Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-03-23

taxed by tho United States, and therefore no
question arises but what they come within the tax
law Of 1878, and are clearly exempt from taxation
to the individual depositors, but are taxable di-
rectly to the savings bank. DEPoslToR
The Education Of Boys.
BURLINGTON, Vt, March II, 1881
Mr.. Editor:-A recent number Of the WATCH
MAN contains an elaborate article from the pen OF
Dr. Hoskns, criticising an address Of mine on the
education Of boys, 1t was pleasant to me to find
that there was 50 much on which we could agree.
Indeed the chief fault have to find with the arti-
Gle is that it imputes to me opinions which did
not advocate and do not hold, and then proceeds
with great controversial warmth to maintain views
which do hold and Of which the university has
long been prominent advocate 1t is humiliat-
ing to find that however much one tries to ex-
press his views plainly, he conveys to some per-
sons precisely the opposite meaning from what
he intended
DR.. Hoskins assumes all through the article,
and asserts in several places, that the education
advocated excludes the physical sciences. The
fact is that have made large place for these
sciences at every stage of the boys education ex-
cept the primary, and express my regret that he
cannot make beginning even there. II there is
any passage In my address more emphatic than
another 1t is that in which amplify the value of
the physical sciences to the farmer. "a collegiate
education with the sciences left out, Is creation
of the doctors own imagination. | should no
more think Of calling man well educated In this
age OF the world without knowledge Of the
physical sciences, than without knowledge OF
the three RS And in so far as this criticism
passes beyond me and falls upon the university,
it is wholly without force. Every one OF the
sciences he mentions is taught here, and taught
with as much emphasis and honor as any branch
OF study. No student can get degree in this in
stitution without having made credtabe prof.
cheney in each Of the sciences Of botany, chemis-
try, physics, zoology, physiology and geology
and as a matter Of fact, the standing even Of Il
classical student is as much affected by his rank
in these studies as in any Of the other branches
in mathematics or Latin, or Greek, or literature
And of course, the students in the scientific
classes carry the study of their special sciences to
much greater lengths. am almost ashamed to
say this in print 1t seems like saying that we
the new and not the old style in dates, or that
we believe in the Newtonan system OF astronomy
To the same inventive Imagination which led
- P's ~
O 'n'o' ~ ioH'"' oo
'oi 'h'' '''ei "sse,"on vi MS ''i"'
'e "i'e''"S ""s "e'oi ""o any oiasseS III It's
'nuuS'r''i department AN a'n,os' tempted I"
'nis punt u Jay uo"h my pen anu say 'ha' II Is
Vi no use W ie"son Will man WIN ueals 50 I'M
,a",y WIN iaouS' ieeeiVeu as' week from "
,,osAinS aua'aoeueoi MS hursery ana SEED s'ock'
If now, without ever having been to Newport to
IL.
formation. were to write to the WAropMAs that
DR.. Hoskins never had single tree in his nursery
or any nursery on his farm or any farm at all. but
that the whole thing was borus. a mere nursery
ON paper and nothing more nv performance
would he no more nnwarrantable than His rhe
saws. "the trees are there come and soc 40
| saw. the classes are here. come and see" IL il
true that the classes in these departments are not
as large as could be wished, but the students in
| them have usually been from one-fourth to one
third of our total number. They have. besides
other instruction the services of three professors
who teach nothing else than branches of learn
ing relating to agriculture and the mechanic arts
| II you were to drop into the laboratory to-day
you would find a dozen bows and girls at work
under Prof. Sabin, one on the determination OF a
fertilizer another on the problem OF the sugar.
nitre, third on the assay of piece of FOOLS
| gold, and so on. To-day, while the driving snow
fills the air and is covering the ground, you would
find the engineers in the drawing-room, making
plans oil bridges calculating the strain upon walls
and arches, but when the spring comes you will
find them with Professor Barbour in the field,
| surveying, leveling, laying out railroad curves,
and getting ready to undertake, as they do almost
superintendence and constrmctinrr" Sf poLins
students Won would find one dav an,,yv;no
grasses. another day dissectng bird mr. n ouadrn.
ped. and occasionally exnlorino with hin, Tho
curious and instructive rock. formations which
abound in this region
But to what do these studies tend9 Ia ,bav
| train voung man for tho ;rd,s.r,a, oa,,;,,.ao n
they contribute in anv wav the diversion of tal.
epts and ambition from the well.stocked nrofos-
siops into the INDUSTRIES tbropgb which tho 70
sources Of this new continent ara IN h. aovs,onodo
will confess that when 7 sa, down nm hon. 900
and ran over the list of those who have coma from
the college since became its nrss,don, "a ,orna