The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-06-05
legislatures and Of administrative bodies,
r. 10 nrod;calitv for material things.

legislatures and of administrative bodies,
it is prodigality for material things.
They are aprodigal for sewers, which are
.yery good things indeed. They are
.prodigal for political nstrumentation, Tor
politicians. Lam not stingy; l am will
Ing Ing that they, should have something.
But their prodigality is for everything
that is material. Their stinginess is for
that which comes right home to the very
instinct and interior heart Of true wisdom
and :bepevolence:; Economical for
schools, prodigal for politicians, stingy
for schools, but able to build great city
edi6ces. that men may have jobs and
make money. Aqueducts, street sweep
ings, new; street openings, new pavements
ali these material improvements are very
good. I believe in them. | rejoice in
them but I. tell you that the road to
wisdom is more precious road than the
road between here and the metropolis of
the earth, if there were one.
Take care of the schools and have
morezpf them, and if you are going to
take care of the schools, take care of the
school teachers. If you are going to
take care of the school teachers, under
stand one thing. You never will be able
to have the best schools for the children
of the poor, until you make it the inter.
est Of men and women to devote their
lives to that business, just as professional
men devote their lives to their occupa-
tions. Give the Mayor less. Give the
Aldermen less. if YOU give anything.
IF they have nothing, they will get it,
Reduce salaries everywhere, but increase
them in schools. Now, not one in TWEEN.
ty:teaches school, except as stepping
stone to something better by and by. a
Young man wants to raise money to go
to college with. When be gets through
there he wants to raise money to 60
through his profession, and when he has
got money he abandons the school. We
do not do so in medicine, we do not do so
in law, We do not do so in the ministry.
We do so in our common schools, and
vet the teachers of our common schools
are of more value to the children of the
whole community than lawyers, doctors
and ministers rolled up in bundle all
together. We have been working at the
top of society. We have been forming
our estimates of value by meretricious
standards. The child is more 10 the
mother than all creation. The weak and
the poor are more to God than all crea-
ton beside. It. ought to be so, to 9
Christian community, to the church, and
to civilization which boasts so much Of
its Cristianity.
A woman goes into the common school
saying, 81 dedicate myself to the chill
dren of the community 2" No, no, it is
a good place to wait in.until God sends
some one to take her out Of it, and then
she goes Men are making it q thing
aside, but we must make the schools so
honorable that no other schools can live
along side the public schools; because
they are schools for the children of the
poor, for the helpless and the lowest and
the poorest, and even for the outcast, you
must make them glow with beauty and
honor. Do not crowd them. Do not
poison the children and suffocate them
with unventilated air. Do not make the
schools like barns trsnsmogrified with
seats. Make them palaces of beauty.
Build at the bottom. Build with beauty,
build with power. Let the cradle domi.
nate over the State House, and over the
City, Hall. The power. Of. the State lies
in the bottomeof it..5Take care of that
and you take care Of the whole.