Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-09-26

manufacturer of Chicago, has recently
published a violent attack upon the col
Eleges of the country, charging them with
being filled with immortality and Affirming
that they are bad places for the young
men of the land. lie singles out for
special condemnation Harvard fale'
Cornell, Columbia, and Princeton univer-
stiles He declares that drunkenness
prevails to an alarming degree among
the students of these institutions.
This is not the first attack which Mr..
Crane has made upon the ipstitutions OF
higher learning in our country Indeed,
he prints such things periodicals.. He is
evidently moved by some animus In which
is an element personal to himself. he
shows too great readiness to believe III OF
the colleges, and his statements are to
be taken with many grains of allowance.
The colleges are not as bad as he makes
them out to be, especially the smaller
colleges of the country. In the largest
and most wealthy Institutions there are
prevalent habits of extravaganza and IN
fluences of godlessness which candid peo-
pie will not deny exist in them; but
even in those institutions things are not
as bad as Mr.. Crane seems to think.
Nevertheless, Mr.. Cranes charges will
do good. II they serve to show parents
the perils which beset their sons when
Impossible to put young men out OF the
way Of temptation any where in this
world. Youth under the best conditions
! Is exposed to many dangers. Nathaniel
Hawthornei suggests the perils Of youth
kany where and under any surroundings
when he says, Youth has no experience
of its own nor can 1t use the experience
of older people until 1t Is too late" A
boy who does not go to college, but
remains at home, is exposed to great
moral dangers. Under the eyes of the
most careful and prayerful of parents
some boys go .astray and run to ruin
But just because of the Inevitable perils
of youth all care should be taken to
multiply the moral securities of college
life and reduce Its dangers to a mini
mum.
When boy goes to college he is at
the age when passion is highest and rea-
son least reasonable. 1t is then also he
is forming habits and contracting opin-
ions which may colour and control all
his later life. At this perilous period
he is sent away from home, with all its
moral safeguards. and the home influ-
ence then operates for his welfare I'M
der the great disadvantage of distance.
New scenes. new lines of thought, and
new associations. all tend to detach him
from the restraints and Inspirations by
which in previous years he has been
blessed, and to place him under condt-
tions wherein he may easily fall into the
delusion that the first principles of right
and wrong are no longer applicable to
him amid his academic surroundings. The
outcome of the process Is more uncertain
than is the transportation of precious
plant Helmay take on a new and more
vigorous growth in moral ideals and life,
q his morality and faith may r''A'' and
Such being the case our colleges should
be conducted under the most pronounced
moral influence and religious instruction
They must stand for the primary of the
moral They can not afford TO defy the
intellectual, and much less the physical
elements of life. When they dethrone
the moral element they become more
hurtful than helpful to the individual
student and to the general community.
The religious element may be left out
of the common schools with far less dan
ger and damage to the pupils in them
than it may be omitted from the colleges.
Boys and girls in the common schools re-
turn to their homes when their tasks at
school are done Morning and evening
they may be gathered about the family
altar. and there find daily instruction In
the Holy Scriptures and religious wor-
ship to fill their souls with the noblest
inspirations. On the Sabbath, in compa-
ny with their parents, they may go to the
Sunday School and the church. But when
they are sent away to college all tese
sacred things of the home are left be-
hind. No authoritative hand is laid upon
them to send them to the sanctuary of
God on the Sabbath. and no voice of par
entail priesthood is heard by them morn
ing and evening in intercession on their
behalf. At such a time Iney ought to
be sent to colleges so penetrated by the
spirit of piety and so religious in their
instructions that they may as nearly as
possible supply the absent influence of
the home. Otherwise the worst conse-
ouences are liable to follow. 1t is indis-
pensabIe at such a period that the stud
ent be brought daily In the Classroom
under the most direct religious iinflu-
ence. If at the end of his course he is to
come forth a christian; and no one will
deny that 1t is all important for our
country that its educated men should be
christian men.
Guizot was entirely right when he said
I'm order to make education truly good
and socially useful, It must be funda-
mentally religious. 1t is necessary that
It should be given and received in the
midst of a religious atmosphere, and that
religious impressions and religious OBJ
servances should penetrate into all its
parts" To the same purpose spoke Victor
Cousin when he declared ANY system Of
kschool training which sharpens and
strengthens the intellectual powers with
out at the same time affording source
! bfi restraint and countercheck to their
tendency to eva is a curse rather than
a blessing" Such education fires ambition
and inflames greed while 1t does moth
ing to stay these selfish passions in their
mad pursuit Of the unholy ends 10 which
they impel men,
1t is much to be feared that the
American people are too intent upon
the quantity Of education and too In
different to it's moral quality. Most Of
our people seem to think that any sort
O. education is bound 20 do good; but
this is far from being true. If ignor-
ance were the only source of sin, 1t
would follow that education would be
the panacea for all evil; but such Is
not the case There are some crimes
which are impossible to the illiterate.
Forgery, for example, can only be COM
mitted by one who can read and write
"Frenzied finance" with all its sins
only the educated can indulge.
Some years ago Prof. Harry Thurston
Peck of Columbia University printed in