Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-03-29
KNOWLEDGE is POWER.

KNOWLEDGE is POWER.
Nowadays Eduoation stands 1t the HsaA
OF All Required Glfts.
In olden times education was not val.
ued as it is now. It was realized that
an educated man was in some sense su-
perior to ignorant people. but he was re-
garded as effeminate for wasting his
time in porting over musty parchments
and missals, and otherwise looked upon
pretty much as people nowadays re-
gard man trying to discover perpetual
motion.
Nowadays, says Golden Days, educa-
ton has been exalted to its proper place,
at the head of all acquired gifts.
An uneducated adult is an object OF
pity, and frequently of contempt, and
the very first step boy makes toward
future greatness is to acquire an educa-
ton.
He must be a stupid boy, indeed, who
does not value an education and realize
that he can not become great without it.
It is true that there are rich men who
are illiterate, but these are accidents Of
fortune. They may have had money
left to them, may have discovered
mine, or may have boarded up money
like miser. But these are exceptions
the rule is that education is the only
ladder to fame.
But then arises the question-what
| constitutes an education? The Wabash
railway has issued q positive order that
no boy shall be employed in any Of its
| shops or other departments, for the
| purpose Of learning any trade or skilled
| work, unless he brings q certificate
from his instructors stating that he has
completed his studies up to the second
class Of the grammar school. This would
include q knowledge Of arithmetic up
to mensuration. reading, writing,
spelling, elementary geography and
| grammar, some history, etymology and
natural history, and may be taken as
| fair standard of q common-school edu-
cation.
If a boy has the means and can afford
the time, he should not stop here. He
should go through the high school and
college, and take special courses in en-
gineering-civil, mining or electrical
chemistry, physics, or any one or more
Of the numerous useful branches now
open to bright, energetic boys. But If
he must stop at a common-school educa-
ton, or even if he goes through college,
he must not stop learning If he wishes
to become great.
Textbooks do not contain all the in
formation with which boys should ac-
quaint themselves. They are but the
foundation stones of knowledge. A boy
should study current events, tho history
of tho world which is always happening.
Here is where books, magazines and
newspapers have their greatest value.
He must read books of travel if he
would know about the geography of the
world; as, for instance, Stanley's de-
scription of Africa in the light of re-
cent discovery
Almost every day the bright boy may
read of some new discovery in science,
history, botany or chemistry, and add to
his education by just that much. The
knowledge thus acquired is always a
source of pleasure and frequently OF
profit. And it is a popularity of learn
ing that the more you study the easier
it is to study.
The man who has learned two Ian.
guages can more easily learn a third
one study acts as prop to another, and
SO it is in every branch. The civi. en-
: gineer could easily master electrical en-.
cheering, and the boy who reads his.
tory Understandings mbibes geography
with scarcely an effort.
In the case above quoted the railway
company has found that boys who have
completed the English branches OF
study learn skilled work more easily
than those who have not.
The reason is quite apparent. Skilled
work requires the exercise of the reason.
ing powers; the worker must under
stand the why and wherefore of his
work; he is not a mere machine set 60
ing. A boy with an education will
think while he works; he will study
and contrive the very best way of doing
any thing; his brain has been drilled tc
reason and it does reason.
Such boy is twice as valuable to his
y employer as an unthinking, ignorant
d boy, however obedient and willing he
s. may be, and the employer is bound tc
o. appreciate his services at their proper
worth. Such boy is bound to rise out
n Of the everyday rut; he will master his
II trade in half tho time an ignorant lad
a. would consume.
These are prizes worth striving for
and they are within the reach of any
boy Of ordinary ability who will stud,
with diligence after he leaves school
If he doesn't bother with learning
any thing now" as some boys are fond
of Boosting, the chances are that he
will stand all his life at the foot of the
* ladder; if he wishes to climb he must
study, and before he has grown out Of
young manhood he will be glad to admit
that knowledge is power"
A Nation OF Knights.
The old remark that the American:
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