Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-09
A TIMELY QUOTATION.
Higher Edccation and the High SchooI-
Some Foreible Remarks.

At the closing exercises of the High
School, in July, Rev. Carroll u. Davis, oi
this city, delivered the address TO the grad
uating class. WAile the entire address was
full of interest and vigor one portion of it,
relating more directly to higher education
| and the High School, we have deemed
of such special value as 10 demand publi-
cation for wider auditory than enjoyed
the address originally At the opening of
| a new school year the 7uotation we make
is stimely. Mr.. Davis ssid:
| In the multitude of blessings which this f.ir
| land gives to her sons and daughters we are apt
| TO forget how great they ara, and we fail to ap-
| preeiate them as we ought. The ceaseless
| march of events, which man cannot hinder
| goes steadily on the old and young, who have
lived their allotted span. pass beyond the silent
| tomb, and the growing generations take their
places and when the good and great, the men
| of intellect and reason, pass from earth, there
must be, unless we retrograde some to take
| their places. And who better than the children
OF those who have made this nation what il iSsS
| The same blood flows in their veins and why
should we not expect to here, with popula-
ton drawn from many nations we may COM
| bine the virtues and powers of all aud build q.
nation greater than any yet known to MANI
| And with this end in view, knowing the power
| and intellect must be brought out and trained
! and disciplined, the foundation stone upon
which Our country builds her future is the pub
| lie school, where every boy and every girl may
| gain the rudiments OF learning, and all may fit
themselves, whatever be their after life to keep
| pace with progress and 10 take an Intelligent
part in the affairs of men. With cosmopolitan
people, gathered from every nation, leaving, as
she must of necessity, the religious and spiritual
teaching to the home and the church, the State
takes care that the intellect is trained the moral
virtues inculcated, and habits OF industry and
perseverance formed.
In day and age when wealth and position
seem to reign supreme, when poverty and
l lrnAY
crimes, the State, better than the people pro-
claims the independence and equality of men.
She does not say to the down-trodden, stay
down. she opens the door TO knowledge and
knowledge together with pluck and perseYer-
ance, opens the way to all good in life-and the
| wider that door opens, the better.
/ would that more of the young men and wo-
men of our land could take advantage of the
higher walks of learning. Our State is growing
| growing rapidly-but we have not yet out
grown one serious evil-and that is the inordi-
| nate love of money. Money is good thing
perhaps We should all be willing to have little
more-but money is not everything. Too many
OF our children. and especially of our boys, are
| put in the shop and at the bench before they
| have gained good education. In some cases
| it may be from necessity, but in the greater
number 1t is because of the love of money. We
| live in an extremely utilitarian age, as it is
called-and then we adopt the most useless and
| nOnsensical ideas imaginable. People seem to
| think that human beings are mere machines and
| that the sooner you begin making them grind
| out dollars and cents, the better. There
| fore the grammar school, or perhaps the third
| or fourth grades, is enough. The child can
| read and write, and has learned that two and
! two make four. And then, If parents do COM
| nit the folly of sending their sons to the High
| School or the conege-they must needs take
| scientific courses-that what they learn will be
! so much accumulated capital Latin and Greek
| belong to old fogy days. You can't squeeze
| much money out of Greek verbs or Latin syn
| tax. And what is the result? OF all the men
at the State University who have graduated
| from the College of Agriculture, only one has
| gone TO farming; the young ladies from the
scientific courses are all teachers. and many of
| the young men who studied the sciences exclu-
| sively are now reading law. There are special
| cases, to be sure, when special courses are by
| the old classical course is still the wsest. The
| trouble is the whole question of education is
! misapprehended by these misguided people.
| The true end of education is to discipline the
mind, to enable it to concentrate its powers and
| energies and make it quick and ready.
am glad to live IN a community which ap-
| preciates the true end of education sufficiently
| to have well-equlpped High School, and
| trust that soon the State will encourage them
| generally as she did some years ago. The peo-
| pie who object to High Schools are either the
| dollars-and-cents sort of people-not much
| sense howeyer-or as the term was used the
| other day, they are dyspeptics, sort of dog-in-
| the-manger people. But, then, there are peo-
| pie who, if you gave them a $40 piece would
find fault because it was not presented on q sill
| yer tray. While freedom reigns in our land as
| never before known to the world yet the evil
have Liberties as well as the good. The coming
| generations must learn that license is not lib
| erty, that vice is not virtue; that truth and
| manhood are required of all. And how shall
| we tighten the darkness of ignorance; how
| shall we raise up men and women of character
| and intellect unless we educate them? And so
| | say to you, citizens of Sacramento. go on with
| this good work. Your school department is
| well-known throughout the State; your High
| School has been accepted, so that its graduates
are admitted to the State University without
examination-a fact which you owe to the
nf and FArNy TN ~
| that you have such Principal. Go on. say,
with your good work. and let no false idea of
economy, which is always the demagogue's
i,S iuHtt