The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-06-14

cord with the prevailing sentiment of the pres
ent age. Almost every question OF education Is
row put to the test of utility. "Of what use Is
it?' or Can il be put into practceE that is, can
| it be made to assume some material shape, or be
utilized il some direct way TO make money, are
! questions often asked by the would-be learner
| The test in one way, seems a proper and rea-
| sonable one, for certainly we would not waste
time and effort in learning that which is useless.
And so We have come TO call this utilitarian
age, and we parade this character sometimes IN
! a way to cast the inference that there has never
before been time so eminently practical.
| 1t may well be questioned however, whether
we are right in claiming such superiority over
the ancients in our methods of instruction. 1t
should be a rule to judge the merits of any sys-
TEN of instruction, or plan of any kind in fact,
| by the results il brings about And are we sure
| that this age will leave any more lasting monu
ments Gifts eminence than has Greece, or Rome,
! or Egypt: The young Greek and Roman students
were taught to observe and to think as they
applied themselves TO study and to the acquisi-
| ton of knowledge and the results were the ma
terlaliZation of the grandest concepts ever
known-so grand that they are models of beauty
| and admiration and of instruction and imitation
| to-day.
To the philosopher the rhetorician, the math-
ematician, the connoisseur, what JOY dwells in
the study and contemplation of the works OF
these ancient masters. The secret of these re
suits, and here is the point 1 wish to make, is
the close observation of nature and
THE APT AND PERTINENT REASONING
in relation to every subject Of attention that
presents itself
| Utility is a sort of fashion word: that is its
meaning varies, according TO the notions of the
| age. Sometimes it is the realization of beauty,
| or of refinement, or of knowledge, or OF wealth.
or of faith, or of present comfort, or of eternal
| glory. If there is any fixed character to be
given to the word, it means that quality or con-
dition that comprehends the greatest happiness
| Happiness, 1t seems to me, must certainly be
taken as the ultimatum Of all human am and
ambition. Although may not always give
our aim that Interpretation. Some work for
happiness or pleasure like they do for daily
wages, expecting their pay as they go along;
| others are content to wait its accumulation In
the future. miSer is an extreme case, not an
| exception, but an anomaly, one of the kind that
are never happy unless they are miserable.
We are all after the highest enjoyment. So,
with this view the question with us o-day is,
does our plan of instruction in its results give
the greatest total happiness TO the scholar-the
greatest here and hereafter. Greek and Roman
models give us ecStatic pleasure to-day, and
doubt whether We have the appreciation of them
as had the average citizen of these two civilized
nations, who was taught to be close observer
and a concrete thinker. So the best use we can
put anything to is to get out of it the greatest
possible enjoyment, and believe that habits of
close observation and right thinking directed to
some definite purpose, if this purpose is the best
| good of the individual and his surroundings, are
| the most practical in their results. If ! have
possessed any influence in directing the educa
ton of the
| STUDENTS OF THIS UNIVERSITY.
1T has been eXerted in this way of making them
true observers and practical thinkers.
The public, l know, has been captivated in
these times by the idea that manual labor is an
essential element of practical education.
| Muscular force is only the servant of intelli-
gence well trained mind will soon bring the
muscles, and the whole body into subsection and
obedience when il is necessary TO do So Train
the mind first on general principles and then
attend TO the details of physical or material ap-
plcat1on. l do not say that good habits of
| observation and careful and practical thinking
may not be even better learned by constant
| contact with material questions, yet in general
such contact during the period of school life is
impossible, except at enormous expense.
| In addressing you as students about to gra
duate with honor from this school, l am ex-
pected TO say something TO you by way of con
graduation or encouragement, advice. I
! heartily congratulate YOU the success YOU
have achieved after the years of earnest toll
| that know you have spent TO reach this object
| of your ambition. l can give you no encourage
ment of success in life dependent on your quail
tcation as students, except what is merited by
| real worth and won by aSSlduouS devotion and
application. 1t Will never do to trust to chance
or good name, or a mere reputation, or to the
hope of inheTiting virtue and talent if you wish
| to be somebody in the world.
| To succeed you must work and give attention
| to your buSineSS-yOu must make II specially
| Learn to treat every question Of Importance as
! a reality ana with the aid OF your imagination
and reason bring ii to some definite conclusion.
| However complex the subject for solution before
me is, endeaVer to solve il by u sort of analysis
| that Is, | divide and perhaps SuD-diVide it into
sections, or into simpler topics or into the ele-
mentary propositions of which the whole subject
| is composed.
In this way of treating subject there is al
| ways a succession OF little victories in cOmpre-
hending the successive propositions, or sections,
| that gives encouragement and a stimulus to
progression that leads as a rule to ultimate sue
cess.
! AS YOU ACQUIRE NEW KNOWLEDGE,
put il into immediate practice: if you have no
| real ODnOTtunltV TO do this work irnu1r-
mary occasion, in which you can work with
ideals as with real factors. l call to mind my
early practice as physician and surgeon.
Having just emerged from the university, quite
raw. with no more experience than what ] could
pick up from little charity practice in New
York, felt great responsibility and fear and
trembling, when l offered my services as an
NJ. D. to the public.
had no one to assist me or to depend upon
but myself, and no one on whom could shift q
difficult case. adopted the plan have suggested
TO you of bringing up in my Imagination all kinds
of emergency cases and going through them as
if they were real ones. | found that this eXer-
else gave me wonderful preparation for the
real cases when they did come. / adopted the
same habit in teaching and in other things with
which l have had to do, and nave always found
1t an excellent means OF preparation for meet
ing with Self-poSSeSSiOn, the realities Of life.
| We used to hear great deal about studying
for discipline, mere discipline. / don't think you
need TO indulge in that kind of useless exercise,
| there : enough practice III doing what pertains
TO realities either by actual experience or in the
imaginary exercise, l have suggested, TO con
sumo any surplus energy you may seem TO pos
SeSS.
1 agree with Prof. Chadbourne, of Williams
| college, Mass.
II you want discipline get it by doing a greater
amount of work and doing it in a better style.
| What sensible man would turn aside to ride over
| quagmireS and stone heaps for the sake of more
exercise for himself or horse:
An oak tree may be felled with stone Ratchet,
and one would get deal Of exercise in doing the
| job; but the same time and strength with good
| sharp steel ak, would give as much exercise and
| leave something to show for the labor. Leave
stone hatchets to savageS; let civilized men use
do the most work and do it in the best manner
remember, when boy of taking
MY FIRST LESSONS IN DRAWING.
was put at work to draw a straight line be-
tween two points. l tried long time, working
| diligently days and days, for wanted to know
| how to draw, but its accomplishment was too
much for me- ! could see no encouraging pro-
gress in my work, so / got tired and gave up the
whole business There was chance for plenty
of discipline; but of what use was it? AS long as
one can get a straight edge ruler. which will
beat all the hand skill in the world in making
straight lines why indulge in such useless labor.
| / doubt whether Prof. Ottinger, with all his
| skill and experience as an artist, can draw, un
| aided, a perfectly straight line between two
points five inches apart, and had he the ability
to do So question whether it would be Of any
great use to him.
1 want to say word to you here about perSe
verance; that is pushing your purpose to an end
without encouragement when you know you are
| right and the end Is possible. When you have
got good thing stick to it. / don't know that
any of you have ever heard of David Crockett,
! the Congressman from Kentucky, l believe, in
/ early days. Davy Crockett the backwoodSman
and hunter was the sobriquet by which he was