South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1880-04-30

compensation for his labors no. not
even enough to supply the necessaries OF
life. The consequence is. very few of
our schools are taught by teac hers Of any
considerable experience Physically, In
tellectually or Morally teachers Of that
stamp are in greater demand elsewhere.
But this system Of cheaply educating
seems to be by no means q new one. So
far back as the beginning of the sixteenth
century it appear to have been called to
public attention, and receiy ed-as well as
from many others--the following rebuke
from the pen of Roger Ascham, man
whose name deservedly ranks high in
English literature. In speaking of the
consequences of neglected education"
he says: 1T is a pity that. commonly,
more care is had. yea and that among
wouldbe very wise men, to ind cun-
ming man for their horse than cunning
man for their children. They say nay
II word, but they do so in deed For
to the one they will gladly give stipend
OF two hundred crowns per year, but 10th
to offer to the other two hundred shill.
ings. God that sitteth in heaven laugh.
eth their choice to scorn, and rewardeth
their liberality as it should; for he suf-
fereth them TO have tame and we'll order.
ed horses but wild and unfortunate chill.
dren; and therefore in the end they find
moro pleasure in their horses than COM
fort in their children
The Education of Children Educates
tho Parents. We often speak of the
manner In which we educate our children,
but how seldom do we think of the degree
and ways In which our children educate
US. Yet quite clearly is it one gre at
part OF tue design of children and of
the family relationship to exert just this
reflex influence, and mould the character
OF the next generation. One of the most
palpable illustrations Of this is the extent
TO which children exert an influence in
forming the familiar speech of the fami-
iy. MIX Miller has shown in his won.
derful lectures on science and language,
that 1T Is the common people who think
least, that form the bulk of any language.
Their modes of speech and pronunciation
are Embedded and embalmed in the idi.
oms, phrases and newly coined words
and growth of language far more com
pietely than those of the more cultiva.
ted and refined classes. Children, how
ever, exert far more practical influence
III the formation of language of the fam
lily circle than even this. Words work
their way upwards from the lower to the
higher degree of intelligence far more
frequently than persons generally sup
pose, just as water is boiled by putting
the fire under and not above the fluid,
because of the law by which heated flu,
ids become lighter, and rise, carrying ~
the heat with them. Perhaps Adam
called his wife Eve i e. "Mother," just
AS many fathers now thus call their
wives mother" or "mama" in imitation
of the language of the children. The
effort OF parent to communicate ideas
to his child leads him to try and simpli.
~ those ideas as much as possible, and
use the language in which the least in
teillgent can at once comprehend them,
and first give back the impression made
by the new thought. How many words
and phrases are there in every language
and every family that have arisen thus
out of the family Jargon.
That is the great change which Prov.
ldence produces in the relations of hus
band and wife, to the rest of the world
and even to each other, through the edu-
OF existence draws very near TO them in
the birth of their first child, and seems
TO say to each of them as the daughter
OF Pharoah said to the mother Of Moses,
Take this child aud educate it for me-
and will give thee wages 1t gives to
the lie OF those parents new and high.
er impulse and ambition. The education
OF the children by degrees unites those
two IN new and higher wedlock, one
ness oil purpose and train of new du-
ties, out OF themselves out Of each 9th
or, out OF the whole world besides, but
all centering in their children. Their
language, their habits of life, their rela.
ton to the outside world, become by de-
| grees quite secondary matters, and all
are sensibly moulded and conformed
most condesccndingly (not to the wishes
I'd whims of the children, if the parents
are wise,) bat TO their substantial inter.
esls. This new life on which the pareats
thus enter, Is in fact, also, a new and
/ higher course OF 1Icltion for them
! selves, 1t rightly viewol one having
/ higher ard hoiier rewards than any 9th
| or on earth, with comforts for old are in
lie returning affection Of the Young life
which thus becomes the supporting staff
| OF age, AMI the hope Of ali futu,e arcs
here on this broad, beautiful. and ever
/ progressive world of ours. While time
lasts, no truly parental aim and effort
become lost, but all bear fruits in the
great futare Of the coming ages of the
earth. All the cares and anxieties which
children give in their infancy aud youth
all the pains and diseases they suffcr.
and all the deaths Of those who die
young, are in truth the processes Of
gigantic, broad and generous system Of
education, through which the Great Au.
thor of Being is instructing and disci,
plining parents for the great work or
making and moulding the future men
aud women who shall survive on
the earth, into a nobler, better. more
powerful, and more refned ra.o ,h,,,