Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-11-26
LEVEL u Education An address t:
Lon5on Workiagmel.


The class entries in October, 1879, were
52o, being larger number than at any
time since the foundation of the college
Mr.. Lowell, on rising to address the
meeting. was received with much cheer
ing. lie began by expressing a feeling
of some embarrassment. arising from
want Of opportunity to prepare n written
address. In thus appearing before a
strange audience he WAS in the position of
the American boy who excused his bad
spelling because he had not yet got the
hang of the new school house. He
felt profound sympathy with that institu-
ton, and in coming there TO say few
words on the subject before them he was
pretty sure Of favorable verdict, for
the Jury, If nothing else. was n packed
one. When he was Just passing from
college to the university he was asked by
the president what his notion of Il univer-
sitv was. and he said i'll few words that
il WAS a place where nothing useful was
taught. lie meant. nothing useful in
/ helping man Ia gain his daily bread
But there were higher and nobler asso-
ciations. and so far rs he knew, this col
lege was based on that principle. 1t gave
the students Il chance OF what was called
ton which libcralized us by teaching us
something outsile the narrow circle of
oar own limited IDEAS Few men knew
how much was contained in the simple
/ fnci that -Ec was able to read. 4 man
who could read has got to 4 certain ex-
tent ali that he needed to make him a
! scholar ieiiow-c"untryman OF his who
was once MINISTER at Berlin, who knew
'llttlH Latin and less Greek, was able
before he dlcd to translate not only the
mrs. paii "i aust, hnt the second,
winch was exceedingly difficult, and that
1 was entirely by his own effort III educa-
mig himself. Ii some one were to offer
to introduce them to the society OF the
! l"i'lsSi ihteliec'$ ana the most select splr-
It's OF an time, they would think that was
something worm lNihg ne Tor IL they
were "1'fed lettef"l Introduction which
| "ohid pGfSGaue shakespeare ana Milton
/ 10 give 'h'm tnGlr hest Time ana attth-
t'h' 'heN would say II was Impossible.
fet tn', was preclselS what the mere
'nI.4'H 80 io'td gave Il iii'll' lheV all hiiu
| uIds ana ohdS oi tlme, ana IL was pre-
cls"lv IN the use OF the odds and ends,
| ana ho' ol Inc great capital, ol time, that
/ real wisdom WAS shown. those who
were able to read could choose their own
society They might choose good or IN
dtrr'ht, or even bad There was a great
dead Of reading which was waste of time
and worso-a KIND Of reading which en-
ervated the attention and enervated the
mind. Since he had been i'll the country
| he had seen people walking the streets
reading, ami reading IN railway carriages,
and he said to himself. Here is rco-
| pie desIrous OF improving themselves.
! In America, probably, they would he
reading newspapers, but here they read
| books. But when he had been nc?r
| enough 10 see what the book was One
great advantage that orr forefathers had
was that they had few books and those
were good books. Education was made
| from them. lite was not speaking OF
scholars OF podants, but of the earlier
men Of culture Of modern times. While
our best books were within reach of every
one. We were the centre Of n set Of senti-
mont wires employed to catch the gossip
of the earth, impertlnent things that
were of little importance to-day and none
Tomorrow. II was said of man who
mastered one book that he became n great
! bore. ana one reason why he became
| great bore was that he was so much supe-
TEaT NHH .aHHrN "a "a NJ
,neat;na He tncy ona hook AMI ba
| -. H.. 1-ou II a. raoJ tI,a ..D;-
/ -, f.i',,,.-Y;.-t n.,'..l..,' I'll e.,
tb.v NV Eaj nLt,incJ n liberal edncotion
! They would hIv" travelled. Home
hetliiis H,'''lil nv '.ei liTlii w.
p''i ny "'''iu i-'' ti'''i't' IN iiiiiie'9'
ana 'ii''. "''' Soiiicliii''' % s!ci'ci "''
vantage '!i'th Ir;iVellihS III iorei@i couli-
tri"s' eNi', cidliy II me MINDS Were great
ones, such as he mad mentioned. lie
learned Italian entirely by his interest III
Dante. and ii they wished to learn Il Ian
guage he would advise them to take some
great book. They would only need a die
| tionary thsv would not need a grammar.
His own experience was that nine men
a,,t ,f t.,, Ioa,,,aj q i,r,,nnaa hattar in
tins way Than 10y learning The grammar
lh'N were s'tN't 'u iluilic utsh "I
| druuS'fN, "hd Also an liilliilt" uV'u pl
tfrnt off t.ft e7t4ut AN Grammar tp pp mr.