The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1891-02-13
KNOWLEDGE Is W

KNOWLEDGE Is POWER.
NowAdays Education Stands ut tho Head
OF All Required Gifts.
In olden times education was not val
ued as 1t Is nov. It was realized that
I'm educated man was in some sense SUI
pcrior to ignorant people. but he was re-
garded as cffeminato for wasting his
timo in porting owe musty parchments
and missals, and otherwise looked upon
pretty much as people nowadays re-
gard o man trying to discover perpetual
motion.
Nowadays, says Golden Days, educa-
ton has been exaltedto itsproper place.
at the head of oil acquired gifts.
An uneducatcd adult is an object Of
pity, and frequently Of contempt, and
the very first step q boy makes toward
future greatness Is to acquire an educa-
ton.
He must be q stupid boy, indeed, who
does not value an education and realize
that he . not become great without 1t.
1t is true that there are rich men who
are i~lliterate, but these are accidents OF
fortune. They may have had money
left to them, may have discovered a
mine, OF may have boarded up money
like . miser. But these are exceptions
tho rule is that education Is the only
ladder to fame.
But then arises the qucstion-what
constitutes on education? Tho Wabash
railway has issued a positive ordor that
no boy shall DO employed in any of its
shops or other departments, for tho
purpose Of learning any trade or skilled
work, unless he brings o certificate
from his instructors stating that he has
completed his studies up to tho second
class of the grammar school. This would
include q knowledge OF arithmetic up
to monsuration. reading, writing,
spelling, elementary geography and
grammar, somo history, ctymology and
natural history, and may be taken as
o fair standard of o common-school edu-
cation.
II a boy has tho mcans and can afford
the time, he should not stop hero. He
should go through tho high school and
college, and take special courses in on
ginecring-civil, mining or electrical
chemistry, physics, OF any III or moro
of tho numerous useful branches now
open to bright, energetic boys. But ii
no must stop at a common-school educa-
ton, or wen If no 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 40
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.
Hero is whcrc books, magazines and
newspapers have their greatest value
lilo must read books Of travel ii he
would know about the geography of the
world; as, for instance, Stanley's do
scription of Africa in tho light OF re-
cent discovery.
Almost every day tho bright boy may
read of some new discovery in science,
history, botany or chemistry, and add te
his education by just that much. Tho
knowledge thus acquired is always q
source of pleasure and frequently OIL
profit. And it is a popularity of learn
ing that tho more you study the casio,
it is to study.
The man VINO has learned two Ian
guagcs can more easily learn a third;
n study acts as a prop to another, and
SO it is in every branch. Tho civil en-
gincer could easily master electrical en-
ginecring, and tho boy who reads his
tory undcrstandinglyinlbi geography
with scarcely al effort.
In tho case above quoted tho railway
company has found that boys who have
completed tho English branches oil
study learn skilled work moro easily
than those who have not.
The reason is quito apparent. Skilled
work requires the exercise of the reason.
ing powers; the worker must under.
stand the why and wherefore of his
work; no is not o mere machine set go
ing. A boy with an education will
think while he works; he will study
and contrive tho very best way Of doing
any thing; his brain has been drilled to
reason and it does reason.
Such a boy is twice as valuable to his
employer as an u%nthinking, ignorant
boy, however obcdicnt and willing he
may be, and the employer is bound te
appreciate his services ut their proper
worth. Such a boy is bound to rise out
of the everyday rut; he will master his
trade in half tho time an ignorant Lad
would consume.
These arc prizes worth striving for
and they arc within tho reach of an,
boy of ordinary ability who will study
with diligence after he leaves school
If he doesn't bother with learning
any thing now" as some boys are FOND
of boasting, the chances arc that hi
will stand all his life ut tho foot of the
ladder; If he wishes to climb he mus
study, and before no has grown out o
young manhood he will be glad to admi
that knowledge is power"