The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-06-16

,sON. S. c., THURs]
tellectual faculties" 1t matters but lit
tie how thoroughly you may ground tn
young student in elementary textbooks
! if you do not at the same time inspir
her or him With an ardent love of learn
ing, books will be thrown aside and th'
earnest pursuit of literary knowledge
will be speedily abandoned on the stu
dents leaving college.
The main remedy for this defect il
our scholastic training seems to me tt
be-(since we cannot hope to prolone
the time usually given to college life. J.
to sacrifice, to some extent, the usua
thorough drilling in comparatively few
branches to a more extended curricu
lum, wider sweep of studies. The ex'
pert accountant may add up long columni
Of figures in a trice. and yet, for want Of
general information, his mind may be
quite as deficient in breadth as his line
Of digits. The purpose ofliberal educa.
cation is not 30 much to enable US to do
anything with e1pertness, as to enable
US to Judge and decide what is,
and what is not worthy of being done.
One man may stunt his mental energies,
and fritter away years of his lifetime in
the vain effort to square tho ciscle, or to
invent perpetual motion, while another
is ranging, on ever-strengthing pinioD,
through rich and varied realms of far
more worthy knowledge. am of the
opinion that it is from this cause, and
upon the operation of this principle,
that institutions like the University OF
Virginia, NTH wide range of studies
opened to the student, have had a larger
proportion of learned and distinguished
Alumni to boast of in after years, than
those colleges which With more circum'
scribed curriculum and uniform course
for all, aim at more thorough ground
ing in textbooks. The latter may, and
very probably do in fact turnout better
educated students at the period of gradu-
alton; but for the most part their gradu.
ates are thoroughly jaded in mind and
body, if not utterly disgusted with their
mechanical college drilling in limited
range of sciences. They make haste,
therefore, to throw aside their books and
escheu altogether the higher reaches of
learning. On the other hand, the stu.
dents Of the first named institutions
have, like the honey-bee, sucked in varied
sweets from great number and variety
of howers-not 80 copiously, perhaps,
from any one fountain of science, but
enough from the generous profasion to
stimulate the appetite of considerable
number of them for more and more.
Thus they set off on their respective ways
in life with eager step and persistent
purpose to mount the lofty heights of SCI
ence and philosophy, and reach the tow
ering cliff "where Fame's proud temple
shines afar."
And now, if this view be correct, and
not q few years of observation and
thought have convinced me that it is,
then no one should complain that their
child is put forward in q new book, or a
different study, before they shall have
fully mastered the one with which they
had been engaged. Considerable variety
ofstudies, and timely advance from one
study to another, and quite q different
sort of one, greatly assists the teacher in
keeping alive and active the attention
and the interest of the learner. And
without that no progress can be made in
the substantial matter of education.
The human mind is not passive, inert,
or empty thing into which knowledge
can be injected: it needs to be excited
to self.e1ertion before it can gain in
crease of power, or add an iota to its
store of information. Indeed, knowledge
itself is not to be regarded as simply s
reception and reflection of mental i'm.
preston, but rather an "actus inamanens," :"
as said Dun Scotus, the best thinker of
the middle ages.
Let us direct our special efforts, then,
to the purpose of sending forth our girls
from their Collegiate training with that
laudable ambition, and quickened
thirst for literary knowledge that will
efiectually prevent their throwing aside
their books with their school .satchels,
and abandoning themselves to either an
enervating round of q sort of chattering,
magpie, society-life; or to some lifelong
drudgery unrelieved by even an occa.
sional ray of literary light. With the
precious keys of knowledge in possession,
and an active, eager desire to use them
we'll, the young women who enjoy the
advantages of our higher scholastic
training would soon infuse = loftier tone
of thought and conversation into polite
society; and they would manage, all
through their lives, to relieve the tedium
of domestic duties and cares with many
refreshing flowers of truth and sentiment
plucked by the wayside, as they journey
on on to the end. And they would scatter,
as they go, these fragrant flowers along
the pathway of every soul that sheltered
under their domestic roof-tree.
Under such auspices the world would
come to boast, not only Of learned black
smiths, but of learned seamstresses,
learned milliners and mantuamakers,
and even of learned ladies. Nor need
ne contemplate such q happy period as
belonging to a very distant future, when
We note The rapid progress of the times.
LO[u DIuuSuduij oy PionooHs 'aA
anism, ranks Madam De Stael among the
Statcmen of the times Of George III. The
future historian Of America will doubt
less have to record the names of many
of our women as rendered illustrious in
the departments of science, philosophy
and general literature. We could easily
enumerate, even now, quite respectable
list of such female names if time and
space permitted; but on this occasion,
we have limited ourself to the suggestion
of thoughts for tho thoughtful.
Let us say, then, in conclusion, give eur
girls but fair.play and they will ascend,
with facile grace and admirable ease, the
very highest activities of learning
And it has been said, with as much wis
dom as wit, that "it matters not how
blue the stocking be if it is but kept well
covered with the petticoat." True learn
ing tends only to making the true woman
truer to all the becoming modesty and
and refined delicacy of her sex, while il