but I'll g
farther, and will say that brains rule th
world. Education fits a man to Cover
and to be governed, AS education advance
among the masses, ofime reoedes, religio
and morality thrive, property increases
and the obstacles to the solution Of til
problem of life disappear. No one, i'm
agine, will have the hardihood to contro
vert these general truths.
The duty of parents to educate thei
children is absolute and imperative. Their
can be no Sinking of this stern rcsponsi
bihty without crime and the grossest specie
of dishonesty to the children. And whel
l use the term ''educate' wish to give
its broadest signihcation. He who is re
sponsible for the being of child and ha
the care of his rearing up MUST discharg
his obligation to that child, and see to i
that he is acknowledgements in morals
educated in the sciences and arts; educated
to think educated to work. His heart
his head, his body, his hands, all neet
careful education.
1t is no less the duty of the State to take
the part of the parent and provide means
for educating the poor and the orphaned
She would be false to her best interests,
false to the most sacred of all obligations
if she allowed her common schools to Ian
guish. And you, ladies and gentlemen OF
the pedagogic guild, have before you at
once, the most exalted and the most respon-
sible of vocations.
RELATIVE VALUE OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.
1t may be crude notion of mine, but I
attach vastly more Importance to SCHOOLS y
than I do to colleges or universities. "
There may be too many colleges in the coun-
try; there never can be too many schools.
have been to school and have been to col
lege, and my idea of school is that it is q
place to learn--simply to learn. There is
nothing here to prevent learning. 1t seems
to be the chief object of its establishment
and the main business of its continuation.
A college, however, has broader scope.
There the pupil is generally facilitated in
the development of his taste for cigars,
wines, baseball tournaments, yachting
fine clothes, excursions, spending
money, and-gentlemanly leisure. He is
thrown to great extent on his own good be-
havior, and while it is true that he has tho
facilities for learning, 1t rests almost entirc-
ly with him whether he avails himself of
them or not. And it is lamentably true
that college diploma is not by itself an
evidence of scholarship. I have known
collegians who did not comprehend the
first principle of equation or the simplest
rule in English grammar. I have heard
some of them again and again use such ex-
pressions as this 'Between he and l, }"
Or, "between you and I and the gate-post."
And say that have never heard cold
Dlooded murder like that perpetrated
against our good old English tongue by
one of these college frauds, that did not
make me wish that the laws against the
physical murder of men were temporarily
in order that the vile culprit
night be shot, upon the spot. And yet
hese erudite collegians had skinned over
he whole college curriculum, and march
ID out into the wide world with as much
earned sheep-skin and sublime cheek as
nybody, clothed with all the dazzling
,randeur of 'bachelor of arts, with all
he glories that attach to that high and i'm
,osing degree, and filled with the wise airs
# solemn owl in the act of digesting
Appleton's Cyclopedia and Webster's Un>
bridged Dictionary. suppose they must
nust have won their degrees somewhat like
lark Twain's Tom Sawyer won the prize
4 the Sunday School.
I do not believe in colleges much There
re too many chances to get on the blind
de of the professors-too many opportuni-
es to beat them. The inborn rascality of
oung America is too much for the staid
rofessor. My faith is anchored in schools.
college has to maintain too much dignity,
nd its energies are too largely devoted to
lie mere tinsel, and gewgaws and superb
lcialties of education. 1t has to have
rand commencement every year, and 1t
snerally takes about six weeks to prepare
" the commencement, and when it has
it is just ready to end for the
holastic year. Schools can manage to
st along without changing ends once every
Telve months. They generally commence
the beginning and quit when they get
rough. Little or no time is lost in pre-
lying for the annual show. The pupils
i've no money, do not need any, and con-
quently have plenty of time to study
cir lessons.
The cheapness of the average school
compared with tho average college,
ono of its chief inducements. The
st of an institution is no criterion of J
nuine excellence. 1t not unfreq uently s
opens that the more father pays for his {
y at college the less the boy is likoly to
.rn. And there is roason for this A t
utly college can be patronized only by {
0 sons and daughters of rich parents, c
d rich parents generally give their chill l
en- spending money, and, you all know t
1t it takes time to spend money and to T
,intain true first class college dignity all g
which, L humbly submit, is directly in Il
> way of solid requirements. \
soPHoMORIo PHRIIs.
once knew two brothers, the span be- a