Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1891-09-24
THE MAGIC" OF LEARNING.
It Makes Possible All tho Wonders
Achieved by Man.

THE MAGIC" OF LEARNING.
It Makes Possible All tho Wonders
Achieved by Man.
Nothing is more astonishing to
barbarous or primitive people than
the use of figures, diagrams and
mathematical formula by engineers
and architects. There appears, we
will say, among the people of some
mountain region of Northern Mexico
an American civil engineer. He
makes surveys and drawings and COM
putations. Then he goes away, leav-
ing his drawings and calculations
with others. Men with picks and
shovels go to work in his track con-
structing railway. Tunnels are
cut through mountains from opposite
sides, and meet, inch for inch, in the
center. Great embankments are laid,
and to make them there is just
enough earth brought. The surface
of the grade follows an even line as
far as the eye can reach-a wonderful
thing to these untravelled natives.
All the while the men who build
the railway consult the drawings and
calculations of the civil engineer.
Everything is done according to
them. Is it any wonder that the
simple lookers-on regard this wonder
full paper, which opens the noun
tains and spans the valleys, as bit
of sorcery, magician's touchstone?
An African Prince, visiting Paris
during the great exhibition, sees the
Eiffel Tower, Thousand feet high,
slenderly built of iron in such a way
that every foot of the material con-
tributes to the strength of the struc-
ture, or to the architects scheme of
decoration. Nothing is superfluous.
When the African Prince returns to
his people, he can only give them this
account of the matter:
'"These white men are wonderful
magicians. None of our fetish men
can do such things as we have seen.
They have there school of necrO-
nancy, where men are taught to
make lines and figures in such way
that great palaces of iron are built.
sit is thus that white man of
Paris has built tower which seems
so pierce the clouds, and which ut
night is lighted with fires of many
colors. And all that, as it was told
to us, by means of lines, and rules of
numbers and figures.
'But when the white men sought
to explain these lines and designs, we
understood nothing of what they told
us. No doubt they meant that we
should not understand the secret.
For If we knew their magic, their
power would be lost"
But the "magic" of the civilization
of the white man is no secret. 1t is
simply the magic of patient research
and industrious application. Nor is
its possession limited to those who
are not able to go to college.
Every student in the public schools
may treasure up scientific knowledge
which will be of the utmost practical
value to him when he goes out into
the world. Here is an illustration:
Not long ago, in New England
public school, there was boy who
took a decided interest in natural
philosophy. He said he was going
to be plumber, and he wanted to
tilt ldllS UlldU lay du UlC
bottom of his future occupation.
His father was poor workingman,
and could not afford to send the boy
to college. But he permitted him to
finish the course at the high school.
The boy never ceased to pay particu-
lar attention to natural philosophy.
After he left school, he went to
work for a plumber. When he had
been at work about a year, there
arose great deal of trouble about
certain valves that belonged to an
Important and costlyapparatus which
had been supplied to many people.
No one could make these valves work
after they had been in use a short
time.
! AS there was a great deal of value
at stake one practical plumber after
another was employed, but quite
yainly, to remedy the defect.
Meantime, the high-school lad had
gone to work on his own account to
experiment with the valves. He re-
called some facts, which he had
learned in his natural philosophy at
school, about peculiar corroding eff
| feet of water upon certain metals,
and he was able, through this knowl-
edge, bo find the exact spot in the
costly apparatus where the fault lay.
The discovery proved so valuable to
the manufacturers Of the apparatus
that the boy was taken into their
employ. From this beginning he
rose to leading and profitable posi-
tion. He attributes his success to
the excellent grounding in the
''magic" of natural science which he
received at school.
A Ely SnacI. nsaa. m ALL nj s..-.za-