The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-08-21
Portman Letter.

NOW, that cojointiy with our countrv
s:hooI system, the educational features
oi the coming political campaign will also
soon be upon us, we wonder sometime II
the wrong liquid may not be poured into
the wrong bottle.
we have heard of educated monkav.
educated donkeys, educated horses boos
and dogs; but these, being morally ire
sponsible, are only interesting and anns-
Ing. When either Of these animals,
through education being poured into him,
takes upon himself the honorable form of
human being, then the "legion of
tends" in the man in Scripture ia more
harmless than he.
Education should be tempered to the
shorn lamb; when boy, Through his own
w,liulness or neglect OF parents, Is ehorn
or moral responsibility, when birth has
not clothed him in some decent fragments
of n right mind, then the ermine of edu.
cation makes him not foolish king hut
the kings fool.
Many boy is harmless when let alone.
but when educated he plays pranks for
satan. This Is no plea that boys should
not be educated, but many an uneduca-
ted boy makes better farmer than he
would make citizsn when educated.
Education Is like any chemical, it
works differently with different solutions
baking soda, for instance. Bicarbonate
OF soda is very mild when in solution
with water, but place it with vinegar and
1t forms rushing agitation and consider
able Of fuss and noise. The man who
likes fuss and noise may say: "Well, I
don't see what use that little mild soda
and water io!" But ask the man with
gas floating on his stomach and he will
say: well, don't. know Of anything
that neutralizes the acid In my stomach
as we'll as little baking soda and water"
But education-the three RS. reading,
r, ing and 'rlthmetic-is as much the di.
y me right Of the American boy as Garth.
ai and water. Yet not the education he
his as what will he do with 1t that pos
sesses the uneaslness or annoyance OF the
county or State. Where education sets
boy or man to villifying, depredating ups
on the good sense of the unwary, simple
minded, honest people, the use of the ed
ucation In this way should be deprived
him by the State as the use OF whiskey
should be deprived man, when the
whiskey is the ruination Of those around
him,
Many boy turns to idleness when ha
turns to education; his head, normallv
large, grows Is burdensome as boiler
upon his shoulders, and all his time and
ingenuity as required to preserve the
vessel In balance. The boy would have
been q good farmer, carpenter or black
smith, but as professor, an orator or
some other thing way up in the city or
state, he Is trickster, an imposter, and
deludes the crednlons audience With III ta the
contemplate ribaldry of mountebank.
There Is the only harm in education
placing 1t In the wrong bottle.
1t is the smattering of education that
hurts, when hurt Is accomplished. The
boy of whom 1t had been said as he grew
up: He will never mexe q farmer; he
does not take to trade-nothing but
books" and that boy had been educated,
good, all-round scholarship, from one
school to another, from one course TO an
other, that boy will be the professor
whose own brilliancy will link the world
with light and, II on spiritual plane,
whose own strength will empower the
world for good.
But the smatterer, the education that
scums over the debris of foul intentions,
that is gained as smart clap.trap were
with to show off to advantage the ugly
Wares OF the human heart, this smattering
Is the pitchfork wherewith Satan lifts
into an inglorious heap the many who,
hearing with their ears do not UNDER
stand with their hearts, and go are de-
ceived.
Perhaps this implement of farm.
this trident of war between Neptune of
the fluids and Cicero Of the rostrum.
may, with an alteration of the poets line,
point the moral that adorns the tale. We
have not been beating about tho bunh
when pointing that education in the mind
of bad man Is bad thing. There is no
man can do 80 much harm as the educa-
ted man; If he has money and influence
at hand all the worse for those vno are
injured. When we know that this educa.
tion ID wv like blast of blight covering
every young and green thing In the State
OF South Carolina, it is time, as people
pray for rain, to pray for some blessed
.' eouo cnouical OI 6ouS spirit
that shall save the tender growth of
truth In the hearts of Gods poor people.
II the masses would know that no man
who strikes at the prosperity of their
homes by striking ut the Creator who
gave them a home, and in whose hands
are their souls and bodies; and who strike
at GODS Word. the message to the poor
wherein the Father tells them: "Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden and will give you rest" and who
strike at Gods house. wherein the fami-
lies-the parents and children-should
worship one day in seven to gain strength
for the coming week, and that by com
plying with these requirements Of a re-
spectacle family and children OF God thew
Will draw around themselves O fortifica-
ton OF blessedness as a result of the
promise that them who honor God, God
will honor; If the people would consider
that no man who opposes all this can be
q 80 e.