The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-11-09
THE VALUE OF EDUCATION.


The best gift father can bestow
upon his children is the gift of
good education. Money given may
be lost; and character may be lost
with it. Such double wreck is not |
uncommon. Money given to an IN
educated or ill-educated child is al |
most sure to be lost; for the fool and |
his money are soon parted. But a |
good education is inalienable. No
one can rob the possessor of his IN
heritance, and he cannot give 1t
away. There are holes in the pocket
and wealth slips out; but wealth OF
brain is safely invested. Moreover,
it brings, if not the other wealth,
what is better-a competence, and
capacity to enjoy it. Ignorance may
buy books, but cannot read them;
music, but cannot enjoy it; pictures,
but cannot appreciate them. The
wise poor man gets more out of life
than the rich fool. Finally, on the
lowest ground a good education is
noble beuuest. For there is always
an opportunity for brains in Amer
lea, and America always pays fair
price for brains. Competence in
brain is sure of competence in pocket.
Wise men are rarely rich, but they
are rarely poor, and never paupers.
The we'll educated do not gravltate
to the almshouse or the penitentlary.
The best provision father can
make for himself or his wife IN old
age is a good education given to his
children. He who has three or four
children well equipped in mind,
strong in will, rich in love, has the
best annuity and the best life insur-
ance. The father who has sown
bountifully will reap bountifully
Give, and it shall be given unto you !;
good measure, pressed down and
shaken together and running over
shall your children give into your
bosom. The father in his maturity
is the natural support of the child in
his youth; the child in his maturity
is the natural support of the father
, in his old age. The man whose saw
: ings bank is in his own children is
the thriftiest of men. Tuition bills
pay better interest on the capital
invested than any other investment.
The parent is not his child's best
teacher. Few parents have the
time. the knowledge, the skill. Di-
vision of labor is the law of the cen
fury; it is the condition of progress
Tolstoi writes novels well, but he
cobbles shoes badly. We employ a
gardener for our flowers, groom
: for our horses; why not teacher
for our children? He who is Jack
at all trades is master of none; and
: the well-educated child is educated
by master, not by Jack. Even
the professional teacher does we'll to
lntrust his children to some other
teacher, as professional physician
| his children, when sick, to another
physician. The father and mother
, ought to know what their children
are studying; ought to share their
, intellectual life with them; but
ought not to attempt to furnish it
Your children will get education
from you unconsciously; send them
to some one else for their purposeful
studies. John Stuart Mills would
have been broader man if he had
been educated away from home
Home is not a good place for study
Interruptions come too easily. It is
, too much to expect systematic
study of a child at home. All
homes are not ideal homes; and
, even from very good homes ii
may be we'll for boy to be separat-
, ed for awhile. Many a child first
learns to love his home when he is
away from home. The mother misses
her child, but that is not to weigh
in the balance. The mothers en-
joyment counts for nothing against
the child's welfare. Speaking gen
, orally, it is wise for every boy to
spend at least two or three years
away from home IN a boarding
school before he enters on life,
, whether in college or in business.
Are there not dangers in boarding
schools? There are. That is one
of the advantages. For our boys and
girls must learn to meet dangers,
and it is better to meet them at
first, under guidance and supervis-
ion, than to be kept from them in
youth and to be surprised by them
} in early manhood or wOmanhOOd