Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-01-10
STATE rEACHERs. AssooF aEIos.

hudson at the Opening OF the Twenty
Fifth Annual Session, Dee. 29ths 1854.
liT- President. aHd ladies Gad Gentlemen.
1t Is a source of sincere pleasure TO me,
and esteem 1t an honor, to say a few
words Of welcome to the distinguished
members Of the profession of teaching
gathered in tins hail tonight. Evely
citizen who cares for the present or
future Of the Nation, every intelligent
man or woman counts the teacher q
friend, and must be permitted to thank
your President for the opportunity Of
] being with you and welcoming you, not
only IN behalf of the educators of the
/ Capital City of the State, but for all our
! people, who extend to you a cordial
+ greeting and would express more warm
/ ly than my words can, the hope that
/ your stay IN the city may be one Of pleas
ure and profit. You have come from all
/ parts Of our prosperous State to give to
/ each other the benefit of ideas cleaned
/ IN your various fields of labor, to give
\ your holiday to the discussion of topics
/ which relate to your every day work, q
/ spirit of self-saCrifice that has surround
/ ed your profession with q halo of senti-
ment that men give to the unfortunate
missionary.
It occurred to me, Mr.. President. that
possibly one object in asking a practical
/ business man to make an address of well
come was to draw forth something upon
/ the educational work from his stand
point. I must confess that the problem
Of how to educate our sons and daugh-
ters has been to me an unsOlVed one, to
which L have returned from time to time
as the Dah1ed inventor who seeks per
petual motion. It has seemed to me that
judged by the results our splendid educa-
tiOnal facilities, free schools, colleges
| lFF7aE - nd n
with every modern convenience and in
VentiOn, manned by superior men and
women, guaranteeing to the youth the
nearest approach to an easy road to a
complete education, there is somewhere
something radically wrong. 1t may be
in the home back of the school or in the
tendency Of the age, too much in a hurry
to be thorough in anything; but certain
1t is that the country, from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, is full of fippantly edu-
Gated young American IOaf6Ts. The
American youth is on the hunt for any
easy situation, commanding such salary
as will give him responsibility. What is
true Of the boys is equally true Of the
girls. The Gay of apprenticeship to
useful trades by American sons has
passed by, and the great industries Of the
nation look to fOreign-bOrn boys for
workers, and in the near future they will
business while the American youth viii
seek a cIerkship in their offices. Wheth-
er the home or the school is most to
blame I do not undertake to say, but it
Is the experience of every business man
employing labor, that nine out of ten
applicants for situations among educated
young men and women want to be copy
lists, or to secure easy clerical work of
some kind, There is in the air and
IL
situations that which leads graduates to
rush into the professions, now over
crowded with mediOCrity and imbeCility.
The young man who learns to say with
Evolutionary effect: 81 come to bury
Caesar, not to praise him" or debate up
on the question: "Shall the republic be
perpetuated?" is too great an orator to
become a master mechanic. He goes IN
to the law, and fits himself for that most
useless member of society, a cheap poll
tician. The girls, catching the fever of
the hour, paint PLAQUES without know
ing how to draw; dabble little IN music
and French, and graduate without being
able to bound the county they live IN or
to make a good thing to eat or to wear.
What do we educate our boys and
girls for? Why do parents strive,
year after year, that they may be able
to pay for the schooling Of the boy and
say to Mother Grundy: eve have given |
our children the best educational facili- !
ties the country offers" No; we strive |
to place in their hands, through the |
study of books, the elements for the /
real work of life. At school they secure /
discipline, continuity and application, /
the mere implements by which they |
may rise to be scholars and Intelligent /
workers. The parent fOndly says, James |
shows evidence Of genius, and the teacher /
says to the scholars: "I may now be ad- /
dressing the future Governor or Presi- /
dent" and James soon discovers in him |
self those budding evidences of greatness !
often revealed to the undergraduate. To |
learn a trade after that, is simply out Of ]
thequestiOn with James. He sits dOWnand /
waits to be President, and rounds up in /
twenty years after as the head clerk in 8 /
small grocery. In the home, which is /
the primary school, should be presented /
the idea which underlies the prosperity 4
and happiness of the community and /
Nation, viz: that boys and girls are to /
grow into useful, intelligent and indus
triOus citizens; that education fits them
to be husbands and wives and fathers
and mothers.
If we surround the boy at home and
in the school room with the sentiment [
that it is better for him to do something
well, rather than essay an impOssi Die
ideal; if we make him understand that
it Is better to be q master workman than
to be attached to the tail end Of pro-
fessiOn, We have laid the foundation In
that boy for a successful and useful man.
If we create good homes we found art
and musical centres, and thus make the
best foundation for a higher education.
To send the boy with a taste for agricul-
ture or mechanics out to hunt for Tepu-
tatiOn and competence In the profess
ions, or worse still, to permit him to
grow up In the belief that the world
owes him a living, is to add to the army
of charletans and quacks who become in
owaru CON .oLLrlit. ElLan.-- hl.r. Eaz- and e