Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1893-04-28
Any BOY May Learn.

the lad on a farm or in country
village, who does not see his way
clear toa college education, can get
another kind of education that will
serve him about as we'll, and in some
things better, when he begins to dc
newspaper work.
Remember that education has gen.
orally two purposes-to train the
mind and to store it with knowledge
My plan for the country boy does both
Here it is:
Think of yourself as standing on
one side of an imaginary line and the
great world, with all its men and
women and governments and insti.
tutions, on the other. Cross the line
and find out in what way and through
what things you come in contact with
the world. Then study those ways
and those things until you know all
about them or until you know as
much as you can find out about them.
This is what sociologist would call
determining the relation of the
individual to the aggregate or the
relation of man to society. Let us
explain the process Il little.
You will be pretty sure to discover
that you have relations with the
great world through the school. the
church, the government, through
trade or business, and socially
through your friends and companions.
That is not all, but that will do very
we'll to begin with.
First get all the information you
can about the school system OF YOUR
state. Ask the teacher all the ques.
tions you can think of. Ii you arc IL
country boy, there is probably a
prudential committeeman in your
district. Ask him what he has tn do.
Then get at the experimenting COM
mitteeman and ask him questions.
Find out where the money comes
from to build schoolhouses and pay
the teacher. Ii you live ina village
large enough to have graded schools,
lind out how the system is organized,
from the primary grade up to the
high school. Let nothing escape you
that you can possibly learn.
Then the churches in your town
study them. You may not find it
easy to get at the differences of belief
that separate the Methodists from
the Baptists and the Congrega-
tionalists from the Presbyterians, but
your minister or any minister will
probably lend you books that will tell
something about creeds and faiths.
Then make yourself master of the
system OF government or control in
the various churches. Inquire what
churches have bishops, what ones
elders, what ones deacons, and what
the powers and duties OF these
church officers are. In short, learn
in how many ways, and go as far as
you can, why one church organization
is different from another.
Next comes government. 1t is a
big subject-take it up in detail.
Your father is a county commissioner
or Il selectman or IL town clerk. That
is Il capital opportunity. Get him to
tell you all he knows about the duties
Of town and county officers-who lays
out new roads and closes old ones,
who sees to it that the paupers are
housed and fed, who determines how
large u sum shall be raised by taxes
in the town, how much each tax
payers share shall be aud what shall
be done with the money.
Ii one of your fathers neighbors is
a member of the legislature, persuade
him to tell you how bills are intro
duced, referred to committees,
discussed, amended and
passed or enacted as laws. He will
tell you that bills, after they have
been passed by the assembly or house
of representatives, must be passed
also by the senate and signed by the
governor, but that only opens up new
fields for your investigation.
If perchancc another neighbor is to
go as a delegate to the republican or
the democratic convention to help
nominate his party's candidate for
the presidency, get him TO tell you all
about the party machinery by which
conventions are assembled and candi-
dates named; about the town caucuses,
the county or district convention, the
state convention, the national con-
vention and the delegates to it, their
number and their duties; also about
the electoral college and its work.
This will lead you into inquiries and
studies in respect to parties and pol
itics and state and federal govern
ments that will be in the highest de-
gree interesting and profitable.
So in regard to business. Ask the
village storekeeper where lie buys his
cloths, his crockery, his lnolasscs and
l,s