The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-11-22
Enslave the minds of men, and you

cultured brain and the skillful hand,
lay the gold-paved way to prosperity
and happiness, The gateway to this
golden path was the school-house, and
it was shut! Those who stood upon
Horebs foresaw the en-
phatic needs Of the people, and their
found uttersnce in no un-
certain tones. Washington, in his
memorable Farewell Address, gave
to these words: "Promote,
as an object Of primary Importance,
institutions for the general diffusion Of
knowledge. In proportion as the
structure Of 3 government gives force
to public opinion, it is essential that
public opinion should be enhght-
eued."
He recognized that a people sudden
ly thrown, by the fortunes Of war, into
the arena Of self-respect and self-de-
must be the projectors,
the trainers, and the perpetrators Of
1.-The best government the world ever
saw:" Republican in form, and DEM
ocratic in principle, this government
was to become the consummation Of
all the wisdom of the centuries, and
the splendid outcome Of ali the gov
ernmentsl experiments Of past history.
Under such a form Of government as
ours every citizen becomes q potent
factor. All classes are called upon to
consider questions OF evesy character
to the welfare of the coun-
try. They are to consider and adopt,
as Professor Painter, in bis History Of
Education, las we'll said, "principles
of human liberty; schemes OF internal
questions Of finance and
our relations with other
a word, /. may add, to
devise, to test, and to adopt such sys-
tens and measures as will adjust them
selves to the genius Of our country,
prepare every class for the dearly
bought functions Of citizenship, and
exalt this nation to the focal-gaze Of
the centuries. Such duties and the
Of such ends require a high
degree Of popular intelligence. 'The
it has been truly said, "are
clearly incapable Of performing these
high duties" ''They must, therefore,
rensin mere ciphers In society, dead
weights and impediments to progress,
or positive and active tools to endan-
ger the existence Of orr free institu-
TONS"
In meeting this plain and impera-
tive demand OF the people, how did
the two great sections Of our coun-
try answer the question?
The New England States decided
upon an aggressive policy In all educs-
tionsl directions; the South, either by
obtuseness of mind, or sbortsighted-
ness Of policy, or worse than all, by
fragrant disregard of the universal
good, repeated the suicidal measures Of
the past, and thus left the masses al
most as helpless as they were before.
From that day to this that class Of
our population has been the football
Of fate" the "hewers Of wood and the
drawers of water"
Southern writers have endeavored to
minify the opprobrium of such mis-
shapen policies of our fathers. The
scars still remain! The dissimilarity
Of temperauents, changed physical
and the diverse character
of aneecedents may palliste the guilt;
they cannot atone for the sin Of our
fathers The direful effects Of their
sinister actions are still felt, though
ten decades have come and gone, and
like fetid sore, continues to rancor in
our social and political organism.
The earnest, eloquent pen of Thomas
Jefferson was welded in the advocacy
Of popular education. II look" says
he, ito the diffusion Of light and edu-
cation as the resources most to be re-
lied on for ameliorating the condition,
promoting the virtue, and advancing
the happiness of man. A'system
of general instruction which shall
reach every class Of our citizens, from
the richest to the poorest. as it was the
arliest, 30 it shall be the latest Of all
the public concerns in which shall
permit myself to take an interest.
Give tt to US in any shape, and receive
for the inessimsble boon the thanks Of
the young, and the blessings Of the
old"
He prophetically saw that the hope
Of this Republic repoeed in the lap of
intelligence! Would to God his elo-
quence had stirred the soul, and his
pm pricked the conscience of our
Southern people!
I have quoted this patron saint of
Southern Democracy" young gentle
men, not to instruct you, but with you
to stand in wonder at the shabby spec
tacle Of our inconsistency! Punctil-
ious in our political creed, vielators of
its spirit, and iDsensible to its obligs-
tions!
It was doubtless true that many cir
hindered the benign work
of educating the masses. Pioneer ef-
forts are always imperfect, and neees-
sari!y Of slow progress The broad
of country-the srduous strug-
gle for physical support in conquering
the stubborn soil-the poverty Of the
later impoverished condi-
ton incident upon the Revolutionary
iethargic influence of
climatic conditions,-these and Others
fought with Spartan endurance against
the supremacy Of popular intelligence.
But God has written upon the frontlet
of the national, as we'll as the individ-
ual, heart, "N7ace Onania"-"Over-
come every obstacle" The sure pro-
phecy Of a brighter day lay enshrined
in the unfettered mind, rather than in
the unskilled hand aud theill-directed
foot. LnteNigent zeal can accomplish
more in a day than ignorant applica-
ton of blind force can perform in a
month!
The fatal policy Of educating the few
by keeping the masses in the thraldrom
of ignorance has, like the viper's eggs,
hatched horrid progeny OF evils
evils which, in their far-reaching re-
suits, cast gloom over the splendors
of the Goth century!
Let US now recapitulate, and thus
measure our present educational con-
ditions:-
/. The ancestral impress and predi-
lections Of the first Settlers Of these
Southern colonies unified them fol-
undertaking the experiment Of free
republic. Unlik;> the settlers Of New
England, who fed for conscience
sake to these Western shores, to dig
their fortunes from the 'svirgin
mould, ,"-these came
"On wealth intent,
On pleasure bent,
And In content,
To Gull the flowers, and evade tho thorns,'
and when the life-and-death struggle
for existence came-as soon it did come