New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1904-07-16
EDUCATE MIND AND CHARACTER.

| we near great uedl OF talk AT tllt
present time of education and the
| training of children, even from baby
| hood to adolescence While we are
thoroughly in favor of education III
books. beginning with the birch rod
and Webster's old blue back speller
and ending with gymnastics and God
only knows what amount of isms and
ologies, vet we believe that "pari
passu. while the mind is being
trained to pursue knowledge, the
character of the child should be trained
to walk in that straight and narrow
path that leads to integrity A man
may be millionaire, litcrateur a
statesman, yet it he have no character
he is as "a sounding brass and a
thinking cymbal. " What do we mean
by character? 1t is what man
stands for when tried in the crucible
of the worlds snares and temptations,
or poverty and wealth. He must be
not only inditferently honest" he
must be firmly and truly honest. He
must not be addicted to preaching one
thing and practicing another. He
must have ideals and he must try TO
live up to them.
We can cite as an example in our
own country, Aaron Burr. A brilliant
man intellectually, man ambitious
to shine among the great men of the
country, a man who came perilOusly
near to being President of these United
States. Yet he lacked that integrity
which teaches men to do right because
it is right; he was tried for treason
and thought not proved guilty; his
life was blasted and he became a wan
derer on the face of the earth. We
would have the lives of such men held
up as examples in our schools of what
men ought not to do or to be. We
would have our youth taught that a
dishonest man cannot make righteous
and just judge, that man who is
morally rotten cannot fill with dign-
ity high place, that statesman can
not be moulded from political tricks
ters We could have our youth taught
civic pride, to delight in his town and
to be proud of being a citizen of
great and prosperous commonwealth
and we would further have him
taught the rights and duties of citi-
zen, "A free and honest citizen Why,
look at those little yellow men of the
far East, the little Japs, who are as
tonishing the world by beating the big
Russians Oh land and sea. Why this
astonishing success? First, from his
first breath he is taught that there is
no more glorious deed than to die for
his country and his Emperor Second,
he belongs to a patient and painstaking
race, who takes the trouble to learn
everything we'll and thoroughly that
he learns at all. Third, there is no
such word as graft in the luxicon
of Japan Her soldiers have good food,
good clothes, good arms, good officers,
and a good government teaching them
mp.
We believe that in the olden times,
we possessed manhood of just such
high character and integrity. Espec-
tally was this SO, in the South This
fact was clearly demonstrated during
the civil war and the reconstruction
period Can it be said that the lofty
ideals which inspired our manhood
then, do not inspire our manhood now?
Are not things done and tolerated at the
present time in pubic life that would
have brought reproach and even ostra-
cism to the perpetratOr formerly? We
consider the formation of charcter one
of the most important duties that lie
in the hands of the educators of our
state and we trust that it will occupy
q large page in the curriculum Of
every school within the borders of
Louisiana. The People.