Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1902-11-21
a WASHINGTON EDUCATION.
Effect Upon the Country Lad Of q Gov
eminent nJob.e

4 EEttttiNU& sebt
! In the country towns throughout the
States and Territories, q government
| Job in Washington, be the term ever
| 50 brief Is the goal of more than one
youthful ambition, and in the eyes of
most small town folk the chief end.
use and purpose of a Representative
| Or q Senator Is to secure as many
snaps" OF this sort as he can for those
who elected him. Thus 1t is that In
all of the departments of the govern
ment located in this city, there are
some several thousands of young men
and young women from the country
I'districts and small towns who are
serving the government in every ca
pacity: from q iaborer to doorkeeper.
They are here; some of them, for six
months. and others for four years, dur
! Ing which they learn more from prac.
| tical experience and observation than
they would in double the same period
in any College or university.
Even at the worst, the young man
from a small town who has served the
government in Washington returns to
his home at the end of his term of
service more liberal minded, better in
formed, more refined in manners, and
of better address than when he left.
1t is a distinct gain all around, and in
this way the capital does more toward
educating the masses and fitting
| Young people for the duties and de
mands of modern civilized life than
all the universities combined.
The young man who comes to this
city from some small town is at once
thrown in contact with people from
every quarter OF the United States. as
well as from abroad. people of every
shade of religious faith and political
creed, so that one of the very first
things that he learns on reaching the
capital is that federation and respect
for the beliefs and opinions of others
is one of the abiding virtues of the
modern man of the world.
He soon findS that his own narrow
field of thought and the everlasting
round of discussion of things religious
and political of those Of his native vii
lage do not interest the people whom
he meets in the capital and who live
in larger world, and, finally, whom
his term has ended. he returns homo
with higher aims. dissatisfied with his
own lack of knowledge and informa-
ton. $3.50
The "guv'me job" has been the
best thing that ever happened to him;
it has awakened him to sense of his
own shortcomings, and Of how little
he really knew and amounted to. When
he tries once more to settle down to
the old life, the ambitions that have
sprouted and taken root in his mind
during his sojourn in the capital srur
him forward to higher and better
things that otherwise would never
have occurred to him.
Thus, while the universities are
| finishing those whose minds were first
stirred to action by short stay in
the capital, the government and the
City of Washington, combined, have
quietly and slowly come to be the
greatest educational factor and insti-
tuition in America. Not only are those
who spend short time in this city in
the employ Of the government improv.
ed. but they carry improvement back
with them to their native villages,
where they act as a healthy and
wholesome leaven to the dull and
lethargic life of their neighbors. Car
negie and others may endow scholar
ships, but nothing will ever equal the
government and Washington as popu-
lar educators.-Washing Post