The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-08-08
Educate Your Children.


Editor Mirror:
1t is sad. yet true, that in this enlightened
age of ours. when so many free schools
are established and education SO cheap and
convenient. that there are boys and girls
brought up into manhood and womanhood
without receiving common school educa-
ton, and some not even part of one. 1t
is shame and disgrace to any man or wti-
man to bring up their children in ignorance
l don't care who you are or what your con-
dition may be, if you have the will you'll
have the way to educate your children, if
you are fortunate enough to have any, and
the man who is selfish enough to keep his
children out of school for the sake of their
labor when not absolutely necessary. is
worse than all infidel and ought to be pun
iShed severely.
Take for example some of the farmers in
this country. AS soon as their sons receive
their first pair Of pants they are stuck be-
tween the handles of pillow and kept there
until they are able to manage farm them
selves. The same with some, if not all
the miners. They take their boys down in
to the mines at tender age and there they
remain until they are grown up. Likewise
the cotton and wooden spinners in the east
and south. Their children enter the factory
when young and spend the best part of
their lives there, instead Of going to school.
There ought to be law established through
out the United States compelling every man
to give his children at least firSt-claSS
common school education.
l am sorry to tell you that l haven't any
learning that amounts to much; yet what
little have would not part with for the
wealth of Gould EVERYBODY knows that
person don't know how to appreciate a
thing until they know the want OF it. So
the man of learning and culture does not
know what it is to lack an educatiOn; there
fore will try to picture to you the unedu-
Gated the man without knowledge. In the
first place, he cannot transact his own bust
ness or manage his own affairs. He don't
know how to conduct himself in society; he
has no idea whence he came or whittier he
is going. You ask him if he believes in a
Supreme Being-he may say yes; at the
same time he don't know the difference be-
tween belief and unbelief. Point out the
stars to him and tell him they are planets,
and you might as we'll tell him that they are
snOwballS. He knows no more about a
planet than cow knows about musket.
He is ignorant of all things; he is worse
than brutes that perish. He is not capable
of entering into channels of deep thought,
therefore his mind dwells within a small
circle whose center is himself.
Now, readers. if you have the care and
rearing of children, educate them to the
best of your ability, even if you have to re-
fuse yourself part of the necessaries of life
IN order to do so; and depend upon it you
will never regret it. This is what William
Penn wrote to his wife in 1852. with regard
to their children: Let their learning be
liberal; spare no cost, for by such parsmony
all is lost that is saved" These few lines
may be laughed at on account of their being
written by a convict; yet they are meant for
good, the same as though they were written
by Talmage or Beecher.
Hoping they will be the cause of giving
some poor boy or girl an education, remain
yours truly, A. r.