The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1906-06-28
Strike! let every nerve and sinew
Tell on ages, tell for God!

We had intended to talk this morn
ing simply Oh education in the ordi
nary sense, apart from any specifi
cally moral considerations.
That is o. great subject and on,
upon which the slewest tongue should
find something to say.
There is the commercial value O
an education. Perhaps the very bes
investment OF money possible is edu
cation. Granted that the boy vii
take it, the best form in which tc
leave your boy money is in educa
ton. 1t will make him a bigger
broader, stronger man, and give hin
the use of such powers and faculties
as nature has endowed him with. Il
will be his most valuable asset. anC
bring him in more actual money thai
any other form of capital that ht
could start with. Simply as a bust
ness proposition education pays anC
pays handsomely.
And then there is the value that
cannot be estimated.
The most valuable things cannot
be appraised, at least in dollars and
cents. Who can estimate the worth
OF a sunrise to an appreciative eyei
When
Nights candles are burnt out and jocund
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain top.
When tremulous nature for a little
time seems holding her breath in Joy.
Gus anticipation, and then suddenly
bursts into life, and vocal with a
thousand melodies, halls the coming
OF the King of Day as he rides into
his kingdom in his chariot of purple
and gold. What money value can
you offer for such a spectacle? Or
for friendship, or sympathy, or a
mothers love? A thousand dollars
is as much too little for such treas
ures as a shilling.
There is a satisfaction in possess
ing trained mind more than in a
strong and we'll developed body. A
we'll trained and furnished mind is a
crown incorruptible and unfading.
1t is form OF wealth that financial
crises cannot shake, and that needs
no insurance against fire or earth
quake. He who has intellectual cul-
ture need never feel poor or friendless
or lonely.
Meal, please your majesty, is a
half-penny a peck at Athens, and
get water fornothing" So said Soc
rates to King Archelaus when invited
to exchange the intellectual pursuits
in Athens for the sumptuous magni-
ficence of kings court.
We are not to suppose, by-the-way,
that our toWpu 81 ei1HHpff HHpff III lhAD at JPlJD
is commercial and industrial. AS a
public speaker has recently pointed
out in regard to the South, the fact
that we are giving ourselves more to
trade and manufacture does not ar
que that we must become material
and utilitarian in mind and heart.
Commercialism is pursuit or avo-
cation. Materialism is disposition,
a form of character or cast OF
thought. There is no reason why
the love of music and poetry and art
may not flourish here, or books lack
for friends, or the refnements Of So
cial intercourse and the pleasures OF
friendship and home life be unenioyed.
But to resume; we wish we could
describe in fitting words the joys and
privileges of intellectual culture.
There is the satisfaction of knowing
things. AS Bacon says: "The pleas.
ure OF standing upon the vantage
ground of truth" John Stuart Mil
has we'll said: "a cultivated mind
finds sources of inexhaustible interest
in all things" Sir John Lubbocb
classes education among the pleas
ures of life, and quotes Shakespeare
panegyric:
Not harsh and grabbed as dull fools suppose
But musical as is Apollo lutte;
And perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets,
Where no crude su1feit rel gns.
True education gives new eyes anC
ears, and lays at ones feet the intel
lectual fruitage of all time. The mar
of culture can discourse with Socra
tes, reason with Plato or investigate
nature with Aristotle. His mind is
an Aladdin's lamp, which only needs
to be rubbed and there are waiting
Genii to serve and divert him. 1t il
a magic carpet to transport at will
without even the trouble OF trains
and steamships. He can visit Baby
Ion the Great, learn the secrets o
dead kings, gaze upon the majestic
ruins of Baalbec. He can go tC
Egypt, the cradle of learning, or tt
Athens, "the mother OF arts and elo
quence," or across the Tiber to th'
home of the Caesars. If he seeks iov
ial company, he may join the joll.
crowd in the Green Tavern, and lister
to Marlowe and "rare Ben Johnson
and chat prince OF all good fellows,
Shakespeare himself. Tennyson wait
to carry him through King Arthur
court, and Chaucer will take him OF
his iaunt to Canterbury. He ma.
soar with Milton or descend witt
Dante into the abode OF the dead
Addison will introduce him to tha
gracious and courtly knight, 81
Roger de Coverley, and Byron ant
Shelley will sing to him. If he like
more strenuous and hardy adven
ture, he may 20 with Andre to tn
North Pole and need take no furs, .
with Baker and Stanley into tn
heart of "the Dark Continent. ID
may ramble with Irving through tn
ruined Alhalnbra or march with Pres
colt across Mexico and Peru, with
out fear OF banditti or red men. A
he sits in his own easy chair Dicken
and Scott relate their matches
stories for his ear alone. The sage
teach him, the orators plead for him
the poet sings, the warrior fights
the historian instructs, the humorls
diverts him, and all are his willin
servants.
And this culture is not simply fo
the college and university man. !
is possible for all who love books
There are many cultured people VIII
never entered college halls. AS "
have heard today, "the flowers
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