The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-02-28
For the Farmer and Mechanic.
The PenIt0ntlary w.. The UnIver-
0ttv.
BY A LAWYER.

In looking over the columns OF /.
newspaper the other day I came acros.
some very curious literature. Ate
reading the Press of the State for tn.
past year and especially that part of il
devoted to the praise of North Carolina
judge of my surprise TO find that 81 pei
cent of our white population cannot
write their W names; and further
that our white population is the mos,
illiterate in the Union. My surprise
was considerably modified when [ found
farther do an the column that we spen,
six times more last year upon the peni.
Tertiary than W. did upon the Univer.
sity and the Normal Schools. Occa.
sionally a man can be found who denies
the value and especially the money
value of education. So, too, L knew an
old fellow who took his ward from
school because he was taught that the
world is round.
Such instances are rare. But it is al
so true that we all act upon pretty
much the same principle. During the
last campaign many fearful and prayer
full applications went up from the whis-
key drinkers and the tobacco chewers
to get the tax taken from their favorite
commodities Nothing was SAID for
free education.
1t IA really dangerous for a candi-
date to be seen sober. Or course we are
superior to the Yankees. Everybody
says so, and what everybody says must
be true.
In Massacl .usetts less than one per
cent of the entire population is unable
to write. The people of that State
raise nothing at home to sell but ice and
rock. And yet they have $500 to ev-
cry inhabitant. We have the soil, the
climate, the minerals, the woods, the
chivalry, the beauty, and the genius Of
he world. They have the money.
That is very strange, and it is a matter
that our Congressman ought to investi-
gate. Surely We have not 'Ou rights"
Said Senator Bayard in the great and
Statesmanlike contest over who should
be doorkeeper of the Senate, I'VE have
the constitutional majority on our side
of the chamber" ''Yes," replied Conk-
ling, ''but it votes on our side"
Of course the time of man is limited
in this life. We have been very busy
settling who is be major and who cap
tai, and it could not be expected that
that We would bother ourselves much
about such sail matters as the Uni
versity and the normal schools, to say
nothing OF such vulgar matters as rail-
road freights, fares and connections, bo-
tel accommodations and charges, clean
streets, and many such trif1ing things.
To hurrah for 1.-THE party seems to be
the alpha and omega OF our existence.
OF course before anything is done for
the Cause of learning it must be thor
oughly settled that the privilege of get
ting drunk is not to be interfered with.
l have learned the impossibiIity of get
ting everything l var in this world.
And as l do not belong to that class Of
men who practice the unsatisfactory
method of cutting off the nose to spite
the face, l am willing to comprise this
matter.
If we are TO have free whiskey, give
III at the same time free education. Let
tuition at the University be free to ev-
erybody in the State. There are at
least ten teachers i'll the high schools in
Massachusetts who receive annual sal
aries aggrsgating thirty thousand dol
lars. Give the University this sum an
nually, and charge no tuition. Let ed
ucation there be free to all. That is
not 3 cents a piece for each of our in
habitants. Try this for ten years and
then compare wealth with Massachu-
sets.
One great trouble in our State is that
We can get along SO we'll without educa-
ton. There are 81 many great men
born here anyway that it would be
simply sinful to spend money to create
more. l have not heard of the death of
a single great man in ten years that
some North Carolina paper did not
claim this State for his birth place, or at
least that of his parents or some of his
kin. Old Thad Stevens had to bride the
people OF Pennsylvania to adopt their
magnificent system OF education. The
State levied annually a certain amount
for education, and put it into the treas
ury to the credit OF each county. accord
ing to population. Each county was
required to raise a similar amount be-
fore 1t could draw its quota from the
State treasury. After awhile the
amounts to the credit of the various
counties became SO great as to be worth
looking after, and ~ by one they
adopted the present system, which is
second to none. General Dick Taylor
saws in his book that he started out with
President Davis and his staff to go from
Richmond to the Army Headquarters,
a distance Of twelve miles. The party
got lost twice in going that short dis
tlnce. Every one of them ought to
have had in his pocket a perfect map of
the locality. l am afraid they were too
busy at the old and t~ime-honOred busi-
ness of settling who should be major and
who captain to attend to such a small
matter as a little geography.
The other morning at the breakfast
table my little boy four Years old, as
tonished everybody by remarking: Its
a getting id cold."
! lie is nothing but a struggle between
man and the forces of nature. To sub
jugate them the wise man uses one to
neutralise the other.
Thus We put out fire with water, or
increase it with wind. The Yankee has
conquered cold with steam. and hre and
fHrs, and energy. Hayipg torpn around
I'd keep warm: he prefers to shove a
jack plane'for three dollars a day. In
that way he keeps warm and makes
none at the same time. The man
near the Equator has heat to contend
with. Heretofore he has done that by
getting in the shade and wrestling with
an iced whiskey julep. ThGtls thp oply
difference tthere Il between the Two. In
every other Respect they are similar.
Cold and heat form the habits OF men.
Whoever has not done so should read
Diapers History Of our late civil war
on hat TOPIC. Now although on that
particular morning the weather was a
'.sneezer," yet we live in q very tenn
perate and delightful part of the world.