The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1888-08-24

ponded 70 Il. II would Be necessary
70 take the prairies Of Iowa, The rug
ged timber lands OF Name and the en-
tire delta Of the Nile, twist them to.
gether and thrust them through the
Amazons to produce aaother Lonisiana.
Now what he wanted was this that
that portion Of geography which wac
exceptional in its nature and marvel.
ous in its productions should be able
to produce men and women that we're
not unworthy Of the soil upon which
they trod.
It was his dream in earlier life that
man, by our efforts, should be trained;
that every muscle Of his body and
every fiber should be perfectly trained
to its position, and even his heartbeats
would respond to the law and order Of
a cultured being, that he could thus
be placed on bis feet erect, strong,
healthful, energetic, moral force
not a weakling, but a power in the
land. In no place where be had gath
cred with men Of intellect and mind
on the continent had lie met with
more cultured gentlemen than in tho
assemblies of Louisiana. He had ad
mired them for their breadth, for their
depth, for their thoroughness and their
culture; but that was not the point to
which ho wished to speak that night
That there should bo a grand few
that was the glory Of the Greek The
great question was the education Of
the masses--that every man and every
woman should be perfectly trained and
educated.
No fortress could be stronger than
it's weakest point No people could
be stronger than the masses which
made up that people, What made a
nation firm, great and wise was to have
education all through its people Gil
tered down even to the lowest so That
when We were seeking men of intellect
men of power and men of thought,
like the wild and wonderful forces
which were being drawn from the earth
by science and thrust upon a civilized
mankind, they might be drawn from
that community.
Il made him shrink 10 sec that hue
neighbours boys and his own boys
could not be selected TO take these
favored places. Why2 Because they
had not been sufficiently educated,
He wanted to sec education in this
grand country correspond to the coun-
try, If it did not it was because we
we're unworthy Of the country in which
we resided. What must be done2 In
the first place we needed organization,
cooperation. II was impossible to
carry out broad education by employ
ing teachers to entrust our townlets
and it was not the best why to instruct,
In order to make strong boy YOU
must thrust intellect against intellect,
brain must rub against brain, force
must meet force. This was the secret
of the strength of the old Greeks. II
was the rubbing Of muscle against
muscle, only now it was brain work
Nh0 lANb hlhAGi 60 VI JOlNs
So we must bring our boys and girls
together in groups 80 that they may
be matched against the best iptelleots
Of the land as they rise from the com
mon school through the gymnasium
and the college 70 the university
Take o poor boy who has had no an
tecedent advantages and place him
side by side with q boy who has had
all the advantages that wealth could
give, The poor boy would try to
messuEe up somehow, just as the Yer
monters grew to be tall and slim
they got up every morning 10 see if
they could not peep over the tops Of
the Green mountains, In the great
west but few of our foremost people
started with much IN life. They came
from the homes of the small farmers
and they learned to toll when they
were children, If they had accumu-
lated much wealth il was due to their
own energy. If they graced the halls
of legislation at Washington and sat
beside the greatest senator and were
his peer TO what did they owe it2 10
the institutions Of the common school,
the college and their own brave hearts
and machless courage, All things in
q country were but poor and worthless
trash II they did not help TO make
men and women of the grandest kind,
All roads eentered in Rome, and in
this modern era all forces oentered ia
the school-house. All forces should
60 70 make pure, strong young men,
and if anything tended to debilitate or
enfeeble them we must cut II out.
Education IN its broad sense was every
thing. A nation could not be wiso
and pure when the masses were the
reverse. So We must make our boys
and girls high aud pure-mindod, Yir-
tuous and energetic, and teach them
all the grand possibilities Of life. IN
the great future when these forces
had accumulated and in the process Of
the struggle Of nations some would
rise aud others fall but he felt it
would be their part 70 see great pa-
tion Iiae here upon tho gulf eoast.
Gathered n that ball were the men
that could make a great nation. We
were making history fast and it wopld
be recorded Oh the pages of that hls-
tory whether we had been worthy or
unworthy We might found a gfeat
and strong people like the Eplnapa,
cnltnred Ike tho Greeks, and with all
the enthusiasm and fire Of lhe ancient
Safacenes. The quastion was not
whether We could Faise iiflg Bnshela
Of corn 10 the acre 81 cotton bg the
square nile, Pr money By lhe thoHsaaa,
but can we proaaee here m these
days of society grand young mepSa pare,
beauiifpl and noble gomen
Ehe A.fs4Ae 0rMktan.