Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-05-03


In countries where state and church are
in unholy union, where the church is an in
strument of the state, used by the state to
prevent popular discomfort, to induce the
people to submit TO whatever those in power
do, whether bene6cent or oppressive, the ed
ucation of the young is claimed prerog-
alive of the priesthood. 1t is made the in
strument of training the young mind as the
vine-dresser trains his plants. The trellis
up which it must climb is placed for it; its
prescribed hight must not be passed; the
branches must grow as the cultiyator desires,
and when with unruly exuberance they stray
beyond the bounds set for them pitiless
hand cuts them off. So the young mind is
trained and restrained, and constrained in
the schools where priests govern and teach.
Such and such things must be received by
the mind of the pupil, and such others re-
jected. The free flow OF human thought is
discouraged, the ardor of investigation
checked, the instincts of genius repressed.
To ask nature to reveal her secrets,
to receive her revelations and formulate
them into the order and method of science
is daring and impious. Thus the mind
that was formed to fly as the bird, free to
discover, and free to teach the truths it has
ascertained, is shackled, held in bondage, and
its efforts for human enlightenment and pro-
gress are opposed and suppressed. France,
under the Bourbons, had bitter proof of the
results of priestly training. Napoleon for
HE own ends had recourse to the same in
strumentality; that charlatan, Louis Bona
parte, found the same system a welcome con-
tributor to his willy scheming. Free from
Bourbon tyranny and Napeleonic trickery,
France to-day throws off in disgust the tram
mel of priestly teaching. Her Legislators
have adopted law by which the instruction
of youth goes into the hands of teachers who
do not educate with an ultimate purpose
outside of education, but who teach for the
purpose of informing the mind and develop
ing its powers. The clericals and their fol-
lowers bitterly denounce the change, but the
people rejoice that education in the true
sense of the word is within reach of their
children. They do not see how religious in
struction and exercises should be made
necessary accompaniment in the acquire
ment Of the alphabet or of arithmetic than
learning the art of making pair of shoes
or keeping a set of books. The new French
law requires that all children between six
and thirteen shall receive primary educa-
tion, as in a country where the public well
fare depends upon the votes of the citizen,
a man has no more right TO mingle in
society with an uniformed mind than with
an uuclothed body. The local authorities
are required to supervise instruction, to see
that the children attend the schools; to fine
parents who allow their children to be alb
sent four times without valid reason. The
law will be carried out, for the people gen.
orally appreciate its value. The measure
now become law is one in which Gambetta and
other enlightened French patriots have taken
the strongest interest. They knew that to free
France effectually they must free the French
mind, and to do that the schools
must be released from clerical intol-
erance, from sectarian chickering's and
from schemes to mske education a
mere instrument for the maintenance of
particular political interests, or the support
of some special sectarian opinions. The
more intelligent people of France regard the
new law as a release from thraldom and an
important essential to the perpetuation of
liberty. In our own country we know the
worth OF the blessing France has just
achieved and how absolute necessity it is
to the permanence of the republican system.
Here, as in France, there are those who, for
their own objects, desire to destroy our pub
lie school system and to pervert the schools
into mere tools of sectarianism, but our
people know the value of the public schools
and will sustain them.