Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1894-02-25
A FITTING END.


CONTINUED from first page.l
There was a time IN the parish when
the only person in the parish that could
read was the vicar. and he could onlv
read the service. An educated English
man once said of our American states
man: "They are the sons of English
men but do not speak our tongue u
The village schoolmaster was wonder
in the days of Goldsmith'a Deserted
Village:
"'Twas certain he could write, al CIPHER too
Lands he could measure, terms and tides pre-
sage;
And cen the story ran that he could gauge =
Amazed. the gazing rustics ranged around,
And still they gszed and still the wonder grew
That one small head could carry all he knew"
There was time when Galileo was
made to retract upon Bonded knee the
assertion that the world revolved upon
its axis. In such time the good bieh-
of Norwich was burned as hereto be-
cause he thought the rings in the grass
to be seen in the early mornings dew
were owing to some simple law OF
nature rather than the impress of fair
les feet in dancing. That was the mil
lennium of stupidity. The zsalots Of
ignorance held the world at bay. The
enemies of education had their time
and passed away. There was struggle
for intellectual progress. Ssctarianism.
the most cruel and relentless of all foes,
attacked the cause of education. 1t re-
quired the school to be subject to the
clergy. 1t is different now. From one
end of the earth to the other the arti-
zan, the drayman, the very boy who
drives the pillow atield, either reads and
writes or is learning to read and write.
Thousands attend the schools, hun
dreds of thousands read the newspap-
ers. Education is spreading. The in
fuence of the school teacher and school
house is felt in all directions. The
change in the last 80 years is prodig.
ious. The masses are being taught
the people are being armed intellectu-
ally to wage the war of existence. The
rich at one time had a monopoly of the
means of learning. In England Oxford
and Cambridge saw only the sons OF
earls and lords. In America the halls
of Yale and Harvard never heard the
lOOtldlln VI bu0 pOOIs DCaOOl AOusCS
were too often log huts in the country
or narrow, pestilential rooms in the
city, the teachers unc1ltivated and fire..
quently incompetent, the school books
worthless. worn and costly. These
things have given way, are giving way
to we'll regulated system of school
teaching, faithful and competent teach
ers and convenient appliances for teach
ing.
The day is unfolding, the mighty
tread OF the intellectual thousands re
sounds along the corridors of the pres
emit: The right of every child to fret
and full education is now as we'll es
tablished as his right to be protected il
life and property; the one is as sacred
as the other. The benefcent light o
education falls upon the pathway of al
the arts and sciences, professions ant
| trades.
Would you know more of the work o
the school teacher: Take for compari
son, one OF the profoundest learned mel
of the thirteenth century and one OF gu
high school boys OF girls of today
Take philosopher of the times o
Henry the III, renowned for his learn
ing as far as Italy and Spain. H
never heard of the law of gravitation
He could not tell you the, cause of da
and night-the turning of the cart
upon its axis-that summer and winte
is caused by the revolution of the cart
around the sun. Should you tell hin
Of these things as any high school bo
or girl of today could, he would lay a.
information against you before tn
bishop, and have you burned for
hereto. Take a chemist of that age
He could mix charcoal and saltpstel
in certain proportions and knew if b
applied fire there would be an explo
sion. He believed in a philosopher
stone, and was constantly in search G
it. That fellow would have sworn tina
Faraday was an idiot and Edison
Wizards spirit from some distan
star. But what would he say of a
electric light, OF telephone, of tn
photograph, of the telegraph, of
steam engine? These are but part G
the triumphs of the school teacher an
the school house. Their Influence ha
penetrated every part of the globe, ha
| Oocu WIDER Clau commerce anu mlRQCle
than war. They can boast OF creatin
the brightest, the purest, the most dul
able of all the glories of the world
They can claim the prince of poets a
well as the prince of philosophers
their sons hitched their wagons to tn
stars! The light of their teachings ha
driven impious and cruel superstitio
beyond the ken of man, and will in
struct and Delight the unborn million
yet to come!
Universal education found an apprt
pirate home with our forefathers in thi
country. They had suffered much fro1
ignorance and blind fanaticism, and b.
lieved it to be the only cure for all socis
eyels. The Puritans, upon landin
amidst the bleak forest of New Ems
land, planted a school. One of tn
earliest laws enacted by the colony i
Massachusetts was that every township
as soon as the Lord had increased it t
the number of fifty houses, should SUP
port one person to teach all children t
read and write; and that every tow
ship of one hundred persons, should 81
up a grammar school. Educate tn
people" was the first command of Penn
"Teach the people" was the legacy le
by Washington. Educate the people
was the unceasing exhortation eli Jeffe
son. The chief business OF the latte
years of that great exponent of Demo
racy was to establish a system of stat