The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-22

path to honor It's simple portals must forever stand unbs rred to the youth Of our beloved state. When they have en- tered into its sacred precincts thousand doors will fly wide open, leading into every hall of usefulness, prosperity and happiness. Alabama by legal enactment has pledged herself to keep the portals of the temple of education wide open. Her excuse for this Is that she demands of the keepers of the temple-her school officials-that they train her boys and girls for citizenship; develop in them a love of country. lead them to respect law, truth and justice, and aid them to be- come worthy and self-supporting eiti- zens.
 Hereuean Task.
 ''The herculean task imposed by the state upon her school officials can readily be seen by the thoughtful mind. and fear, owing to the limited funds available for securing the desired results, it will be many years before an ideal condition can be reached. This, however, should not deter the earnest, conscientious board member, superintendent or teacher from complying as nearly as possible with the demands of the state. He should do well whatever his hands find to do and plan | to control future conditions. There Is | no excuse save the differences of our | 1 too frequently in Alabama at this time. Where there is a will there Is a way and the state has right to demand that l her boys and girls be taught how to read, to write good English, knowledge 1 of the fundamental principles of mathe- matcs necessary to business success, a l knowledge of the earth as the home of man, and knowledge of the fundamental l principles of natural science. Teach a | boy how to read and you have established l for him an intellectual partnership, not only with every living contemporary, l but also with every mind that has left a record of itself in literature and science. | Teach him how to write, and you have l given him the means to transmit his | thoughts to generations and ages that 1 will exist thousand years hence. Teach the fundamental principles of mathemat- les and you place in the hands of the youth of the state another of the master keys of life. With this key the astrona- mer opens the depths of the heavens. calculates the distances between the planets, and their distances from the earth; the engineer tunnels into the bowels of the earth for minerals, spans our largest rivers with bridges, estab- fishes lines of railways, and conducts water from a distance into our homes the navigator traverses the sea and Is enabled at any time to give his exact location; the booklSeepers in our great commercial houses are able to strike g balance at any time showing the exact condition of the business.
 Make Him Far-Seeing.
 "Teach the Fundamental principles oi natural science and you enable the boy to see more with two eyes than Argus with his hundred eyes, to do more witt his two hands than Briareous with his hundred hands. No Titan that fought with Jupiter possessed as much strength in his arm as the engineer has in his thumb and finger when he turns ths screw that lets the steam into the cyl inder of his engine. No tale in the Ara bian Nights surpasses the skill of tht metallurgist who converts piece Of iror ore into the handspring of a watch These are the branches of knowledge O. which the elements are supposed to b' taught in our school But are they taugh in such a way that the greatest good ii derived from their study? l fear not and the fault does not rest entirely in tn teacher.
 This is an age of concentration o modern industrial appliances. It is seei on the farm, in the factory, in the mine in the shops and everywhere that labor saving machines can be used. Is the grea business of education keeping pace wit our industrial enterprises? Our school do not have even comfortable buildings to say nothing of the equipment neces sary to do frst-class work. Teaching
 boy to recognize and call the words foun on the written or printed page does no comply with the law requiring reading { be taught This could be done literally and still the boys stock of ideas would no be increased The teacher must do this but he must do more than this. He mus teach the boy to find out the laten beauty of thought found in the printed page. he must teach him to love tha which is good and pure and elevating and to hate that which is bad, impure and degrading. The average school reade is arraigned, principally, for teaching th' mechanical side of reading, and there fore, for teaching a love of literature as sistance must be sought elsewhere
 Cause of Trouble.
 ] But where is the poor teacher, who Il thoroughly conscientious in his work t' go for help? To the home? There he will find some government reports furnished : free by the congressman from his dis trict. subscription book. made for sal chiefly, whose table of contents show' | 1t to contain sckly. sugar-coated essay on morals and religious subjects, and tn