The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-08-27

ferring TO any special instruction for
any particular end-there ought 70 be
no misunderstanding Of the fact that
education. So necessary To the oes;
work. grows out If the WORK itself. In
one way % talking no man VAS ever
educated By going 10 college. for col
lege "a the school OF life" just as a
place where sufficient Of Blackstone.
Coke. n current decisions to enable
the graduate to obtain a lIcense Is
called a school OF law" a law school
diploma. however well IL may have
been earned. does not make & lawyer;
nor can a University or college degree
make a man. Education 10 any cali
Ing IS preliminary. and cannot In It's
nature be practical And the college
youth who ~inagines that, By virtue OF
q high priced and difficult education.
ne Is thereby superior 10 his rival who
has come UP out OF the grass has not
learned the first principle upon which
thoughtful people value the education
he over-rates. Going 10 college is not
per sc going TO win any victories In
the race Of life.
Al the same time * il true hat a
college education is worth almost
every sacrifice and effort to obtain. II
Is not so much that which ii is In it
self as that which il is in connection
with other things that counts II is
what a circus parentage is 70 the aero
bat: what a birth on the plains Is TO
n nrzay>a a ~ rlf~- r-La+ {-rr,ga- "a
cruiting ground means 10 a navy. The
college education works on the plastic
intellect so that il becomes respon-
s1ve TO rather tran impregnated with
lnought 1t makes for a receptive
Drain and an open mind. L relieves.
If rightly used. the germ of conceit.
1t produces, without weakening the
confidence OF conviction, the true
modesty that is not shamed to be mis-
taken. The right sort Of college edu-
cation fits the student to look for the
truth with clear eyes and without pre-
JUDGE. And it teaches him how to
look
II there were doubt about the truth
or the value Of a college education it
ought to be best dispelled by the con-
fesslon of its need by men n have
without it. Such men are,
almost Invariably, the most anxious to
send their sons to college. Because a
man has succeeded without the higher
education simply means that he has
either latec in life than he
would a he obtained it or that his
success IS not as complete as it would
otherwise have been. A lack Of edu-
cation will not negative the quality OF
success if ii be in the man but. in con-
with the quality, education
spells more usefulness. higher concen-
tration, broader conceptions.
We have in mind two men without
education each of whom has
his particular work as prob
ably no other could have done. And
both Of these men are acutely in
need OF what they would have gotten
from a broad experience with general
education.
In the n case the man is the di-
rectlng head of a business in which
there arises the daily need of the pre-
else knowledge that the college gives.
With magnificent determination he
has educated himself to the needs OF
his work and does it in a way that the
of scholars might envy. And vet
there is in his heart a constant re-
greet that his youth was spent in DAYS
Of war and poverty that denied him a
liberal education. Considered even
economically, in dollars and cents,
mink OF the accumulated loss in the
service of a high priced man in over
coming that handicap of youth and in
nalting his peculiar genius in mid
Tight for the acquisition Of that which
have been his to heir il on,
In the other case, the effect is less
College man won his way by sheer
,orce or will and strength. He has
succeeded magnificently. In his times
with the material with which he
lad to Work he made himself master.
Where his college bred associates
allied without number he triumnhed
lis path was that Of victory. In his
ISlh anu success ana In the con-
of his native power he came
It length to boast of the fact that he
vas '~self-made." He wore his ieno-
-ance Of all except his work and the
necessary knowledge of men attach
ng thereto as a decoration of honor.
And yet, on account of his very SELF
on account Of the very
strength that was in him, this man
allied in the greatest crisis of his life.
a college man would nave seen
.learly, he was blind to; where a coll
eye man would ave made a move
n flank, he risked a frontal attack
mindful Of the position in which his
opponents were entrenched, and obliv-
of that which every one except
himself could see. AS John L. Sulli-
an, the greatest fighter the world :
las ever seen, ran upon defeat be-
he would not admit the pass
of time and the patent effects of
on health. so this infinitely
more important nj lost the greatest
of q victorious career harauSa in