Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-06-27
The Cornerstone Laid.

cornerstone OF st. MlchaefS parOchlal
school building took place Sunday
afternoon.
The weather threatened showers,
but the programme, as published last
week, was carried out.
The procession was quite lengthy
and pretty.
Arrived at the base of the pro-
posed structure the Veni Creator was
sung by the choir, at the conclu-
sion of which Rev. John D. Boland de-
livered to large audience the follow
ing eloquent address
There is no subject so vast, so complex, so
fraught with manifold and various results
there is none that so deeply affects the we'll
being of society as the one which is naturally
suggested by the ceremony of today-the all
important matter of education. Your views
on this subiect-the estimate you have of it
will make themselves felt upon your chill
dren, and your children children long after
you have passed off the stage Of life, and been
forgotten Therefore, it is necessary that you
should have about this point clear, correct,
clean-cut ideas, such as are becoming the
children of God-adorned with the almost
Divine faculty of reason
Upon this subject, as upon all other points
of public interest many have false, restricted,
parsimonious notions. This, because we live
in world of sense and matter and are in
tiuenced by what we see and touch and feel.
Now, | grant that matter in itself is good,
and productive of much use and service to
man. We are imbedded in matter. We cam
not live without it. We need it to think, to
love, to hope, to pray upon it as basis-rest,
not only for the progress and success of So
cety, but also the spiritual life of the indi-
vidIal himself. But | say it is wrong to
make this world of sense and matter, with
its riches and honors and pleasures and sue
cesses the aim and object of our lives 1t is
a great mistake to take those noble impulses
of our heart, those lofty aspirations of our
mind, those grand energies of air and body
and devote them solely and exclusively to
the acquisition of material prosperity and
success. And yet this is the end that most
men propose to themselves in educating their
children. To gain certain notorlety-to be
talked about-to win admiration and success
in the different walks of life-to have good
time-in one word, to make money. This
the ambition of education. All these desires
may be summed up in the one word, money
education-this the god to whom is offered
the heart-worship of millions.
Now, money is good in itself-the equiva-
lo,f 0Fxx hat II
you wear of the houses you live in, of the
pleasures you enjoy; it unlocks for you
the treasures of history, poetry, music, art
and science. With it you build your
schools, orphan asylums and benevolent in
situations. This is all true, but to make this
the object of life is the work of those who ig-
more the noble part of man, who forget that
the true, the Godlike in man is not venial
cannot be bought or sold. A man may buy
beautiful wife, but not woman's love he
may buy books, but not an intellect to ap-
preciate them; he may buy pew, but
not pure conscience he may buy polit-
ical office, but not the respect of his fellow
man.
Therefore. what makes us truly human,
what adds honor and dignity to our lives is
not what we possess, but what in truth we
are-to be and not to have-this the grand
object of life.
What is education? What is its true aim
What end should it accomplish?
Education, to be true, to be thorough,
should embrace the entirety of mans nature;
it should tend to develop not only his mind,
imagination, memory, but it should also take
hold of, guide, govern and develop those ire
mendous powers of heart and mW which,
more than all things combined, affect his in
terests and his we'll being for time and
eternity.
Apart from the teaching of revealed re-
ligon there is something in the heart of
every man that makes him feel that death
does not put an end to all things, that the
grave is not the wreck of mans hopes and
aspirations, that he will live in another, an
unseen, spiritual and eternal world Man,
therefore, should be educated not only for
time but for eternity. Religion must 90 hand
in hand with intellectual training, for unless
it throws its benign influence across mans
pathway thick darkness gathers round, and
his life without God and without hope, will
be failure.
1t is false to teach that morality can be pre-
served without some formal religious teach
ing that one morally is us good as another,
that to deal honestly by our neghbors and
discharge public and domestic duties with
becoming decency-is quite sufficient. This
would make Americans no better than Pagans
Intellectual training without morality is
weapon in the hands Of the people. On the eve
and during the great revolution of France, that
nation was ablaze with genius, but it brought
death and disaster in its fiery trail. Religion,
therefore, is necessary. With it we have in
this world twilight; without it dark night.
Now the education that your children are
to receive in this school when completed will
be such as to teach them to live with dignity
to live in a way becoming children and men
who are of the race of God; to take the ideal
to the world by His own precept and exam
pie, and devote all their energies to its realiza-
ton in their own lives. That education will
tell them to make God the chief object of
their lives, to give to Him all their intellects,
all the obedience of their wills, all the love of
their hearts. 1t will teach them their duties
of life toward God, toward their neghbors,
toward themselves. This school will send
forth young hearts and young mnds-who
by their lives of dignity, usefulness and
honor, will be credit and glory to the
community in which they live.
Al.