Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1881-01-15
Morals and Mathematics.

II is each year becoming more evident
:Lat the churches all combined cannot
make their schools and labOrs keep pace
with the ADVANCE Of population, and
t!!at, unless the State shall illtrOluce the
morals of MI humanity as it reaches from
the Nile to the Oregon, millions Of the
children of this country will never know
10y heart single moral sentence, either
from any human or any divine lips.
The modern Gamallel should teach
ethics. Ethics is the science Of human
duty. Arithmetic tells man how TO
count his money, ethics how he should
acquire it, whether NV honesty or fraud.
Geography Il map ri the world, ethics
IS Il beautiful map of duty. This ethics
is not Christianity, it is not even relig-
ION, but it is the sister of religion, be-
cause the path OF duty is in full harmony
as To quality and direction with the path
OF God. And Iii orr times this ethics
has greatly widenod out, and has been
iiinglng out words of praise III directions
WHITTIER ii once looked with ignorance or
Indifference. Ethics now teaches tbs
actual beauty of simplicity of dress and
style, and the dignity Of all labor, SO
public sch6ol-hou should 20 forth fully
persuaded that work IN ashop or on "a
farm is not only psrmissiblc, but is both
a duty AID u happiness. \ school which
breeds an intellectual vanity, and makes
all the girls and boys OF a town or city
long 70 he poets, or historians, or law
yers. or orators, or statesmen and mil
honaires is very narrow and false; but
broad, and just, and true Is the public
institution which SO sets forth the ethics
OF labor that all industry at tho desk, or
III the shop, or hohiud the plow vii!
seem Ike the acceptance Of q call from
God and humanity. 1t must be reck-
oncd N misfortune if as soon as poor lad
or poor glrl is taught at public expense
to read and write, the lad must purchase
q cane or hire a buggy for Saturday al
ternoon, or the girl must aspire to
some snowy jewelry and must learn. the
glitter of the life long before she learns
its import. That our public schools do
To some degree build up an, intellectual
vanity more rapidly than they build up
wisdom must he admitted. Such an
b evil will continue until the councils
which govern courses of instruction
shall conclude that no lessons in arith.
metc on geography can ever compare
with the simple lessons in human life.
What the State wants is not the vanity
OF Its lnulttude, nor is it their poetry
nor their fine clothes, and gay plumage,
and jcwclry, but their wise and attract
i've lives; and if this be tho need of the
ration, then the school-houss should
make every young heart that enters its
doors Commit to memory all the pre-
ciOus maXims of duty that lie Ike pearls
all along the way from Zoroaster to Ben-
Jamm Franklin. Tho FREQ schools are
foundesl upon the assumption that tho
heart OF Il enid IS easily nodded into a
goodly sliape. 1t is assumed that if
taught TO read it will read good books
and will encounter and love those vast
truths which have become Undecided in
the literature oi the world. Thus all
our school buildings are based upon the
assumption that tho eyes which pore
Oven the alphabet and readers in the
heart S young days vail sooner or later
shed tears OF appreciation over the Ill
v;ne lesson of labor and duty and char
ity and temperance which will sparkle
before them upon tho open pages Of let
ters. To the majority of children the
moral works and possibilities OF sOcicty
must be pointed ont with care, and
memories at first unwilling must be
loaded 10y force persuasive and kind
with the 'nndeniable propositions Of eth
les. An Auerbach and Carlyle and
Franklin may easily discern the best
paths through this world, but there are
d not enough OF these quick souls to make
mp u nation, not even village. The
multitude of youths must be patiently
. t'usbt.morals, Just as they are taught
the table, and must he
nidestfeward the feeling that society de-
pendS more for It's happiness upon tho
truths Ofch;lac tsr and being than it de-
pe2ds upon arithmetic. Pref Dapia
.SUing. 80" '""-