The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1905-02-04

CESAR LAST SATURDAY - A
NUMBER OF PRACTICAL AND
vALUALE SUGGESTIONS MADE
SUBJECT WELL HANDLED
FROM EVERY POINT.
x--
DR.. J. Q. Fountain, invited by Stunt.
Of Education w. w, Stockstill 10 at-
tend the meeting Of ne Hancock Coun-
ty Teachers Association at Cesar last
Saturday and TO ad4ses the members.
prepared for the occssion the following
able paper on the allSimportant subject
Of education, viz:
saskk the Twentieth Century begins its
majestic march OF one hundred years
down the ages, the sentiment in the
hearts and minds Of the people OF this
great country is that the children and
youth OF the land should receive more
general, higher and better intellectual
and moral training. A few words in
reference to the duty parents owe to
their children:
Tho origin and inception and nursery
Of correct intellectual and moral senti-
ment is fostered around the hearthstones
and in the homes OF the people them
selves, and where, under institutions
like ours, the people rple, 1t is mighty
power that goes forth conquering and to
conquer. Fathers and mothers OF to-
day desire that their children have bet
ter educational advantages than they
themselves enjoyed in youth, and in
every locality where THE sentiment Of
feeling is universal It results in sending
the schoolmaster abroad in the land, in
ever increasing efficiency and forceful-
ness. The school system Of county
requires organized warfare against ig-
norance; nay, more, against crime itself.
Where ignorance prevails in every de-
gree in the county, the danger signals
must always be flying; for ignorrnce
and illiteracy are the prolific mothers OF
vice and venality. The decadence of
learning ushered in what is known in
history as the Dark Ages, whose gloom
settled like a pail on the world, in and
.nrcgh which grovelled a benignted
and benunhed people, sthe easy prey OF
vice, superstition, a9pttession and dcs-
potism.
An ignorant people Is a slayiS peo-
pie, The cornerstone of free rstitu-
tions- Is the capacity Of the peoIle for
self-government. A people are upt ca
pable OF extending and developirk and
enduring self-government, except n the
way before them Is ever more and hore
lllumined by the lamp OF learning; 9y
the steady, brilliant, electric headlight
OF intellectual and moral training.
Here, In Mississippi, we have learned
well the lesson, that the ignorance which
prevails constitutes the debris of the
community, weighing down and imped- :
ing the progress ol the State, that it
must be shovelled In, carted off and
dumped into the currents that will carry
it away and lose 1t in the vast ocean Of
oblivion. We read in the daily news
papers of the great captains of industry.
men who control millions Of capital and
effect gigantic combines in trade and
commerce and banking and transporta-
ton, and the most daring, astonishing
and SUCCESSFUL OF these are Americans.
some of whom ars Mlssissippians.
But in America, in Mississippi, even
in Hancock County, there is one greater
in the land than the captains Of In iustry,
and It is he who leads the forces OF light
against the battlements OF ilIiteracy.
He it is that consider the greatest Of
captains. In truth was it said recently
by distinguished educator, that the
money the State appropriated In the
cause OF education Is not money given,
but money invested. And it is the best
possible investment the State can make.
the direct product and profit Of which
IS better citizenship, higher man.
hood, a nohler and more beautiful wo-
manhood, Because this Is 40, the State
should appropriate each year as large
sums as possible TO the support of her
school system. The legislature may be
relied upon to do this, aided and sus-
tanned by the best citizenship, who are
themselves abreast OF the best thought
and progress Of the time.
But in this connection 1t should te
borne in mind that the State has prac-
tically no other source Of income except
that which represents taxation on the
people, and that a manmum limit OF
State taxation is fixed in the fundamen-
tai law itself. It oannot be exceeded,
The States revenues are, say, million
and bali year, out OF which certain
fixed charges must be met and the cur
rent expenses Of the State government
be paid. So, with the win to do all that
is asked for education, the legislature
can do only 30 much and no more.
Taese things should be remembered,
Our legislature, at its last session, ap=
propriated approximately an increase Of
three hundred thousand dollara annu-
ally for the public schools Of Mississippi.
We have not become rich and opu-
lent commonwealth. like some Of our
sister States Of the North, who did not
undergo the blightng effects Of the
Civil War. So, for the present, our
legislature must, perforce. continue TO |
nuke what, BY compariaon. must be