The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1883-07-19

In order that you may realize all
the possibilities that lie in your
future path,
|. Aim erer to be thorough.
TO the credit of the learned and
venerable head Of the Walhalla Fe.
male College, its course of study
has been chosen with a view to lay.
ing an educational foundation SO
deep and so broad, that its grad
yates might in the future, rear any
praiseworthy ideal superstructure
upon it. The old inductive idea Of
education, regarding the mind as a
mere receptacle of knowledge,
which only required filing up in
order to be educated, has long since
been discarded. The natural re-
bound from this extreme was its
opposite, which regarded education
as simply process of eduction-a
drascing ont of the undeyeloped
powers. The truth here, as else
where, lies in the,golden mean. The
mere filing up of the minds re-
captivity with Latin, French, His
tory, Philosophy, and various other
branches of study, may be accom-
plished by some minds with very
little education. Some memories
are very capacious, but what is a
capacious memory without judg-
ment, taste, or practical sense? A
mere prodigy in knowledge may
be q prodigious failure in every
thing else. And so may the man
be whose education has been con-
Quoted upon the droacing ont theory
Of pure mental gymnastics. Edu-
cation includes a proper kind of
knowledge and that mental dis
cipline which is necessary to apply
it wisely. These requisites cannot
be attained without that thorough
study which makes the student
master Of each branch as far as it
is taken up in his course. The
mind gains strength by conquering
difficulties in study, and it becomes
weak by retreating before them.
There is such thing as mental de-
moralization from defeat. If a
branch Of study conquer the stu
dent, instead Of the student con-
quering the study, it will not be
long till that student is in full re-
treat before every study that re-
quires close application. Soon his
whole way will be hedged up, and
he will BY helpless prisoner, and
the sooner he is exchanged the
better. Many of the different
branches of study are so related to
each other Il at one slight omission
may make n impossible gulf be-
tween it's Il ver and higher parts.
A chain with a missing link will not
bind. The mathematics, from the
multiplication table to the calcu-
lation Of an eclipse, are all linked
together, am, if the student miss
one important link, he can make no
certain progress in that study until
he has gone back and replaced it.
So it is, to a certain extent, in
languages, the physical sciences,
and many other branches. All of
particular department are so re-
lated, the higher to the lower, that
the stndent can only make certain,
safe and comfortable progress, by
thoroughly mastering all that he
undertakes. Such course stores
the mind with useful knowledge,
and at the same time, imparts to it
the discipline that is necessary to
it's right application. However
greatly the circle of study may be
enlarged in after life, there will
then always be capacity to gather
treasures Of wisdom from it's hid
den stores, whether in the field of
literature, history, science, art, phil
osophy, social, or domestic life.
Thoroughness Of study at college,
supplemented in after life by the
continuance of the habit in an ever
widening field, not only multiplies
incalculably the education acquired
at college, but it will multiply doors
of usefulness on every hand, and
furnish the requisite ability to en-
ter these doors. and do the work
they require with masters hand.
II. Cultivate q passion for study.
If it is pursued from necessity
and not from choice, from mere i'm
pulse, and not from growing fond
ness rooted in deep seated princi-
pie, it will result in no certain pro-
gress. John Ruskin argues that
what a person does from the pleas
ure he finds in it, is play. In this
way work itself-even the hardest
work - becomes play. Farming,
merchandising, banking, soldering,
any and every kind of work, becomes
play to some men. They take just
as much pleasure in it as real players
do in their games, and that is one
great secret of their success. A
celebrated German author declared
that ':if the Creator should grant
him the possession Of all knowledge
as a free gift he would not thank
him for the boon, but if he should
grant him the everlasting pursuit of
it, he would render him everlasting
thanks All the great masters in
music, poetry. oratory, painting. and
sculpture, acquired a passion for
the art in which they excelled, and
thus made their life play. If the
labor necessary to produce the
JlEa1 or Paradise Lost hod been