Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-06-11

the laborer OF the farm, the mechanic IN the
machine shop, the driver upon the horse car,
the farmer blowing in his ields-when
all these shall be as well educated as
bond-holder-when that day comes you shall
find that we shall have indeed reached the
meridian of our civilization and not until then.
" Nature takes care that her whole tune Is
played.n 1t is not enough for Him who sits
on the throne above to hear the jingle Of So
gold piece. It is not enough for Him who
sits on high and rules the world. to hear the
songs of the poets coming up to Him in sweet
refrains. Il it not enough for Him to hear
the perorations of orators upon the public
platforms 1t is not enough for Him to hear
the rush of cars on corporation rails, and to
see the fash Of Geographic lightning-He
must also hear the clapg of the anvil, he
must hear the sounds of the busy workmen
scattered all over the world, and when this
whole tune is played religion, enlightenment
will govern, and the changing song OF labor
go up to Him in one harmonious song, tie
will indeed bless us and say your civilization
is indeed perfect.
Education as the True Liberty.
fBy f. NJ Campbell, Superintendent OF Public
Instruction.
When Lord Bacon, in the celebrated
aphorisms of his Novum Organum, laid
down the liabilities of the mind to error and
illusion, it is wonder that he did not men
ton the tendency of the average mind to
mistake the means for the end. The means
are often snowy, tangible. obtrusive the
end, far.off, complex, perhaps lost sight Of.
Wealth, for example it is only means to
the higher end of subscribing refined, genial,
enlightened life; but how often worthless
means becomes the sole object of pursuit and
makes the pursuer mere shrewd machine.
Clothing-meant to be, in the civilized being,
a mere means to the end of the com.
fort and health and unobtrusive grace
of the body-how often it becomes
the poor end, sought for its own
sake at the expense of the comfort and
health and grace of the unfortunate body.
So with manners; so with culture and &C.
complishments 30 with the whole vast ma
terial progress Of this age. It is all mere
clothing-it belongs to the outside-it is but
a means to more and more highly civilized
living; but we hear men talk as though it
were the end, sought for its own sake, and
sufficient unto ITSELF But the nation that
comes to believe that crude doctrine will
never get more than the husk and shell of
civilization the kernel, the sweetness, the
richness of it, is for the people that realize
that the life is more than meat, and the body
than raiment.
Take the notion of our countrymen that
inventions are our great glory. But what
good are inventions, unless it i, high order
of human beings that they serve!
Or take the common boast that here IN
America, the only spot on the surface
of the globe, we have free speech; here, at
least, every man can say what he likes. But
the real question is, What is it that he likes
to say? OF what use is it that mems speech
should be free, unless they have something
to say worth saying The free speech is
only means to free thought; and free thought
itself is only means to the end Of having
true and high and worthy thoughts. And SO,
now, it is with the subject of education.
These beautiful school-houses, this fine APP
paratus, this army Of bright and energetic
teachers-it is all magnificent system OF
means-and to what end? That is the ques-
ton we must not lose sight of in the great
ness and interest of the means. In the
first place, what is not the end OF
education. 1t is not to take the outside
of boy and and give it surface polish.
Education does polish boy lit does make
him show better it does give him more
pleasing manner it does put upon him the
graceful exterior of civilized man-but
these are only by the way. The real end is
to make a man of him. Education does make
the surface of the wood bright and shining,
but it does far more; it goes within and
changes the grain itself; it transmutes it
from poor, soft sap wood to very heart of oak.
When the illiberal enemies of broad educa-
ton complain that we have too many studies
in eur schools, and clamor to have music cut
off, and the languages cut off. and drawing
cut off, they always appeal-and shrewdly
enough, TOTO this common notion that the
end we have in mind in introducing such
studies is mere show and surface accomplish
ment Not so. These liberal studies are in
the schools because teachers and educators
can see, if others cannot, how each of these
studies tends to purify the feelings, to
brighten the perceptions, to strengthen the
reason of the child.
Again, the end of education is not to pro.
duce in this country contented peasantry.
We want no peasantry in this country for
by that word European people mean a class
of persons who are just one grade above the
beasts of the field; class that are content
to be mere drudges, and leave to their betters
all intelligence. and refinement and aspira-
ton. There may be found some so narrow
minded and mean-spirited as to wish this for
his neighbors' children, but certainly none
could be found in this nation to wish it, or
endure it. for his own. The end of public
education is to produce great people, who
shall all be civilized for whom the horse, and
the OK, and the iron strength of machinery
shall toll and do the drudgery, while for
them and for their children-for all of them
the sun shall shine and the rain fall, and
the book be written and the march of intelli
gence go on. Our public education is to pro
duce-nay, it is already producing-looA
about you and behold Ia people that are
coming to "make upon life," as Mr.. Mat
thew Arnold says, "the demand of civilized
men,"
Mr. Matthew Arnold speaking of the
superiority of the French middle class 1.-THE
class which corresponds to the whole average
population of this country to that of the
British, attributes this superiority to their
better education.
'The training of the middle class in France
counts for more. It's great mass has not, as
with us lin Great Brittany, the sense of ar
inferior training. 1t is brought up in schools
Of as good standing as those of the aristoc
racy it is brought up on the first plane.
The French nation has social so.idity such
as no other nation of Europe enjoys. This
can only come from the broad basis of well
being, and of cause for satisfaction with life
which in France, more than in other Euro
pean countries, exists. Ii we consider
the pleasures, recreations. even the eating and
drinking, If we consider the whole range Of
for the convenience of humane life gener
ally, we shall find that the advantage
of France arises from its immense
middle class making the same sort
of demands upon life which only
small upper class makes elsewhere.
These small divisions make upon
life the demands of humane and civilized men
but they are too small and too weak to create
civilization. But in France the
whole middle class makes, say, upon life
the demands of civilized men, and this i'm
mense demand creates the civilization we see,
and the joy of this civilization creates the
passionate delight and pride in France which
we find in Frenchmen. Life is so good
and agreeable thing there, and for sc
many. If there is one thing
more certain than another, it is this,
that the middle class in France is
happier than with us; if there is
one need more crying than another, it is the
need of the English middle class to be rescued
from narrow range of intellect
and knowledge, a stunted sense of beauty, a
low standard of manners. And what could
do so much to deliver them, and to render
them happier, as to give them proper educa'
| tion-public education-to bring them up on
the first plane, to mako them class homo
geneous, intelligent, civilized?
Maryland ell through this the words Of
this great English scholar and critic and edu.
Gator apply to our own country in remark
able manner)-naY, and our upper class it.
self, though it may be supposed to be NOT
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