The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-03-20
HOW I WAS EDUCATED

The following IS an extract from an
 article entitled, Ho~ Was Educated written by Edward E. Hale for the frs, number of that splendid agazine, TAs FerEm:
 cannot remember the time when ! could read as well as can now. This Is saying very little, if may judge from who call on me every now and then, ask ing permission to improve my cacology But now read well enough to under. stand the simpler parts of the bible, anc such passages of the newspapers as are meant to be intellgibie And, to answ.r the question of 7Hs Forum "what came ot my education of the first seven or e,ght years, should say tha, this ability to read was one thing, a thorough fondness of arithmetic was another, a decided indifference to school rank, as something of no great conse- quence, was another had, all along, a very decided feeling that comprehended the position as we'll as the master did, and that it was as fitting that he should consult me. as him. But do not think
 
 belongs to what the orthodox call the de- prsvity of human nature, what Artemus Ward calls "absolute cussedness." and
 what Dr Charming calls mans conscious ness of the divinity within him.
 was nine years old when was transferred to a public school. And if anybody is reading this gossip for my advice, it would be simply this: If you are an American, send your boy to a public school. When l sometimes meet an American who does not seem to understand his own country, because he does not understand his own countrymen, always suspec, that he never had the great privilege of
 associating with the other boys of his
 town and his time at public school. or
 course, this advice is wholly different from the advice which the same words
 would give in Eogland The Public
 school there is a school of one social class, as most private schools are with us The school wasSent to was the Latin
 school of Boston, the oldest school in America. It was the school of Ben.
 Franklin, of both Adamses, of John Han
 cock, and in latter times, Of Everett
 of Sumner. and Wendell Phillips. We
 are all proud of it in Boston. In my day it was under the admirable care of Mir
 Dillaway, the same who is we'll known to teachers by his good editions to Latin text-books
 -l came home from this school at the end of the first month, with a report which sho wed that was niSth in class of fifteen. That is about the average rank which generally had 1 showed 1t to my mother. because had to. 1 thought she would not like it. To my great surprise and relief, she said it was very good report. 1 said l thought she would be displeased because was SO slow in the class. "Oh," she said, "that is no matter. Probably the other boys are brighter than you. God m ade them so, and you cannot help that. But the re- port says you are among the boys who behave we'll. That you can see to and that is all care about" The truth was, that at the end of the report there was a sort of sub-report of "Rank as regards conduct alone" were not the most i'm. |. portant affair in earth or heaven.
 It was spoken of as an insignificant and mean affair. somewhat as the ortho. dox pulpit used to speak of "mere mor- als," as if mere morals were some low
 trade a man engaged in. The boys never cared for this '' conduct alone |" re- port, nor the masters, as far as saw Bat if my people did at home, that was enough for me. And from that moment, dll left college was comfortably in- different as to school-rank or cellege rank. regarding which, as has been said, fhad formed my own opinion before.
 had four useful years at that school was growing fast, physically and re- member two summers when was taken out of school, and read the books at home. That is an excellent plan, when boy is growing fast. He soon finds out that he can do twice as much in the same tune at home as he ever does at school But it would be very poor plan to have him at home so much that he did not know "the ot CT fellows" remember where l sat at school, and how the room seemed glori6ed to me, when, after had been studying Latin three years, a gen. ueman named Streeeer explained to me what was meant by certain verbs "gov. erning" the accusative and genitive. 1t had never occurred to Simple that it was of any conse quence that 1 should know what this meant Francis c .rdnes taught me Greek from the beginning He was, in Boston, a distin guished man for nearly 6f,y years. It is privilege to have learned Greek with such a man 1 know it better than l know Latin now, and this is partly because he taught me But 1t is, 1 suppose, an easier language
 h the years between 1892 and 1852 the real system of instruction oy popular lec- tures was at its best In New England The present system of entertainment by kctures is wholly diderent AS boys, ws Iaasned great deal tt evening lectures, and spent our evenings in winter very pso6tably. SC no such opportunities How, and fancy that bright boys no~ lam from books, what we learned from men.
 Twas as Harvard college from 1855 to