The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-01-06
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

"Se IaheS espcclal pTlue, IL IS IN
our system of public schools. He may mani
fest for the ome a greater interest in his
mines and his mills, his stores and his mer-
chandise, his herds and his focks; but, after
all, down deep below all this, there is an I'M
dercurrent Of affection in his heart for this
grandesL institution of freedom, at once its
offspring and its guardian, as strong and I'M
ceasing in its flow as are the mighty streams
which leap from their sources mid the ever
lasting snow, and sweep down. summer and
winter, through the beautiful valleys of his
adopted mountain country. The icy letters
of winter may conceal the moving torrents
from the casual observer, but cannot check the
onward flow of the deeper waters. Summer
comes, the magic word is spoken; it is the
rivers season for manifesting its presence to
the world, and once more it glistens in the
sunshine. Business excitements, overplus of
work, in a country where everything moves
on the high-pressule principle, may, for the
time being, secure from sight the better affec-
tions ofhi nature but, when once the oppor-
tunity comes, and an enterprise is started
looking to the spread of Our free schools and
ohSll lICICdSCu IoWCl III GIC CuuSdIlOll VI OuI
youth, his heart warns, his purse opens, and
the immediate guardians of our educational
institutions realize that the real life of our
public schools lies in the heart of the citizen.
May it ever remain there! When it dies
there, it will be dead indeed. It is sometimes
said that our public schools receive a generous
support, simply because our people are natu-
rally tree with their money-ap proposition too
plainly false to be worthy of consideration.
Every year a generous citizenship puts on rec
ord a most ~efectual testimony to the hearty,
general interest taken III our schools by the
people ofthe Territory.
1t is the earlier history of a State or Terri
tory that the foundation which determines the
character of a political superstructure is laid.
1t is then that the heavy work is done, AMI the
spirits of men are tried. This kind of work
is not all completed in our young Territory,
but it has been bravely undertaken and moves
rapidly on to completion. Vaunted New
England, IN her palmiest days, never could
boast a better educational outlook than Mon
tana has to-day. And we would not boast so
districts, and graded and disciplined schools,
as of the spirit of the people, which promises
to be fully equal to the task of making the
great provision necessary to meet the sudden
and tremendous demands made upon their
public schools by large and constant Access
sions to our population. When an inslgnifi-
cant settlement, like Butte was a few years
ago, strides forward in three years time to
the position of greatest prominence in a Ter
liO"ly' ~ olinse WIN ~ Hnnhunso, 'n Ia
the many.
DuIte nas uVne nun, ~ ~ n"s ~
y. !. ti goo 600 :. :" co. 600 - p nnv W.
S tiI wa" n $1,000 W. S,ho, iro"nS Ce,tainIv NOT
Sliii zen. IVY ok. JaIIay o nom
less !l". se.e 1'suU a";a"oa' fn" nnotIor
~ T Wv nee a.o SoIt on thn J;striot sonno
year. lnele 10 III W. 81 .no fstio sorr
thlhs 'haI Il NC salu :" se,s "I SII""tn53
o"is' anu .h'o sinai "nlouT aSSaaIuLa
through tllee vi roul Saai9 w. SS"iNe TEe
leiI py our puputi otS;t y" uear0, !, ha,od
en- ~ II. sn1 on rnu,hor e90 Tho NM
p4l Ills yeal my u ~" o - ~.
Der drawing scloUi i'ptes 'se. Sean we. 49,,
th,s year, oo'' W. nay .''u nn,m .io.nL'
school Ihis ye'l M,in eisiI s,n .oen hp,o'Ha
asalhs' rishI o'.n ~ :, Ie7o 49, S11 Se
year. Ing cost PEI p"p' III 80 We" Si'
IN 1851 1t IS SiZ.'o'
our slaoeu scnooi oou'ns o Hv ano.tnd
st1uieS oi ihe e'Sno St'i 20 uo nat yrodod 81
~ g, y. ., 'i "a; "'l nat,on. comnl.teiv We
SUIT us "lllccls nv p.tlon :. ipneawa' mo
nave 10 gro" " !ittle 'o"atu II ~ "e..n
secure 'i',ts ., N = " cd ororv inar1 nf
the grace. II, as IL 10 Ha.u, Iaut' i Uat : ="
pune sch0ols anu superinaen'.I e. , ot ntamo
tlon III our la'iu sees rNeiy Ss ,ha =" ""v" ~, n NV
unsraaea' ulsti'c. ssti nItn = ,to;r o;tn ,%ii,"io,s
ton OF Stlass.rs r 81 .na R n : 's scIo ms1 m.r
surely, the olhcets vi VIC Nv oenoois ma
be borne with patleht'y Ill tNell eioi's W rs
tablish IN our m'ust d yh, 4ht, Srd'. ~
school, when we cohsluer snal a. .liru VI
the school is made up year ai &c ,i iea mo ol new w
corners, pupils from all perts % ~ Moaio, a.
varied IN thelr degrees $50, o, i puoi in the ,ln M " "f
different branches as they are IN lhe places vi
their nativity. AS Ihe mohlns pass' W. aie
o~utgrowing these di1hcultles anu approaching
the attalnment OF il harmonious sy;.en. III t,.
Our Hlsh nchcoi eoG, S su uoh' oon,seS anG
studies usually 'ot'i m;nh Sohnoi cn,I,ss c,n
will do all that any High ochooi course Gu"
toward creating Il taste 1or the nlSHer euuca-