The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-06-08

browS, and the answer that such III e
ucation is not what is wanted today.
Give us practical methods, and We will
have practical human beings as The
result, is what w are told. Let us
ave no dreamerS. no Missionaries. Teach
the youth of the land those things which
can he used ut onc in the busy life of
today. What have we Ia do with dead
philosophers, or. what is still worse.
with dead languages. Give us that
which is alive, and suited Ia the present
needs This is the cry on every hand.
The one supreme question of the hour
is, lis what is proposed practical =?
In view of these facts IT may not he a
little surprising 10 you thai my purpose
today is 10 address you ON what may
seem to many Il very impracticable, i'll
deed ! may say Il very visionary subject
The Debt of the World 10 Draamers.
The advocates for the practical often
cOniine the meaning of the word within
very narrow limits. A practical man or
woman is thought Ia be one who can
turn Ia immediate account all that they
possess, this Immediate account being
with many nothing more nor less than
the ability To com their acquisitions
into dollars. Ii is by no means difficult
To see that such Il definition is narrow,
as they must possess but little who Gan
Immediately use their entire stock in
trade. Many. if not all the advocates
for the practical stress movement, activ-
ity, immediate perceptible effects rather
than thought and reflection, and regard
these as superior To thought. The stu
dent, the thinker, the philosopher, un-
less he can turn his brains into gold is
from the point of viGW of the practical
N .. ,N,,.r Goldfish x,-in,,,F q. InppIaS,
kind of Il lunatic whom the world could
well spare.
| would not for a moment under.
estimate the practical, nor do ! mean to
diSparage Our age. ! think that this is,
as 1t should be, the greatest age of the
worlds history, and ! count myself
happy that | live at such Il time. Never
theleSS | do not wish To lose sight of the
fact that some II else lived before the
world had the privilege of gazing upon
the present generation. / is only when
we look at all the past that we can pro-
perly understand and rightly appreciate
the present.
AS | have said, the practical is EN-.
phasized to-day in every department OF
human activity. In religion we are told
that the problem of the day is no longer
theology but sociology, and by sociology
is usually meant some immediate legis
latiOu, or the inauguration of some plan
whereby the evils of the present socia
system shall be eifectually eradicated
This is to be done without any rea
change of human character. In school.
and colleges the demand is for a course
of study such that the student shall by
it be fitted, not Indirectly, but directly
for whatever position III life is to bt
nanpnlaI In tln world nt l.ttA.S If I,
an age of book making rather than book
writing. 1t is true that many books art
written, but as compared with those
made tle number is small. In physica
science, and many speak and write as j.
there were 40 other, that which is beyOnC
the cOgnitiOn of the senses IL ofteI
treated us though it did not exist, or il
spoken of ut all, is declared to be for al
practical purposes worthless.
The practical turn given To all things
in our day has produced the mos
astounding results. We live IN Ill age
Of electric energy. We are delegating
To machines many functions which have
heretofore been considered impossible
save to Il human being, The Feven,
league boots which III other days WeIf
the exclusive property of certain eycep
tionally fortunate fairies, who ut times
permitted mOIItlS 10 tlSt them, are llDN
the familiar foot gear in the army OF
modern progress.
IL is an age of discoveries so numerous
| and Inventions so wonderful that moth,
lug can a~gtnnisli us. Ii some one should
declare that the yGylge 10 the moon
could be made, and that what Was more
he had perfected the machinery mecca,
sary for the undertaking we would
hardly he surprised. In our age The
actual is So iranscendant that II Ii
almost impossible for II 10 have &
dream. One goes To Il little box iasten'
ell against the wall, rings Il bell, and ~
Il few moments says "hrllo' tp i friend
il hundred miles of, and IL does mt stenl
Il miracle either. Some Patti sings, and
II lover of songs takes the very tones Of
her silvery one puts them INTO TIE
breast pocket of hIS coat. carries then
over the seas and through the desert
goes into the %cavernOuS recesscS oi the
great pyramid Of Egypt and makes The
guide think that an angel secreted III til.
darkness is singing Ia him.
rejoice that ] live i'll such IN age.