Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-10-28

OF improving school houses and
grounds, such as the setting out of
shade trees, the buying of pictures,
painting, etc. An improvement
along a certain line is an Indication
of a like Improvement along all kin
dred lines.
l have never had the advantage
of a collegiate nor of common
school education, but / have had
many other advantages--access to a
few good books, the reading of only
high class papers and other periodi-
Gals and close observance of nature.
lnasmuch as education implies text
books, / am not an educated man.
Wordsworth says,
$50 to the world, peruse the book of
man,
And learn from thence thine own dofeots
to scan."
You see man firing an engine (;
he seems to understand every part
of the machinery, and if it gets out
of order he knows how to repair it.
But it may be that he cannot write
his name, and you are ready to criti-
cise him (and JUSTIFY, and call him
an ignoramus, forgetting that you
would be equally ridiculous should
you attempt to run the engine.
The young man or young woman
who has been taught to fear God, to
be kind, to do good work, to be
sober, honest and truthful at all
times is the truly educated person.
A complete education is not to be
gotten out of books alone, nor is it
to be obtained only within college
walls. If a boy is to be educated for
a farmer he must be taught to do the
actual work of the farmer and to do
it well. In order to be true men and
women and to do ourselves justice by
developing our better and higher ma
ture and enlarging our intellectual
capacities, we must seek to obtain a
broader education than can possibly
be learned from text books. Books
are necessary they are essential. We
should learn to distinguish between
good books and harmful ones. Many
books are not only not worth read
ing, but are positively injurious to
any man, woman, boy or girl. Pa
rents should take special care to pro-
vide their children with wholesome
literature, and should endeavor to
cultivate within them a love for that
which is pure and instructive.
One great trouble with most of us
is that we read in careless way. 1t
is said that book that is worth
reading at all is worth reading twice.
1t is, at least, important that we give
it careful reading. Children who
are denied the privilege of a school
would find it exceedingly helpful if
they would secure few good books,
written by some reputable author,
and give them careful reading-not
one time, but half dozen-study-
ing the style and manner of the
writer.
Money invested in the education
of their children is the best invest
ment parents can make. The mar
row, uneducated man may say it els
better to live in blissful ignorance,
etc., but if you take from me my edu-
cation, even if it is very limited,
you have half my pleasure. There
is great satisfaction in knowing
things and in knowing how to do
things in creditable manner. The
uneducated man is shut in from the
world-from its joys, its mysteries
and its influences. Education is moth
ing more than development of the
understanding, a training of the
mental and moral faculties of man to
observe that which is hidden and to
reach out and grasp that which is
not seen by the uneducated, and, if
seen, not recognized. Untutored
minds are confined in very narrow
cells. There are precious lessons
and pearls of knowledge stored away
in the stones, forests, streams and all
nature, but how are these truths to
be extracted if our minds have not
been trained to recognize themp If
we could only recognize them we
would surely reach out and grasp
them and coin them into thoughts
that would in turn produce actions
of kindness TO all our fellow
creatures.
"Books! 'tis dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland libnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.
zone impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
OF moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can"
There is a great deal of talk just
now about compulsory education. If
we are to use the drunken fathers
money to prolong our schools, I am
strongly in favor of compulsory edu-
cation. Most people, l am pleased