Milford chronicle., 1904-08-26
Educntionn1 Limitatlons.

| makeup Of the individual
Educational Limitations.
Under the old educational system ev-
cry American college used TO eXnct a
hidebound course. The young man
who was a candidate for the B. A. de
gree had to take just so much Of mathe-
matics, so much of languages, so much
of the sciences, so much of philosophy,
so much of this and that and the other
thing. But now our college systems
have become broGdened. The elective
system is in vogue Great educational
leaders have come to the logical and
right conclusion that what is meat for
one brain may be poison for another
Charles Sumner was one of the great
est men America ever produced, but it
was simply an impossibility for
Charles sumner to grasp mathematics.
As a result of this deficiency Sumner
one of the greatest of all M%sea-
chusetts' scholars, was unable TO grad
uate from Harvard college When my
father graduated from college Howard
Crosby, then professor in the New
York university. declared he was ;he
finest student of bellies lettrds" who
had ever studied within the walls Of
New York great institution Of learn
ing. But, though my father was strong
in certain studies. he was very weak
in others. Among his weaknesses was
his inability to grasp a foreign tongue
hsa To On
did my Uncle John, as a missionary to
foreign lands. He was, however, de
TERED from this purpose by the Ito HIM
almost insurmountable difficulty Of be
coming proficient in a foreign Ian
guage.
Sometimes there is born a child, as
was Edmund Clarence Stedman with a
brain of myriad possibilities. As an
American poet he treads closely upon
the heels of our greatest poets. Yet
Stedman the poet is also Stedman the
Wall street banker, as he was also Sted-
man the famous war correspondent,
But such minds as that of Edmund
Clarence Stedman are the rare eNcep-
tions. For the most part God gives to
man but one first class talent and not
ten. The reason Theodore Parker be
came the great power he was in his day
was because, as he said: Everything !
ever saw or did l ground up into the
mental grist for my sermons. l was
born a preacher and can do nothing else
but preach" When U. S. Grant drew
his sword commander Of the Ameri-
can armies. he carved out for himself
one Of the greatest names in American
history, but U. S. Grant made failure
at everything on earth he ever attempt
ed except the vocation of a soldier
Many a soldier has been a failure as a
statesman; many a statesman has
proved his utter incapacity when he
tried to command an army.
Beecher and His Father.
The limitations of brain power can be
well illustrated by comparing the men
tai makeup of Henry Ward Beecher
with that Of his illustrious father, Ly-
man Beecher, one of the greatest eccle-
siastical leaders of his day The ia
nous pastor of Plymouth pulpit was in
every sense a prose poet. He spoke, he
thought, he lived, in symbol and pictur-
esque verbiage. The songs Of the birds,
the beautiful wardrobes Of the flowers.
the autumnal sunsets. the beehives, the
snow banks. the murmuring brooks-all
had to him message. Lyman Beecher
was made of angular Puritan granite
He was in every sense logician and Il
polemic Like John Calhoun, he was
skillful in argument. Grant his simple
premises, and you must grant his con-
clusions. He appealed mostly to the
brain as gray matter and not to the ar
tistic sentiments.
1t was a great source of sorrow to
Henry Ward Beecher that his father
never loved nature as he loved it.
Lyman Beecher loved to hunt. He
loved the woods for game, but not for
the flowers. He never loved flowers as
flowers. Facts always had to be pre-
sented to him as bare, unbreakable
rocks, and not as rocks clothed in gar
ments of green and in Joseph's coats
of many floral colors One day, much
to Henry Ward Beecher's surprise, he
saw his father standing before beau
tiful picture. 1t was a hunting scene,
but the son priced 1t for the beautiful
colors, such as are always found in the
retreat Of the woods. "Ah," said Henry