The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-04-24
MEMORIES OF SCHOOL DAYS


NAN nave NOlllt dIllOIS US WIZ ttA
preaching strange doctrines to some,
and who seem to others to be following
after strange gods. This is not confined
TO any given sphere of intellectual ac-
tivity. Theology as we'll as politics had
felt the disturbing movement To
many minds 1t presents itself as a new
period of readjustment, such as comes
at almost stated periods in the life of
every man and every nation. Progress
costs something, whether it be the pro-
gress of people or of an individual.
The Wisest progress is that which at
taches to itself all that was wise and
enduring in the previous stage of 1t,
and the stage which preceded it.
If to-day, therefore, we have an ele-
mentary and preparatory educational
system, which offers, as 1t unquestion-
ably does, more advantages than those
which We enjoyed and which were en-
joyed by our fathers; If our children
can accumulate with greater readiness
the big rocks and little stones of
knowledge with which to lay the foun-
dation of their intellectual store house;
II, finally, they become, by reason or
these superior advantages, better
equipped to solve the problems of life
and of government, incident to free
republic, which have escaped our wis
dom; If all of these things are true, and
l believe they are, we need not dig far
beneath the surface to find the influ-
ence of Lovell's teaching still as rich
leaven. 1t is part of the school sys-
tenn of the day and generation which
is passing before our eyes. What was
wise and enduring and elevating In it
is retained, and what was but the ex-
preston of the particular needs of our
time and generation have properly been
eliminated.
The old stage coach, which stood for
ton, the diffusion of
knowledge and the encouragement or
national sentiment, was the creator of
the iron horse and the electric motor.
We move to-day by steam and by cleo
tricity, but it was the stage coach
which prepared the way for them as
motive powers. The requirements
which called the stage coach into eX-
istence was the same Identical require
ments, multiplied and diversified,
which steam and electricity are strug-
Cling to crafty. 1t is an interesting
fact that if we study the habits and
customs, the needs and demands of a
given period, we find an uniform intel
ligence at work, and similar results at
hand, and if we go one step farther and
compare the record of one period with
that Immediately preceding or that i'm
mediately succeeding, we discover that
a process of absorption has been going
h1y, Of, ha rr,;c he
enduring in the earlier were sympa-
thetically attached to the wise and en-
during in the later.
1t was John E. Lovell's distinctive
mission in this community to stimulate
the love of education and to lay down
certain definite principles of self disci-
plfne To just that degree he was an
inventor man of genius. So, too, in
limited sense he was a pioneer.
Possessing himself love of knowl-
edge, he appreciated the fact that well
diffused knowledge, in increasing quail
ity and quantity, was to become the
dividend paying capital of this govern
ment. That without 1t the blessings of
free republic might become changed
into the burden and distresses of a des-
potism. We are certainly justified in
believing that he carefully weighed
these possibilities and probabilities
just as we know to-day that we, as a
nation, are indebted to greater degree
than we can ever repay by such annu-
al pilgrimages as this in which we are
now participating to the Lovells OF
that earlier period, who so abundantly
contributed to the preparation of the
American people for the intelligent and
patient, the prudent and courageous
solution of problems soon to overtake
them and to be followed by others for
us to confront.
We are far too accustomed to reserve
our praises and our eulogies for the
men of valor, who combine the pictur-
esque with the useful. We forget the
pedagogue and the scholar, without
whose sustained patriotism and modest
services, the victories Of the army
would have given but sensual satisfac-
ton. Both peace and war depend upor
the school room and the schoolmastel
for their wise administration.
Born one hundred and two years ago
John E. Lowell literally grew up with
the American republic. He was a par
"a ~, was LolCNCl uildCh lis CebhiiCSh III
fiuence, inherited from it those sturdy
though somewhat narrow traits Of
character which were so well adapted
in their common environment and tt
its best traditions he remained true
His famous old Readers were intellec
tual cloud bursts of patriotism and he
roic enthusiasm. His methods were
tremendously earnest and simple, anC
within their restricted range thorough
and comprehensive. We do well to rev.
erence this fine old gentleman. whose
remains lie so peacefully beneath this
plot of ground, and to commemorate, ii
this simple manner, year after year, hi:
sterling virtues, and to acknowledge
the debt we owe him, which death die
not mature.
All honor, then, to the old Lancaste
rian schoolmaster, who taught oul
fathers and their children; we may wei
believe that his spirit Is lowering neal
us to-day, and that its celestial intelli-
gence draws from this spectacle thu
satisfaction, which we cannot believe /:
denied those whose higher spiritual ed
ucation has been achieved.
"A deep silence reigns behind the cur
tain" says the Poet Schiller, and yet il