Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-08-16

If were speaking to an audience of
young men and women should not think
it wise to extol the benefits of sef.educa
ton. When good schools are so abundant,
and when it is so easy, comparatively
speaking, for any young person who has
good health and ambition to obtain an
education in the regular way, it would be
great mistake to try to educate ones
self. 1t must be better to be taught In any
subject by one who is well versed on that
subject than bv one who is ignorant of it.
A person who undertakes to teach himself
on any subject is an ignorant person trying
to teach an ignorant person. That may
be much better than not to be taught nj
all, as shall endeavor to show but surely
it cannot I've SO we'll as that the ignorant
person should be taught by one wiser than
himself A most significant illustration of
this point has recently come to my knowl
edge. A farmer who had been reading
about the value of nitrogen as a fertilizer,
and had set himself to find out the chems-
try of the question, said to me: II wish
you would tell me what nitrogen is com
posed of Che did not mean how it could be
produced), have read and studied every
thing can find and can get no light on
the question" Here was man who had
wasted days and perhaps months of study
for want OF simple explanation which II
teacher would have given him in minute,
viz: that nitrogen is an element, not COM
posed of anything but itself. TO he self
taught means to work harder and 10 get
less satisfactory results of your work than
| if you had had the benefit of n good teach
er, and the almost equal benefit of CON-
panions in study.
The persons before whom am going to
hold up the possibilities of self-education
are those in mature life, who have had all
the benefits they ever can have from
schools, but who desire to improve them
selves further. The average case would
probably be that of one who had only a
fair common school education in early life,
but who is conscious of his deficiencies and
would be glad to do what is now possible to
remove them. Ii could DO of service to
any such persons by what | may say on
this occasion, or in any other way, should
be extremely gratified.
How manfestly the main source of edu
cation TO the solitary student will be read.
ing. And when l mention this source OF
knowledge, seem TO myself 10 be opening
the door which leads TO all knowledge,
and to point you to the fair and boundlcss
| fields which lie within, all waiting for you
| to enter in and take possession. He who
has acquired the art of reading with case.
and when desirable, with rapidity, has
got from his teacher the greatest, the most
potent of all the gifts which any lpacher
can bcstow. lie has The secret, the open
sesame which causes all shrines Df knowl-
edge to fly open, all the hidden treasures
| of wisdom to expose themselves To his
view. Since the art Of printing WAS in
vented all the best thoughts, discoveries,
convictions, experiences OF men have been
preserved and made accessible in books.
If there is anything which any one wishes
to know about. and if any other pers N in
the world knows it or has known 1t, the
probability is that the desired knowledge
is recorded and may be found in some
book The best life of all past ages is in
books. The ripcst thought OF the present
finds daily expression on the printed page
The man who reads sits with his ear to a
telephone whose wires extend tualI places
aud traverse all past time.
| When, therefore, it is asked what read
ing will accomplish for the man OF com.
mon education, the answer is, that rightly
conducted, it will, for one thing, make him
well-informed man. Any one who has
had the benefit of fair common school
education can, by using well tho limo for
reading which every Vermont farmer has
or can have, make himself II fairly we'll
informed man. Let us reduce this To de
tails. We will suppose that such Il person
reads the equivalent of the following list
First, good general weekly or semi
weekly newspaper like the New York
Tribune or EUening POSt-the whole of it.
the foreign news and correspondence, the
scientific intelligence, and those parts in
which he is not at first interested and
which he does not well understand; next. =
monthly of good character, HGrper'S. Lit
tells, Seminars, with the same stipulation
again. that he shall read the whole of it
then good religious weekly, the hde
DendenL, the Observer, the AdUOcdte, the
Northumberland these best religious week
lies are among the ablest of all our period
ls,-and lastly, an occasional book Of
travel, or history, or science, or literature
from half.a dozen to dozen in the course
ola year. The periodicals will both in.
dicatc what books are to bo read anC
create an appetite for them. A man who
habitually accomplishes this amount Of
reading, year after year, will inevitably
become well-informed man. Isit within
the means and tho time of the averag,
farmerp Leaving out the solid books o
which will say more by and by, fine
that the expense of the reading matter
will not exceed eight to ten dollars pei
annum, and the time required from one t.
two hours day. This trihing expens,
surely no farmer would grudgo for The
education of his family; and as for tn,
time required, offset the times when worl
is very pressing by the times when it i
dull, and stormy days, and the long win
ter evenings, and especially reckon in tn,
odds and ends of time which are apt t
run to waste because we have nothing OF
hand to fill them; and | think the mos
busy men and women on the farm ma,
contribute to get something like this aver
age of time. One thing is certain. b,