El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-08-13
Fools to Whom Philosophers Could
Go to School.


Go to School.
Lippincott's.
dicative of crudity of thought. The
latter has been longer in the world than
language, for the primeval savage wa:
not without the elements OF mind, when
gestures and gruuts were his sole means
OF expression. To rebel Is as human as
to err, and he who deties gram
mar is not necessarily a fool
How often we hear it said, "Oh, he's
An uneducated man." and so pay nc
serious attention to what this "unfor'
tunate" may have to say. IL may nap
pen that we suffer more than he does
by such assumed superiority. The
round of the seasons can effect rs much
as q college curriculum to an open-eyed
man. Not in the same direction, not
with equal artistic finish, but he is q
fool himself who sets down the untutor'
ed student OF the outdoor world as little
better than fool. By syntsx aud pro.
sody we can not solve the problem oil
an oak tree nor that of the miDnow in
the brook that flows past its gnarly
roots. Greek philosophy does not eX-
plain the color OF flower, nor Roman
sophistry why birds build nests.
Granted the desirability OF all the
intellectual culture that centers In a
university library, still IL is not indis
pensable when we take to the woods
add have n desire to know more oil the
planet on which we live; for this SELF
same earth was q very complete affair
and we'll worthy OF place in the uni
verse when the anthropoid ape was
the climax Of evolutionary activity.
Had man never been, no reasoning
creature from Mars, we will say, could
have thought of the incompleteness OF
earth or supposed IL was yet TO be the
scene of higher intellectual activities:
or, IL the world had come to an end In
the days of continued struggle with
wild beasts, OF cave-dwe ling and can
nibalism, IL could not have been SAID
OF the planet that IL had closed IT'S
career untimely; nor, later, In the
dawn of education, could this nave
been said. Some 1900 years ago the
end OF the world was confidently ex-
pected by a few thousands Of world
weary enthusiasts.
Before the day OF schools and col
leges there were unlesrnei men VINO
knew q vast deal, after their own lash
ion; and this Is equally true OF today.
Theworld has waited for,wireleless tele-
graphy and the electric motor, but IT
did not need TO. The north pole Is no
longer n mystery, but many have lived
who we're ignorant OF all this, yet
spoke words of wisdom. The ice OF
the mill pond whispers the essential OF
a frozen ocean. Many have walked
boldly to fact and by unschooled cum
ming captured IL. Now the bicycle car
ries US across the continent. but the
only gathered fact is that we are tran
sported. Eyes aud ears are no longer
the open avenues to the brain. Life Is
more a matter now of heels than OF
head.
rue man who has spent long life In
the country, with his fields bounded oy
woodland and swamp, though he can
neither read nor write, is not neces-
ssrily ignorant. Nature has made so
much OF her working plain TO his I'M
tutored mind that he can interpret in
a way of his own and a way, too, that
Is not bewildering by reason OF long
array of contradictory statement IL
is something to have knowledge all
your own, gathered wholly by your I'M
free; for be who merely echoes
another's thoughts or accepts the
dictum Of another as to what
Is true and what is false Is 10 a sense a
slave. The authorities, as they assert
themselves to be, are ever tyrants; our
manhood is in proportion to our 1nde-
pendence of any and all aroiters. The
submissive man is a mere machine. To
shape our lives at the direction OF
others that we may be wise and saved
is to keep ourselves ignorant and IN
worthy of salvation. Knowledge direct
from nature Is q source OF satisfaction
as unfailing as q great library is to =
student of books. When the uneducat-
ed man who lives in the open country
lays by his work for amusement and
often with satisfaction equal to his
who turns to the printed thoughts of
other people.
do not undervalue what the world
calls education" Lacking 1t myself,
1 may be calling down condemnation
upon my head for speaking of 1t as do.
never had q teacher who gave me the
slightest encouragement and more than
one was q brute in human form. know
nothing of college life beyond vague
hearsay; but, although it seems to be
expected, never trembled in the courts
of classic greatness. 1t is no part OF
evolution that all men should be
OF one pattern. There are oak trees
and people who live in their company
and smaller folk who linger in the
shade OF shrubbery; there are toilers
In the field as we'll as in the town and
the place of each is equally we'll de-
find. Homer, In the library for him
who loves Homer; but the thrush
song, in the tsngle OF green brier, is
sufficient for my needs. l may be less
a man, but il this being less not part
of the scheme of the world? | do not
feel my littleness. But | would speak
of others, not OF myself.
Lack of guidance derived from
books Is not synonym OF mental
inferiority or degradation, as some
would put IL. The 'ignorsmus" who
can not speak correctly can send the
bullet Of his thought straight home, il
he does use Is means OF so doing an
obsolete flintlock musket instead of the
improved Winchester rifle. We pay
too little attention to the fact that a
mans purpose Is accomplished and
criticise too much the manner of its
bringing about. Words are signs OF
ideas: the crude speech that makes me
wiser is more welcome than the polished
phrase that tells me nothing but what
knew before, or leaves me in doubt
whether IL is sense and sound, or sound
that lacks seuse.-C. G Abbott.
To Educate Negroes.
1t has been decided to begin work on
the huildin of VIRGINIA Union ITni-