Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1897-02-12
VALUE or EDUCATION.

| benefits Of an education because
they are almost countless. will
simply give a few showing the adj
vantages that an educated person
has over an uneducsted person.
One of the first things that should
confront all parents is to give their
children an education. You are
not compelled to send them to
Yale or Harvard to give them an
education or to any college, albeit.
If you are financially fixed you
could bestow no better gift to
them than to send them through
some good college. But if you
are not able to send them to col
lege you..can send them to the pub
lie school with but very little ex-
pense to you. In traversing the
streets of cities you will find hum
dreds, yes, thousands Of boys and
girls who are not attending school,
and should You ask them why
they are not attending school, i'll
variably their answer would be, |
have no clothes good enough to
go to school. Just think what
an answer. Girls and boys, You
do not need a tailor-made dress
or suit to attend school. What if
Lincoln, Brown, Sumner or Gar
field, or the illustrious Douglass,
had waited for good clothes TO at
tend school? | fear that we would
have been in bondage yet. If
they had waited for their education
until they could have worn good
clothes. If ! only possessed the
power Of impressing upon the
young generation the valne of an
education like Shakespeare or Bry-
ant could do. 1t certainly would
have some effect. A few years
ago most any one who possessed
a good physical constitution could
be a fireman or mail carrier, but
but now in myst all of the larger
cities you are compelled to pass
an examination before you can gel
an appointment. And in my
opinion the day is not far away
until we will be compelled to pas,
an examination before we can gel
any position, even a men'al posi-
ton. When that time comes what
will those people do that have
no education? A great many boys
and girls think that when they
graduate from college that they
should not return to the farm OF
ordinary household duties, but
that they must get position in
some bank or office with a salary
from six hundred to one thousand
dollars per year. Now this is a
| very erroneous idea. Just think
| Of it, some OF our richest and in
| tuential farmers are graduates
from some of the very best col
leges in this country, and most all
of the good hostess and house
keeper are graduates from some
good school. So don't think be.
cause you have q good education
that you can't farm or do house
work, because you can do it SO
much better if you possess an
education.
How embarrassing it is for a
person to 60 in society without
some book knowledge. A person
that has never never read any OF
Shakespere's plays cannot enjoy
the plays as well as person who
has read some of his works. land
by the way, if You don't possess a
good education you will not de-
rive much knowledge from read
ing his works.. .
We very often hear the remark,
"Oh, well, there is no need Of get
ting an education, for We can't get
a positions" But in my judgment
those people that possess good
education will always tiud employ
ment. We are nearing that time
when those who are best qualified
will Gave no difficulty in securing
good position. So l will say in
conclusion, to the young genera
ton, strive to procure all the
knowledge that you can. If you
can't 20 nine months out Of a year
to school, try to 80 six months,
and if il is impossible to go to
school make use of tue libraries,