The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1901-06-21

sary, especially in mathematics, to
obtain tho diploma. Thon tho anxiety
on tho part of tho young to ontcr
upon tho aroma Of lifo is SO groat,
coupled with necessities imposed by
poverty and Othor adverse conditions,
thcso studcnts drop by tho waysidc,
and graduating class Of thirty out
Of fifty -four is Il record that huvo
novor hoard cuuallod in South Caro-.
lima, and doubt if it has ever been
cquallcd anywhere clso.
asked you moment ago how
much preparation, or rather what
success would 60 with tho ownor-
ship Of II diploma, and said it do
pondod on you. How much do you
know ! h"licvo wo should nsk, how
much don't YOU know, or how much
is thoro You do not know. My own
"Xpcrlonco as q student taught mo
this, that tho object Of education, tho
primary purpose of it is TO train tho
mind, to strengthen tho reasoning
power, to bring about condition of
mental development that will onublc
tho student to reason clearly and to
dlllorcntiatn between truth and false.
hood, to discover for yourselves what
is right and what is wrong. Aside
from tho usual amount Of mathoma-
tics or arithmetic involved in tho
ordinary affairs of life aside from
tho amount Of knowledge of English
necessary to road and writo an intol-
llgent letter, aside from Il fow fun
damcntal facts in science and physics,
tho average man or woman who docs
not follow up tho investigation
further after they leave college,, in Il
year, or two or thrco or iivo yoars,
you become unable to separate tho
college graduates from those who
mover went to college, at all. You
are not able to dilIorcntiato between
tho graduate and man who mover
went into a college at ALL Tho learn
ing, tho book learning, or that part
Of the curriculum which has boon fol.
lowed and which has not boon usod
afterwards, soon grows rusty, soon
becomes encrusted with forgctfulness.
Tho boy loses that that ho does not
continue to uso. But tho mind has
boon trained, the drill Of tho reason
ing power has boon such that thore
is Il growth, and the young man may
continue to grow and expand fthore
is Il healthy effort along rational lines
to improve the understanding. But
1 have known college graduates who
after thoy loft school folt that they
were finished. 1t had boon hard and
they had had Il desperate struggle to
win thoir diplomas and iolt that tho
time had como for fun and froIic.
Sad to say, that it is often tho case.
Tho majority drop back into tho ordi.
nary everyday life and loso that grasp
upon those tools with which they havo
boon furnished by thor training. They
drop tho tools. As somo wiso man
in tho past declared that tho child
is tho father to tho man, SO tho
student is either tho father Of tho
man who will mako his mark in
the world or he drops back among
tho children who have never
bocn students. Why, thcso young
mon and women Wro just prepared
to begin tho study Of anything
which thoy have boon studying. |
say this advisodly, and | say it from
my own experience. l was rs good
Latin scholar Of my ago as you
can find in tho State, and today with
the exception Of Il very dim outline
Of tho principles Of tho language and
knowledge Of somo Of tho words
which havo stuck, | could not con
struo an ordinary Latin sontonco
And you will loso your Latin and
Greok and Mathematics, you Will lose
all that you have spcnt theso years
to acquire, but your education will
not have boon failure because tho
primary purpose OF education is to
train tho reasoning powers, to have
tho mind grow from working, Just
rs tho muscles. Tho idea which I
wish to Impress upon you all-thcse
young mon who arc graduating and
those who have not yot graduated
and those who aro in college but
will never be graduates, and those
who will novor bo in collogo---ls that
tho human mind is n very wonderful
machine and that the human soul
with which it is intorlinked and inter
laced, which is its soat--that tho two
must be cultivated and grow together
if wo are to have tho highest devel-
opnent and to havo that SUCCESS in
lifo which it is tho ambition of every
right thinking young man or old man
or young woman or old woman.
Wo come into tho world wo know
not whence and without being con-
suited. We sojourn hero for q period
moro or less brief, within tho limita.
ton Of century or thoroabouts, tho
average much less than seventy
years, and wo 80 ont Of it without
being consulted. Nobody asks us
whom wo aro ready, nobody inquiries