Middletown transcript., 1891-07-02

The race is restless. Men ask, what
are we here for? What is life : ]
will tell you what Herbert Spencer
calls it. He says, I" Life is Q definite
combination Of heterogeneous changes
botk simultaneous and successive in
correspondence with external co-exis-
tences and sequences" don't won
der that men ask, is life worth living?
Josh Billings must have had this view
Of life when he uttered that wise say
ing that human life isn't very COM
prehensive after all, for I have seen
men who could calculate an eclipse to
the dot, but couldn't harness horse
to save their lives But, seriously,
friends, the question may be easily
answered, We are here to make the
world better Itis sad thing to
leave the world worse than we found
it. 80 ~.
The basis of all progress is educa-
ton. The question tonight 10 not
'howto acquire, but how to use ; not
the method, but the end of education.
Education consists in storing the bat
terry with energy. Right education
aims to put the individual in COM
mand ofself and Of bis environments.
President Patton says, The end of
education is two fold, in the frat place
it is liberal, in the SECOND place it is
utilitarian. There is an education that
consists simply in putting q man in
possession Of what the world il; of
what the world has to give him. Some
people say that education means lead
ing man out, developing what is IN
a man. This leads to false methods
in education, for there is pre-
cious little in q, man. Il And there
are other people who seem to
suppose that the object of edu-
cation is to giYs information J; and
their method is simply q process of
pumping facts into the mind. But
this, likewise, is not education. Edu-
cation means bringing the self into
the relationship with the not.self, the
subjective into relation with the OBJ
jective, and adjusting them to one
another" He says, also. you may
put the statement into any form you
please, but that is the idea at the bot
tom. ! suppose he means that if you
remove the definition, you will find
the idea. s,7o -s..... .,..s
Definitions often puzzle me. For
example, (you will pardon the degrees
sion.) Herbert Spencer dazes me
with bis famous deliverance on evo-
luton. Evolution, he says, is an
intepration of matter and concomitant
dissipation Of motion, during which
the matter passes from an indefinite
incoherent homogeneity TO- q definite
coherent heterageneity. As Hume
| says, :. that approaches the nearest to
Torricillian vacuum of intelligibil
! ity that language can pump out Of
itself" While | am on the subject of
definitions, let me finish it. / remem-
ber reading definition Of Transcen.
dentalism. It is the spiritual cog
noscence Of psychological irrefragabil.
| ity connected with coneutient ademp.
ton of incolumnient spirituality
Translated by a Philadelphia lawyer,
that means that "Transcendentalism
| is two holes in saud-bank, the foods
wash away The sand without disturb.
ing the holes.'
There are two kinds Eof knowledge
First, the actual possession Of informa.
ton. Second, knowledge of where
information may be obtained. In
scme vocations, one is as valua3le as
the other. but in this active, busy lite
the man that can bring his knowledge
into immediate use has the advantage
The good lawyer is one who gets you
out Of scrape. The good doctor j.
one who can diagnose your case and
relieve the suffering. DIR. johnson
says +" There are times when little car
be said and much must be- done.
+" Necessity not inspiration" says
Campbell, "was the prompter of my
muse" Talent will lie dormant
Want awakens intelligence. Mer
must have incentives. Slavery made
Wendall Phillips and Lloyd Garrison
The Civil War made our Grants. our
Lees, our Lincolns.. Ifyou want the
electric spark you must touch the bat
| terry.
Men must have reserve forces fol
emergencies. We must follow nature
laws. She has provided in the grea
bunkers of the earth energies that w
apply in the physical world. Th
mind must be stored with intellectua
and moral energy. This is th
teachers province. The schoolmaste
lis abroad and his influence every
where is felt. Fellow teachers, don
minimize your profession. Place j
thigh. I do not claim first plac
for it !; my regard for the sacre'
calling forbids; but ! yield secont
place TO none. place the school
masters desk alongsids of the pulpit
but not above it. DR.. Clay Trumbul
says The difference between preach
ing and teaching is this, the preache
proclaims the truth, the teache
causes you to know the truth" Bot
are essential !; but go further for tn
! teacher. He must awaken the min
to Independent activity. Pourin
dates and rules into the mind is nc
education. It is not growth. It
only when the mind begins to worl
to question, to seek to know, tbs
growth begins. .
It is crime to send a boy out wit
no education but that Of bis trad,
You thus make q machine of hin
Give him the basis of q liberal educs
tion and to that add the special train
ing. First the foundation, then Il
superstructure. Remember that ! 81
not claiming for the race an impossi
J BILE education. I call that perso
/! literally educated whose mind hs