The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1891-02-21


ipes to the elementary branches, while
others would make the Public School the
PEOPLES University, with curriculum as
broad as the boundaries of human knowl-
edge or the necessities of man. There Is
an old adage that will apply here, VIZ =
whatever is worth doing at all, Is worth
doing we'll" The State has assumed the
responsibility of public education. She
has undertaken to prepare her youth for
the duties of citizenship, and she should do
it well. We have reared upon this west
ern continent political superstructure
whose foundation is the rdtue and iHtetti-
geaee of the people. But if that founda-
ton is deficient, if the people are not
virtuous and intelligent, the superstructure
cannot stand And it will be deficient in
these prerequisites of citizenship unless
the work of education is properly performed.
1t is eminently proper, therefore, that the
State should be careful in the proper train
ing of her youth, since they are soon to
become part of the State, and if they are
educated into men, "high-minded men,
who know their duties, but know their
rights, and knowing, dare maintain, then
the State will have done her duty and is
properly constituted, having prepared her
youth for the high responsibilities of citi-
zenship in this land where every man is
an integral part of the government.
There are those who prefer the private
school. or the parochial school, for the rea-
son that the moral training in such schools
is better, they think, for there they have
the bible and the catechism. There are
extremists on both sides, for and against
the bible and the catechism. But there is
middle ground on which all can stand.
For the sake of harmony we would lay
aside the catechism to satisfy the sectaries;
but they are fastidious indeed who could
not meet in the public schools on the COM
mon ground of the Lords Prayer, the
Decalogue the Apostles Greed and the
Sermon on the Mount These are a sufi-
cient groundwork for the moral training
of youth, and no public school should be
without them, or a portion of them, in
their daily opening exercises.
Every school should be opened with
prayer Our State Legislatures, politica
conventions, and the daily sessions of Con
gress, are all opened with prayer. We al
remember reading of the incident in the
first session of Congress, when the business
of the session seemed to come to a halt on
account of the confusion growing out of q
contraricty of views among the members
In the midst of their dilemma prayer was
suggested They at once knelt down and
invoked the divine guidance in their de-
alterations. after which the business pro.
ceeded without any further confusion. II
these large representative bodies are proper
ly opened with prayer, should not the pub.
lie schools be opened in like manner?
Think you there could have emanated
from schools governed in that way, such
agnostics as Paine, Voltairc, Rosseau,
/ Hume. Voncy, and our own Ingersoll
No, the seeds of revealed truth, planted in
infancy, would never have been eradicated.
The moral superstructure reared upon such
1 foundation as this, would have been en-
during Upon such foundation every
preceptor should build. He is building
character, molding the moral man, build
ing for time and for eternity. The name
and fame of the great architects Of the
world will 90 sounding down the ages in
connection with the great monuments OF
their genius. Sir Christopher Wren s
name will long be associated with St
Paul's, of London; Michael Angelo will
live in history while st. Peters, at Rome,
endurcs: the name of B. II. Latrobe will
never be forgotten while our own Capitol
at Washington cndures, which, with the
extension of Thomas u. Walter, the arehi-
tect of Girard College, Philadelphia, has
made the Capitol the most stately and i'm
posing edifcc the world ever saw since the
days of Solomons Temple, on the site OF
which now stands the Mosque of Omar
the shrine of the devotee of the False
/ Prophet. All these buildings, grand and
imposing as they are, will ultimately crum-
bic and fall, by the cOrroding tooth Of
time, by the shock of battle, or all-devouring
flame; but the faithful teacher is building
for time and eternity, he is building moral
character, an edifice that shall endure while
eternal ages take their solemn round.
We have heard great deal, Of late
from Mr.. Stanley, the great African ex-
plorer, about the dark continent, about
darkest Africa, and its almost impenetrable
jungles, peopled with race of dwarfs, moi
over three and half to four and hall
feet in stature, with their little round
houses of turf, their poisoned arrows, deer
sunken eyes, and benighted intellects. Yet
he told us recently, in one of his lectures,
that these dwarfs in body and mind were
about as intelligent as fifty per cent. of the
inhabitants of our great American cities
We cannot accept this statement as true
for the inhabitants of our cities enjoy the
enlightenment of public schools, open
churches, and an Omnipresent press that
sheds the rays of knowledge through al
ranks of society. There are dark spots
however, in all cities where the light has
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