Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-04

1t has been said, "Let me write the
songs of a people, and l care not who
makes their laws" And the knowledge
of human nature is no where better shown
than by the Jesuit in this, "Give me the
education of child till he is nine years
old, and any one may have the control OF
him afterward." Both of these claims
| are condensed in these lines.
's'Tis education forms the common mind
Just as the twig is bent, the trees inclined"
The songs, the hymns, the verses
we learn at the mothers knee, the
precepts upon precepts, the line upon
| line, here a little and there little, which
we have impressed upon us by our
| teachers in youth, the books we read
in our early manhood, all 90 to form
| character, and give a direction to our
| tastes, habits aud conduct which lasts
through life, and doubtless influences our
state of being through eternity. In few
words. this life may be considered the
| infant school of a course Of education that
NAV bring us into the company of the
angels and righteous men, made perfect
in the light of heaven, or cast us out
| into the realms of darkness and despair.
The pen is said to be more powerful than
| the sword, but writing by hand, although
pand thought and thus inaugurate the
| influence of mind upon mind, could not
reach the people till they could read and
ponder on what they read at leisure.
| Hence precision of language and simpli-
| city of style became essential in books
| before they could be effectively used in
popular education. And thus it was that
| The printing press became so potent an
agency in ditfusing the principles of the
] al frfC rHQf n n
! sixteenth century, through the publica-
ton of the Bible and tracts COM
mentating thereon. The Bible of that
| dan lCdS nOUel, as interesting
| and more absorbing than any of the pres
ent age. and its contents being Of the
deepest interest to man, it's morals imper-
ceptihly worked into the souls of those
who doubtless in many cases opened it
only from curiosity, and gradually
| brought about purer state of society.
| The translations of Wicklitfe, and of
Luther, were the sensation nOUeJS of those
| times, but have been in their numerous
versions supplanted by the works of the
| scientists, philosophers and rOmancers Of
the present. The effect of this is seen in
| the infidelity, incredulity, anti-Christian
| teachings, and autOnOmianism, now
| spreading over the world.
The reverend preacher sees this, and re-
|
| than opposing intellectual culture, which
he considers essential to the highest So
cial, moral and spiritual elevation of the
human race, urges a fostering of a taste
| for art science and literature, beginning
at an early age, by throwing within the
reach of the young books suited to amuse
and instruct them in all useful things.
He condemns the mass of novel literature
as vulgar and debasing, but mentions as
available for news the daily paper, for
| keeping up with the progress of the age
| the better class of reviews and periOdi-
calls, and for amusement or relaxation
such novels as Cooper, Walter Scott,
Dickens and Thackeray have put forth,
not overlooking parts of Chaucer, Shake
speare, Milton, Childe Harold and Shelly.
In support of MIR. StrOng's positions it
gives me great pleasure to make this
statement, viz: Some fifty years ago and
since l have been several times asked in
America and in Europe by strangers who
had visited Savannah to account for the
peculiar charm they had found in its So
ciety. They had been struck by the un=
ostentatiOus hOspitality-the unObtrusiVe
manners, the modesty and repOse
of its women. and the refinement
and intellectual cultivation of both
sexes. ! could only suggest
in explanation that the very imperfect
school system oil the day mad this merit:
In English we had the English Reader"
in Latin, Historic Saacre, Viri ROma,
Caesar and Virgil, and invariably chap
ter from the Bible, read by the teacher
without comment. Then the Sunday
school, and, above all, home culture by
the fireside, when evening visiting among
the parents was common, and children
were admitted to the drawing-room at
parties. Public balls were rare, and the
young never found at them, but chiefly
offered the solution in the books read by
the young: Miss Edgeworth's tales, ''The
Fool of Quality" ''RObinson CrusOe,"
ssDon Qfixote," Bunyan's "Pilgrim's
Progress,'' "Banks' and Ma