Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1890-12-18
For the Ellsworth American
College Education.
Mr.. Editor:


lege Education, signed .'E. F. o.. which
| read with much interest and with some
amusement. With like degree of inter.
est and amusement | read a criticism upou
the above mentioned article in your Issue
Of Dec {, signed zone of the Common
Herd"
with some of the statements tnd con
clusions In the article referred TO quite
! agree, to Others Unjust take exceptions
agree, then, that other things being equal
the educated man is better equipped to
make his way in life than the uneducated
man, but 1t Is the education that gives him
the advantage, not the place where he ac-
qulrcs It. As an eminent man once re-
marked 1t matters not whether he gets It
In college or out as long as he gets it. 1t
Is not the amount of technical knowledge
which man stores In his mind which thus
strengthens him, though that Is valuable
b,",t the mental training which he under.
goes N acquiring this knowledge This
training was as effcctually acquired bv
Eihu Burritt at th.I. forge as it ever was
by student in the halls Of Hazard.
That college life poltshes a mans nfs,n1, nftssn
hers Is perhaps IN some measure true. SO
does contact with refined people anywhere
ana There are more of such people ont of
college than in It, When one remembers
the disgraceful pranks at Harvard a wear
! "a h.p ba
er was smeared with paint, and other col
lege property ruined, or calls TO mind The
! recent shameful scenes at the Hoffman
| House IN New York on the occasion of
| the victory of the Yale foot ball team over
! Princeton, he somehow fails TO apprec ate
| the polished manners of college men and
thinks truly that they are in manners ycry
much like other beings agree That
man needs education whether ne .ntrrs
one OF the learned ayocations or not The
more he knows and the better his mental
training the better he viii Ill his place In
lltr. whether he be hod carrier or A par
son for the world needs INTELLIGENT labor
ers and Intelligent mechanics as we'll as in
teiigent professional men.
agree that college education il
source of satisfaction to man, in fact the
college graduate is apt To be entirely Tan
'r"ft SdtisHed with himself. Alas, He soon
finds by bitter experience that there are
smarter men in the world than himself
who received their education at some oh |
srb
tude OF their own studies That the col !
lcse student comes in contact with many !
bright minds and thus brightens and sharp |
ems his own will not attempt to denv.
the tide Of humanity with good principles, |
intelligence and the determination to sue
ceed is bound to do this
| do not agree that college educated
man can be distinguished among crowd
by his conversation, If F.. F. o. should
enter room full o eiucatrd people think
he could not for his life tell the college
man from the educated graduate of one Of
our High schools or seminaries, especially
II ten years had elapsed since the gradus
tion Of each. The recent graduate il j.
true, might be toLl h,- bi- sir Of conscious.
IL. 3nh"thG crowded world Whether
the college man was once regarded a.
being far above the common herd am
unable to state from my own knowledge.
Suffice ii to say that since that time public
sentiment has been so changed that f. +.
.. need have little fear when he graduates
from college that the common herd" will
fall down and worship him.
He remarks that after one has received
college education he is then capable Of
studying for one OF the professions The
inference to be drawn from this statement, /
is that man Is not prepared who has not
received such education 4 college educa-
tion IS great help in studying profcs- |
sion because of mental discipline acquired |
in obtaining it and also because of the !
habits of study thus formed, but that |
man NAV successfully study and practice a
profession without such college training is |
ahundantly shown at every bar and in |
every city in the land. knowledge of
Latin is required in studying both law and
medicine, and in the former some little
knowledge OF French is very handy to en-
able one to understand and pronounce the
legal terms which have come to US from
the Norman French, but sufficient know
ledge of these languages for this purpose
may be acquired in a High school course
or under a private teacher. Surely the
Latin terms and quotations one finds in le-
gal authorities are no more difficult than
the orations of Cicero, although the words
used are in many cases not the same, but
for that matter the vocabulary of law Lat
IN is different in many ways from that used
in anything read by students in college.
wish to warn f. F. o. of one thing,
and it is this college graduates are not
fitted BY their education to at once step in
to responsible positions" They must
learn the duties of that position in the
same way other mortals do. They must
learn to creep before they can walk" In
cidentaly they get a good many foolish
notions pretty forcibly knocked out of
their heads, but they are better for it af-
| terwards.
| must. beg to differ with +. F. o. when
he says.that few men ever rise high without
| a college education. He has evidently for
| gotten I will not accuse him of not know
ing) that Washington was not a college
! man; that Lincoln received very little edu-
catiopexcept what he himself acquired ;that
Andrew Jackson. whose vigorous admins
tration challenged the admiration of the
world, was not college educated; that the
majority of Congress to-day are not college
| graduates, and that some of the ablest
men in each House are not college men.
He does not seem to remember the honor
able career of Hannibal Hamlin, whom
every true son of Maine adores the match
less eloquence of Roscoe Conkling falls
unheeded upon his ear. They were not
college men, The wonderful success of
Grover Cleveland excites no admiration in
his breast, for he was not college man.
Hosts of statesmen, "heroes. martyrs,
sages" pass before him but he makes no
sign. He sees no beauty or comeliness In
any but college men.
Rouse up, E. F. o.. Shake of this spell
of complaceDcy which college influence
has cast over you! Be what you claim
that college makes man-broad-minded,