Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-02-28
MIR. FULTON'S LECTURE.
The County Solicitor "Tho lnfluo
of EducatpOns'

I00uOnC0
Of EducatsOn.''
There was a very fair audience at the
Young Mems Christian association hall
last evening to hear the lecture of Hugh
r. Fulton, esq, who spoke of the Intlu-
ence of Education" The following is an
abstract Of his address
The term education specially includes
the instruction and care which parents and
teachers bestOw upon the young to direct
their physical, intellectual, aesthetic and
moral development ; it is also the means
by which the children of every generation
are put into possession Of the knowledge
and attainments of the preceding genera
tiOn, and by the training given them are
enabled to add to or improve upon their
inheritance.
As the twig is bent the tree is inclined
You may take Il youth OF good natural
talent. OF a kind and honest disposition, of
an ordinary amount of energy and moral
courage, so that he would be fair exam
pie of his race, and by educating and
training him, the influences surrounding
him, the bent of his mind, his mental ard
physical powers and his character may be
so shaped as to make him either 4 success
full and honorable gentleman or an igno-
rant vagabond. weighed down by poverty,
crime and disgrace.
Such is the wonderful directing and
controlling power of education upon all
people, upon both sexes, upon society
wherever you view it, and upon states and
nations us we'll rs upon society,
The lecturer made rapid review of the
condition of this country and Europe be-
fore the advantages of education were
enjoyed by the people to show that the
days of superstition, religious bigOtry and
! prosecutions, and the times of the greatest
poverty and ndunhapplness of the people were
during the years of mental darkness. as
| trOlogy, witcbcraft and that religious
prosecutions were driven before the light
| of science, and that the education of the
| common people was the mighty conqueror
| that drove tyrants and oppressors from
positions of power, and that to this day
| the intelligence of the citizenship stands
| rs bulwark against the encrOachments of
| unworthy rulers.
The invention of printing, the mariners
compass, the telegraph, steam engines,
| agricultural implements and the various
machinery for the manufacture OF material
| for clothing and household comfort are all
| the products scientific study and the
| workmanship of the trained hands of edu-
Gated mechanics, and in all these humanity
has been benefited. Home parental
training is the most lasting and
beneficial to society in the Sunday
schools many are taught to read and
think and obey the civil and Divine law
who would without the liberal advantages
of free admission and gr;ittGtous teaching
he left to the bankest Ignorance. But
the public free schools are the great toun-
tain of knowledge to which the rising gen
Grafton may go and drink and quench
their thirst for useful sclf-prescrving
schools is beneficial physically,
socially and financially. 1t is u good
family, state and national policy to sup
port and patrOnize the public schools.
| Their influences will save us from idleness,
'superstition, bigOtry, disloyalty and
crime The scholar is a better citizen
than the man who cannot understand the
organization of his government. AS
domestic economy and good management
insure the comfort and prosperity of the
household, so does political economy secure
| the prosperity of the nation. Ignorant
voting by the people and stupid legislation
bring in their train idlcness, poverty,
crime and distress to the people.
| In the days when the European coun-
| tries were beclOuded and in dense mental
darkness the people suffered from countless
Inconvenience, from poverty, from perse-
cutiOns originating in ignorance, and from
untold political wrongs while with the
requirement of useful knowledge and
the light of science came freedom from
those prosecutions, incOnveEiences and
wrongs, and the results have been the
richest of legacies bcqueathed to the
present generation. AS the night of
intellectual darkness passed away so did
feudal servitude and all ancient and modern
forms of human slavery, until now We find
man enjoying his freedom, mentally and
| physically, applying his powers intelligent
| ly and successfully in all the walks of life.
In all these years the march of art and
science has been onward and upward,
drawing obstacles from their paths and
from the way of mans ptogress, dispel-
ling doubts, banishing fears, crushing un-
truth, rejecting light, and securing and
illuminating the peace, health and happi-
ness of the human family.