Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-08-18


Grafton by Rev. W. Dewitt Hyde, ID. ID.
The aim of education is to lead ont the
mind of man into the world of truth. IL Is
to make man at home in his environment.
II is to enable him to come into his intellect
nal inheritance. All schools do this, from
the lowest to the highest. The primary
school enables the child 10 understand and
use the signs by which ordinary ideas are
communicated. The grammar school ena-
bles him to use these signs with
correctness, elegance AMI precision,
and to appreciate elegance and precision IN
the use of them by others. The high
school and academy enables him to under
stand. not merely his own language and the
mental processes necessary for every lay
life but the languages OF other lands ana
other ages, and teaches him TO penetrate in
to the thoughts of Nature and to appreciate
the words and deeds of the worlds great
minds. What at the academy stage Il po-
tental. general. vague, formal, the college
endeavors to make actual, definite, clear
and substantial. The university no longer
seeks to acqnaint the mind with many
things but to make il the instrument and
EXPRESSION of some special sphere of truth.
The country academy has an honorable
mission. 1t is to the scattered population
,f IN, farming communities what the high
school is to the compact population of the
large towns and cities In the comparative
freedom from domestic and social distrac-
tons in the greater maturity OF Its pupils
the arademv has many advantages over the
high school. The country academy too
has many advantages over the academy
which draws its patronage from large cities
10 the former the children of the farmer
and the mechanic go; to the latter the
children of the rich are s"nf.
The country academy secures the very
best material in the land, in the boys ana
girls who come to it full of vitality and
yipor from the hillside farms, ! on are
not burdened with the dead weight of the
sons of nervous, overstrained, artlheial
parepts BOYS who resort to artihciai sum
ulants to keep their waning vitality mp TO
The highest pitch of excitement. AMI VINO
are ready to he swept to destruction IN the
wave of dissipation which Is never lar De-
hind artificial and unnatural ways of hving.
Yaur students come with generations of
har,,ihood and temperance and honest ton
behind them, and hence with abundant
mover To carve out splendid future for
thar,snlya. For sn,art0ees and show and
superficial accomplishments the country
boy /. often behind his urban brother Hut
for thu. solid and substantial work which Is
the condition of permanent usefulness anu
honor in every walk Of life, especially IN
those that are highest, give me the hoy wh"
ba,i a father and mother, at any rate Il
grandfather and grandmother, who knew
how to swing a sevthe and hold plow- AMI
break A colt and milk COW. AMI make
bufter and cheese, AMI cut up pork. anu
knit a p,ir of stockings and make pair of
trowsers.
In view of the magnificent opportunities
of the country academies, the en'low ment
and eauipment of these institutions is the
weakest point in our educational system here
in Maine. II is impossible to secure and
retain the hest teachers. will not venture
to compare the salaries of principals OF
academies in Maine with the salaries OF
nr;ncinals of academies elsewhere, hut will
s;mplv saw that the salary of the principal
of the average country academy IN Maine
is only one-half the salary of the principal
of the average eitv grammar school IN
Massachusetts.
A,leouate endow wnent of these academies
is the CRYING need of education III siaihe'
You cannot maintain hrstrate aea"e"'s
today on less than sloo,0oo OF endowment
with buildings and apparatus 10 match;
That will enable you TO pay prihcipai
s2oOa, and three other teachers from ss"o
to 81 40 each. On no lower terms can you
secure and permanently retain the best
teachers. We are sending all our pest
teachers out Of the State simply because As
60.
graduates of the college frequently say TO
me. they cannot afford to teach IN Maine.
No,bintr less than the continuous service OF
great teachers can make great aeadesiV
Realizing the sore need of the academies.
,he State at the last session of the legista-
,ure came to the relief of several of the
oldest ard most usefai academies. Tins
should not be regarded as precedent for
the future. Tbese brief wears of State all
s,,ould be improved by placing these insii-
tutions on an Independent foundation.
Here is an acaiemy located in a town
unsurpsssed for healthfulness AMI beauty
surrounded by families in which culture
has been hereditary for generations: with
hundred wears of spienslid history behind
il. united by special ties to the oldest cot
lege in the State; lacking only the aRe
thing needful to a modern educa'ionai in
s,itntion-an adequate eadowmen,. Let
MS hone that soon this need may he met.
asd that here, ON the oil foundation there
may be erected an academy equipped IN
every respect to meet the educational de-
mau,,s that are pressing upon Us.
The oration was a masterpiece AMI was
received with enthusiasm by the auiienee
Following it came the poem by John ;
CaEly. gem that captivateNi the audience.
Poem.
Ry IoiBS>. Cng.RY-
The neffy aeart, hears within ii- breast.
rl,s,,isB f,idt,pu ,,uifs frt,ni human 4is-sg
The t.Itpncv itn,l frslsa.se af the fFsR
Wta., staF,iv trtink and hF I'D A.nhs arr 10 De-
81 hau,tI. and a,5seag. u. as.h'F -iKhs
Were the beginnings " the taper tphi
la,.ki..lii..l herr. iiitltlIrsti years aga.