The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-02-11

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- 4rssssSSnhyy'M,u ur Science Monthly says: IAN ingenious bu
" t'VlS~I/ somewhat paradoHea writer Of the present days
has lately said that awe we're al agreed as to tie training Of our children
we need not await the slow evolution Or the social millennium; 1t would Bel
~aeheYable 10 the very next generation His argument is that eif agen-I
sFaton can be reared 10 reverence a stick or stone, an inanimate idol, and
this or that grotesque religious system, it can be reared also to love and
reverence man" The postuate here, IL will be observed, ia very extern
siye one-"were we an agreed as to the training Of our children" The
meaning evidently Is that II our intellectual methods and moral principles
were 10 complete accord, and IL both were Of the most advanced order, We
might look for the speedy coming Of the millennium. Why not2 We
should be all but Ini 1t ourselves, aud when it came our children would hardly
know the difference.
ut does not seem to Us that there Is much advantage IN this way OIL
stating the case, We are not al agreed as to the training Of our children
We are agreed, broadly speaking, ID some things; but, unfortunately, the
things we are agreed upon do not make very directly for the millennium
In the matter Of education thereis no opinion 80 widely shared or so strongly
held as that education ought to be mainly a preparation Tor commercial sue
cess It was said long ago that wisdom was athe principal thing 2 and that
therefore we should get wisdom. That opinion has been before eeoword
for some thousands d years, but t has never yet dominated te mind Of any
societyj and today rs much perhaps as ever, the feeupgo Of the multitude Is
that money IL the principal thing and that theetdre every effort should pc
bent on getting money. Apart from the teaching OF school there ~ the
teaching OF daily Ie Here again the most widely entertained ideals are
mot the best. The methods. for example, Of the politician may almost be
said to be imposed on him by the people II the path to political successlay
Through q careful study OF pnulc questions with view to Tie general good,
our politics would be eop..etey transformed and q new race Of men would
appear upon the scene. But the idea Of the general good as a paramount Oh
ject Is one which, id tho present state Of our civilization, can not be brought
home to many r1ndsi and the fact that It'll repudated by the multitude
renders IL difficult for those who acknowledge and accept ito act on it in a
consistent manner
aThe writer we have quoted, Mr.. Archdal Reid. thinks that. because j
generation cn be educated to worship a stick Or a stone, one might just as
easily be edlcated TO "love and reverence man" Wen, as We have already
suggested 1.-The preceding generation loved and reyerenced man, its sue
cessor would probably do so also and possibly IN slightly increased degree
But thpD Is not to the purpose; the question Is, whether the present genera
tior, being what It's could as easily train the next into all tbe virtues re.
udred for the millennium rs a given tribe Of saYages might train is child
rem 70 belieye 10 and perpetuate Its own superitons. TO ask such a ques-
ton il to answer it. Fetichism is a phenomenon which has made its ap-
pearance IN every quarter Of the world, and which belongs specifically TO a
certain stage OF the human mind. II has its roots very deep in human ma
ture, and we may be allowed to doubt whether those roots are entirely dead
In any human being today. Certainly we see stray shoots springing up from
them ~ the very heart OF civilization. The most proac of ns win conceive
singular attachments for various inanimate things Of no special intrinsic
value We say we prize them for their associations; but that is only another
way Of saying that something has attached itself to those objects which. for
ms changes their chnFarfar ana gives thanh rnrta3nb Vmrar -. L4L4
Isay spiritual interest, One of the sanest Of English poets Wordsworth,
has given expression in more than one passage OF his works to this senti-
ment AS TO any intellectual difficulty involved lin attaching sanctity tt 4
stock Or stone, IT would be little felt by . savage but, 50 Ear as felt, would
probably be an aid to the maintenance Of the cult Over a century and a
half ago II was remarked by the philosophical Montesquieu that, nby the
nature q the human understanding, men like in the matter Of religion.
whatever suppoes an effort, just as, III thematter Of morals, they like spec,
ulatiyely whatever bears a character Of severity"
ut iscem, therefore, that to hand on a tetchstic worship nothing d
necessary beyond the ordinary, spontaneous action of the tribe; and it ISL
millennium a@I il II te er gen5Fa,tt5n 2f A f. r 9a9F ar 4 g s5H5 Is q mini Z t isea Ma : II.
would require nothing short Of a miracle. we are not mnlennial peopIe orr
selves and no determination to which we could possibly come III regard NJ
me education Of our children could have the effect Of throwing them for
"Md 10 moral Development more than one generation. a tree may IL ali
favorable year make little more growth than in an unfavorabe one; and al
river may IN a yearof unusually heavy rains carry down more alnyium tol
aa estuary than Is carried down. N an ordinary year Thus womay conceive
nav a nUIe more work for civilization may be done in one generation than
III anotheri but any such variation will be confined within limits somewhat
analogous to those which obtain in the purely physical region.
"Att the same time the problem Of education is one deserving q tbe
most earnest attention Of all who are interested in social progress, Educa-I
ton ls the debt Of each generation to Its successor, and, Il we can NOT Mace
nose who come after Us on a better footing than ourselves, we should at
least see that we transmit an undiminishod heritage. The aim shout. o#
course pe-and among all but the most thoughtess, no doubt, is-to glyel
nose VINO come after US a better start than we had. The progress of science .
y aong wonders inthe way Of improving the surface Of the earth; but the
only progress which really makes for happiness is that connected with ADJ i
Eahang ideals and better principles Of action. VIII the next generation en-
Ten upon active life with . higher conception, on the whole, ofthat in which
the true value Of life consists than we had al the outset of or earaarg ItI
VIII be well IL ts SOL but it sometimes SEEMS as if the most strongly marked
Of the next age would be a keener appetite for pleasure. II7
90 that j. not progress. The late poet laureate Of England has told us in
words which may be h-ackneyed BY frequent quotations, but which can neyer
oe their truth, that T.
"seltfeyerence sdtknowledget sotconrd-
These three alone lead life to sovereign poweru II
Modern state education can hardly recognize such 4 sentiment as ths Il
't y must be recognized somewhere Or else we shall 20 backward. not for f.
Sad, HeYery generation faithfully gives Of it's best to the generation tatI
olows after progress win be continuous and the equilibrium Of society Wifi
2 secures pup Il ~ 9 given moment We begin to trust to governmental ma
mhefy anueStenal forms and the general framework of laws to sustain thel
aofal life Of society The result VIII be disastrous There ii 40 nfe In these
Rings The poet morist Of ancient Rome had found this out when he ex
tanned what are empty laws worth, unsupported BY the moral sense I'll Ia
ne peopieF' WHAT'S wanted Isl deepened popular consciousness Of certain
commonplace moral pincpes-prncipDes b dd as to beginning IL ctybiza.