The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-08-15

implies that broadening of the mind
which comes from wide and generous
reading. 1t indicates that extended
horizon which those secure who climb
to mountain tops. Hence, a man OF
culture is never bigot. He has read
too much not to know that every ques-
ton has two sides. He is wise enough
to know that even in evil "there is a
soul of goodness, would men obser-
vingly distill it out"
1t must not be understood that this
culture is found only in the walls of a
university. There have been gentle
men and ladies, philanthropists and
philosophers who never took, under
the guidance of faculty, liberal
course of study. The courtliest gen.
tleman that ever graeed the presence
OF kings and queens, the manifest man
that ever lowered in the press of
knights, the most eloquent orator
that ever spoke the English tongue,
the greatest master of subtle har-
monies, the most consummate artist,
and the profoundest philosopher that
ever sounded with his plummet the
illumitable ocean of human passions
and desires, never wore the academic
gown. Whom can mean but Shakes
peare? We are, however, not all
Shakespeares; and to ignore or slight
the well recognized means by which
we can be assisted in our efforts to
attain culture, because some have
attained it without assistance, would
be folly. In your scheme of
studies, then, do not neglect
those that tend to ameliorate
your natures and to widen your views.
You will find them to be the sources
of the purest and most refined pleas
ures, and the incentives to the noblest
and manifest actions.
But in addition to we'll trained in
tellect and broadened, cultivated views,
a literally educated man should have
a fully developed moral nature. He
should be able to discern clearly and
distinctly the fundamental principles
of right, and should have the power
OF will to act upon them regardless of
what the consequences may be. In
deed, he will know that the conse-
quences must, in the end, be equitable
and just, "for the Lord God omnipo-
tent reigneth," and His universe is
governed by moral as well as by phys
ical laws.
The ability to do right simply be-
cause it is right is the contamination
of all systematic training; it is the
browning glory of educated man
hood and womanhood. A man
may have an intellect that is
a clear, cold, logic engine, ready
to be turned to any kind of work, to
spin the gossamers as well as forge the
anchors of the mind but what if he
is an habitual liar? A man may have
all the graces of a Chesterfield, and
all the accomplishments of an Admir-
able Crichton; but what if he is NOR
ally rotten and corrupt? A man may
have as broad a mind as Bacon's; but
what if he takes bribes2
Can virtue be taught Socrates as
serted that it could, and / don't know
that he was entirely wrong. Whether
morality is legitimate subject of edu-
cation or not, it is certainly true that |
it is during the period usually devoted |
to education that habits of morality
are generally formed. 1t will be dur
ing your stay in the school, college
and university that you will probably |
receive the finishing touches to that |
moral education which began at your
homes. This part of your training
must, from the nature of the case,
be largely an individual matter,
You will be taught the fun
damental principles of ethics as they |
have been written down in books, and !
which every educated man ought to
be familiar with, but it will be in your
daily intercourse with your fellow
students and with your teachers, and |
1T will be in your daily communings
with yourself that you will. find oppor-
tunities to test your moral sense and
strengthen your moral purpose. In
this self-training your best and safest
guides will be your conscience and the
Sermon on the Mount.
Such, in brief, are, according to my
ideas, the fundamental elements of
liberal education. Wherever they are
found the possessor is an educated
man, whether he ever took degree Or
not, and when they are not found the
man is not completely educated man,
enough he holds diplomas from hall
the universities of Europe. Any So
called scheme of education which
omits them is a sham and delusion,
as those who embrace 1t will find to
their cost when it is too late to remedy
their mistake. LESLIE WAGGENER.
The Shop and the School.
The vast majority of mankind is in
crested in the shop. The after-school