Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-01-25

uot, une oli ab Well as tne young, OF tne
poor MS much as of those who lack moth
ing, and l have faith that it will have as
large if not larger number of patrons
than even our district schools. Alas our
library is at present small, but hope
there may yet be some of the generous
sons of Strafford who will enlarge it.
Still, it contains the hfe-work Of many
eminent authors, with whom if they were
alive, any of us would be proud to spend
a day and perhaps a night. Their works
still live. Here, without money and
without price, you can invite them to
your homes, and, however you may en-
tertain them, none will find fault with
your hospitality If you love them, none
will prove false, and they are yours for
ever.
Whether we study in academies and
colleges or in common schools, the edu-
cation of men must after all be mainly
self-acquired from standard books, from
observation and reflection. Much de-
pends upon diligence, memory and good
judgment 1t is not always the great
number of books which makes n man
learned, but the few which have been
mastered and 'inwardly digested" The
late Senator Collamer, whose solid fame
still eudures, outside Of professional read
ing, confined himself to very rigid se-
lection of books but he was thoroughly
familiar with the Bible, Shakespeare, Pill
grlm's Progress, and with few such no.
vels as the Vicar of Wakefield. Fractions
of time form in the aggregate all there is
of life, and no one can afford TO waste
time upon poor woork when good ones
can be had 30 cheaply.
am aware that we have had in town a
few men of rather rare, perhaps eccentric
character, whose rea ling appeared almost
exclusively confined to one book, that one
the Bible and the best. Irefer to Abner
Hail. Abel Rich andmy grandfather Nor
rill. 1t was difficult to read any verse in the
Old or New Testament that Mr.. Hall
could not tell from what book and chap
ter it came. The old proverb of "beware
of the man Of one book" was very ap-
plicable to them, for they were all addict
ed to biblical controversy. full of humor
Gus cranks and quiddities, and did not so
much appreciate the history and sublimi-
ty of its great chapters and the beauty
and force of the English language en-
ployed, as they did its hooks upon which
| to hang arguments but they obeyed
generally its simple laws and Christian
ethics, which at least made them, in all
their dealings man with man, upright and
downright.
The age we live in demands a broader
culture. Doubtless the doctrine of "what-
seever ye would that men should do to
you, do We even so to them," will never be
repeated too often, but fundamental in
tellectual and moral education is the nee
essity of man, that which distinguishes
| him from the lower animals, and has be-
come the primary security Of a Republic.
Men, it is said, "are but children Of
larger growth. and all, as we know learn
most while young but, by the order of
Providence, created but little lower than
the angels, they are never too old to
learn.
The spinning-whoel, the woOden-plow,
and even the astronomy and chemistry of
forty OF fifty years ago, are nearly if not
altogether obsolete. The young school
girl of to-day is frequently taught more
about gravity and electricity than New
ton or Franklin ever dreamed OF. The
science of a past generation is little bet
ter than an old Almanac We have to
make way for steam, the silo, and the
electric light, and take our lot with the
activities, with the progress Of fifty nil
lions Of the earth's most favored people.
How happy ought all those to be who,
living in the present age, are yet perhaps
young enough to witness the history and
to contribute their share to the advance
ment of the human race in science, virtue
and knowledge for the next half of a cen.
tury, during which it is to be hoped that
Americans will maintain "a rank no less
distinguished than in the past
I have looked with some regret over the
records of the town school districts. and
comparing the statistical data of to-day
with that Of 1910, find a sad difference
as we then had much larger population
and greater proportion of the young.
If the number of children has dimin-
ished, let us increase their advantages
and make the most Of what we have To
all of our churches, I am informed less
than two hundred persons resort for any
instruction. Some auxiliary help from
books, from library, would seem to be
reasonable, If not almost our only and
last resource.
The supremacy of educational culture
80 often credited to New England, and
the pure democracy illustrated in her
township governments, where one mans
vote is as potential as any other, we
should remember, has resulted from aud
can only be successfully maintained by
the general and thorough intellectual
training of our people The Jews were
once the chosen people of God, with Mo-
ses and Solomon as leaders while to-day
they are outcasts, having no promised
land. The Greeks were also once the
foremost among mankind, whether in elo-
> quence, arts, poetry or philosophy, but
they do not now compare favorably with
: the Germans whom they were wont two
hundred years ago to call "brute beasts. "
| believe in family races of men, GER
tainly as much as in those OF horses or
> cattle, but the characteristics of our faith
) ers will most surely be retained by the
perpetuatiOn and transmission of their
habits and virtues. They were largely
reading and thinking men-men of ro-
i bust growth and generous instincts. BY
no neglect on our part in supplying full.
i and the best, resources for human i'm
u provemont, should we permit the pecu-
> liar glory OF our ancestors to become OBJ
= scured and finally lost.
Amid all Of our struggles in politics
and the common collisions in the pursuit
!, OF gam, there is no town, | have long
y been glad to believe, with larger heart
= or one more ready to respond to patriotic
! and generous impulses, on with more
! courage to stand mp for the right or t.
q condemn the wrong, than Strafl'ord and
y though we are not oycrstocked at present
. with population, nor with the goods Of
" this world, we can, like the Roman mn-
!, tron, point to the considerable number oI
= StrnlfOrd children by birth whose fortune
+ has raised them elsewhere to distinction
. or to wealth, and say, there are our riches
10 1t IS some honor to have contributed ON
IL ! full share, as / hope we have, to the Pun
~ :, tan stock which carries its well-earned re-
nown to distant states, and there does no
d blush to tell from whence it came.
o have never yet heard of the Vermonte
J. who was ashamed of his birth place.