The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-10-16
Of more enlightened, and consequently

OF more enlightened, and consequently
less superstitious parents, often break
mirrors for the fun of the thing, and
spill salt to tease their mothers, and
Whirl chairs around out of mere devil.
try, and open umbrellas inside the
house out of pure mischief, and do other
dreadful things in utter disregard of
their terror-stricken parents. And
then hear the good superstitious mother
bewail the degeneracy of her offspring!
And then hear the boys laugh in deri-
sion of their mothers fears, which
seem foolish to them! In short, they
are being emancipated from supersti-
tion, and Education is the Emancipa-
tor!
1t seems to me Mr.. SIS quotation
from Fiske rather weakens his argu-
ment. For, if superstitious beliefs
receive as much credence as they
formerly did" why should Mr.. Fiske,
who was very busy man, take the
trouble to 60 to such lengths in point
ing out to his readers the fact that
superstitions have not vanished alto
gether? Is not the necessity under
which Mr.. Fiske finds himself to call
the attention of his readers to the fact
that superstitious beliefs still exist in
certain quarters conclusive proof that
such superstitions are not generally
known? And if, as MIR. Fiske admits,
many myths have already lost their
primitive meanings, it is clear they
must be in transitional stage, and
soon we shall regard them as we do the
Sagas of the Norsemen, or the myths
of the Greeks. In fact, an overwhelm-
ing majority of the present generation
of Americans, when told of such super
stitions as MIS- mentions would in
dulge In knowing smile, which may
be interpreted as meaning, "You can't
fool me; see ~
| Mr.. S. admits that intolerance is not
so emphatic and demonstrative as it
was few centuries ago." We 20
further: Intolerance is being swept
backward wherever education becomes
general! If certain professors in en-
dowed colleges dare not express their
opinions, is not that a good argument
in favor of state education? And if
certain professors are moral towards
and have become teachers "fOr revenue
only" does it follow that their syco-
phantic effusions are more effective in
Eshaping the thought of our time than
the opinions of independent thinkers /?
The very street corner loafers of Chi
cago sneer at the teachings of ten
dOwed professors" and thousands, yea,
millions, of farmers and laborers, many
of whom have only been educated "up
to the level of newspaper reading"
express their disgust in strong terms
when endowed colleges, and endowed
college professors are the topics of
conversation. In short, intolerance
instead of being san idiosyncrasy in
separately connected with education"
may be regarded as an inheritance,
now rapidly disappearing, from the
time when education was "to the few
restricted" federation is in the air:
the people want to be tolerant, strive
to be tolerant, are growing intolerant
of intolerance; and that in spite of the
fact that certain extremely conserva-
tive old women of both sexes are work
ing overtime to keep alive the dying
embers of intolerance.
And to prove that education is play
ing prominent part in roofing out
intolerance it needs only to compare
intolerance as it exists in the enIight-
ened state of Massachusetts with in
tolerance as it exists in certain parts
of our southern states, "where igno-
rance is dense, and knowledge unap.
preciated." Thus, theu, it seems that
education has not only played prom
inent part in liberatirg man from the
thraldom df superstition and intoler-
ance, but is absolutely necessary, as
the only effectual weapon of which we
can make use in extirpating the rem
nants of superstition and intolerance
which are still in our midst.
| Mr.. S. asks for answers to few
questions, some of which seem rather
irreleyapt. He asks, sIf the state has
the moral right to tax A for teaching
the children Of B, has the state the
fright to tax a for training BIS horse r