The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1881-01-21
mucb crime as the educated portion.


imply connection" He uttered an unques-
toned truth, but It Is a pity he could not
think of il when his logical mind put pubic
education and crime side by side. .er@f Is
He again tells the truth when, he says |:
&c Want, ii not the parent Of vice, Is at least
its faithful foster-mother." He conveniently
forgets to claim that ignorance Is the mother
of want and therefore the dignifed grand
parent of vice. He quotes the proverb, IL
is hard for an empty bag to stand upright"
and appears blissfully ignorant that an empty
pocket is not the emptiest thing q man may
carry about him. sftns La. ra,If1 1a,Et /,
An official comparison of the educated and
illiterate population of Ohio and Pennsylva-
mia with the pauper class OF the same states,
shows that illiteracy furnishes sixteen times
as many candidates for the poor house as
does q common education. Thus we see that
ignorance is indirectly If not directly the po-
tent influence for evil In the land; not the
mother of all evil, by any means. -
But there are better reasons for beifeying
that free schools are not disastralaa their
effects upon society; that they have accom-
plisbed something; and that their mission Is
not vet completed than the mere fact that
the article in the North american Rerfep Is
at fault i'm its charges. and that official statis-
tics make such q significant show for educa-
tion among the masses.
Education deals with the grosser nature OF
man only indirectly. In our schools anu OF
purpose it has to do directly with the devel-
opment and training of intellect, the least
easily perverted portion of the human soul.
Intellect is never corrupted until the heart
and the will have fallen prey to evil inf1u-
ences. Intellect stands back OF these
other two elements of the ego, famiiiarly
called heart and will land can receive no NOR
tai stroke except through them. 1t Is the
sentinel placed in commanding posltion
that he may give timely warning of danger:
IL is his business to notify manly nerve and
manly tenderness of the approach OF any
deadly enemy. The more waketui ana &C
tive you can make him, the more faithful
and etfectual will be his watch. Education
of pure intellect certainly cannot be injuri-
Gus. Discipline, poor though it may be,only
strengthens, unless it be so injudiciously Or
dered as to weaken the physical organism
through which intellect acts. The man with
an active intellect naturally so or made so
bv the schools, Is comparatively safe citi-
zen. He who thinks is apt to be serious and
he who is serious is sure to find his pathway
in life, whether it leads through the beauties
of nature or amidst the ugly and painful
sights of suffering human society full oi
practical lessons and pregnant with inspira-
tion.
You hear 1t said that, If bold intellectual.
ty and goodness have any relation to each
other, il Is that of the Oil and water
that schools giving special atten-
ton to mental culture are doing their pupils
an incalculable injury; that 1t Is playing with
edged tools to sharpen intellect without q
corresponding effort to cultivate the tender
graces that should temper its action thai
the world is full of lagos, giant-minded bu'
utterly beartless, coid-blooded, reasoning
murderers. You hear il said 7" Intellect |:
too often cultivated at the expense of the
heart" Did you ever think that the state
ment is largely untrue-an impossibility
| and that the converse is truest, that TIN
heart too often receives q species Of cultiya
| ton at the expense of intellect. have sale
| that intellect is never corrupted until th'
| barriers which the heart and will form befof'
| IL have been broken down. Poilute TIN
heart and enervate the will and the inteilec
| will next be enslayed by passion.
| lagos heart was cultivated. The devil ha'
| run his evil plowshare through 1t and scat
tered In the fertile soil the seeds Of treacher
| and every sim But this culture was done q
the expense of intellect. His comprehen
siye, subtle powers, yielded themselves Tn
| willing servant of every wicked wish AN
with consummate energy and admirable exc
cution accomplished every heilish purpose.
1t was not lagos superior genius and men
tai culture that ruined the man-it may nav
made the ruin more stupendous-but II wa
the noxious vapors arising from the ran
| growth of unsightly and poisonous weed
that had been sown for purpose in the fiel
of his moral nature. Iago was not heartles'
His was a large heart, full to the overfiowin
with the gall of bitterness. Pure inteliectt
| al training never harmed him and neve
harms any one. Neither are the efforts
your public school teachers TO develop inte
iectual power alone harmful. hear 1t whi
pered however, that a pure effort OF Tn
kind is never made by teachers and nevs
can be made. Ii Is true and thank GOD IL
it. The moral character of the teacher pc
yades the school room and overshadows II
daily work. Not recitation is made whei
the lesson of truth and the beauty OF trut
may not shine. --....na2t. i IL
But let us pin our public school criti'
down to the fact that pure training OF inte
lect is only beneficial, and then obiige the
to specify where in text book reading
teachers presence there Is just cause Tor un
versal suspicion and will grant they make
case against our public school system;
l. MAkG IHeul uHuCfStatth
itself, is not vicious and that all inteilectu
development, considered apart from hea
and will culture, from the very nature OF
is harmless, and we deprive them OF the We
ground of their attack. just as before, the
argument Is ne longer directed against o.
| educational system, as such, or against
purpose. IL only affects the equipment al
supervision of the schools. The opposite
| has, in fact, no longer any more body 10
than had the California cry of four years az
From the press, the pulpit, and the bar,the
/ fell fearful denunciations of the pub
schools. Frauds had been committe
, schools funds shamefully wasted; sacr
: trusts crininally betrayed; and the null
tude, learned and unlearned, were terrib
: exasperated. They were blinded wi
1 righteous Indignation, and, like the he go'
| with eyes shut, they charged upon all u
3 ter Judgment revealed the fact that the d
! covers of n thieving ring of officials in
f way affected the character or yitiated :
! purpose Of public school education. 1
' circumstances of the case as made know
|. by the investigation went good deal farth
r toward proving the doctrine of total depra
4 ity than the inefficiency or corrupt tende
! cies OF the schools themselves. And 1t Is
i | with all complaints laid against our edut
i tional system. They have no bearing up
d the work or purposes of the schools.
y complainants could but know 1t, they =
: simply complaints against the want OF yuf
d men; In themselves and their fellow-citize
: that mas placed the management in
II hands. Richard Grant White had no roas
4 i'm the world for making his attack upon I
' public schools. If his unrighteous thirst
4 wholesale criticism had not deluded him,
q would have made his attack against
: teachers rs immoral or against the texts
e matter of the books In use o demorsiixi
II in principle. As II Is, he has condemn
q education, and, rs II seems to US, unwittiI
i iy shows the cloven. foot of the merceni
!, critics to an appreciative public To be M
4 charitable with this interloper, we may 81
i pose he misjudges the school system bees.
l. he misunderstands its work. This y
sr difficulty with too many croakers. BY IN
4. 1.-THE public schools are supposed 70 have
n herited from their founders . magic wand
n means Of which they must charm every y
e and discordant element Of our republic Y
q the beautiful, the tractable and the harn
4 nious, or fail i'm the accomplishment Of
~ work assigned them. Al . consequence
m this theory of their poetic souls, the edu
n tional system must be held accountable
If every breach Of etiquette In the social CIT
= every indiscretion that furnishes m hos