The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-06-19
EDUCATION; CULTIVATION"

"FDUCATTONf; CULTIVATION"
fAIfred h. Williams, In the Roanoke Tirnes.>
This time of every year We have at every
commencement everywhere in the country all
kinds Of speeches and oratinns the theme of
which is "Edncate!" Educate and "Cultvate'"
"cultvate" There is serious danger that the
public mind will become confused on what
education and cultivation are. Parents have
they have done their fun duty when they have
sent boys and girls through college and
seen them take degrees and diplomas proving
that they have passed the examinations and
proved themselves TO be proficient in certain
branches Of learning and in the required studies
of language. history, literature. mathematics and
so on.
John Randolph, of Roanoke, said once In the
house of representatives that there were certain
lands on the Rivanna river in this State which
were of little use or value in their natural state
but.that attempts tn cultivate them ruined them
and made them so barren that they would not
grow weeds. He added that some men we're OF
the same quality--worthless capable OF sprout-
ing, at best. a few feeble ideas, but when "cul
Hvated" made absolutely useless He might have
gone further and said that cultivation and edu-
cation undireeted unwisey directed do more
harm than good many times and make people
who without them would have been merely value
less. potenuy and actively dangerous. The comic
magazines. paragraph jokes and cartoons are
fun always OF stories skits and pictures telling
us OF girls and boys who have been sent to
college and have gone back home superior to
the parents who gave them life and have worked
and stinted to provide for and equip them. Real
life is full of these incidents and they are far
more pathetic than funny. They mean patient
and yearning love and generous tender sacri-
Ace rewarded by singing ingratitude and dis
appointment, frequently tho most devoted affec-
ton met by thinly disguised contempt or cold
liberation. Such conditions come when the
young people have not had drilled into their
minds and absorbed into their souls from
their earliest consciousness the Beautiful
commandment of promise, Honor thy father
and thy mother that thy days may be
long in the land the Lord thy God gaveth thee"
TO cultivate is sought by multitudes of new enc
mics. becomes subject to many maadies. II
some use could be found for the broom sedge
and golden rod that spring up and take posses
sion of our fields at the slightest opportunity
given them by neglect and II we plowed. har-
rowed, sowed and fortified for them. doubtless
foes we never suspected would begin to attack
ali bo
needed to protect as friends tho things that
cur energy can hardly resist and cannot exter-
inmate while they foes to crops A
cur dog without pedigree and incapable to learn
ing anything except to iese and worship his
master and answer TO whistle will live twenty
odd years with his tail curled happily over his
back sleep In the snow and cold trot forty
be the same cheerful arectonate, optimistic
creature at the end that he was as puppy. A
pointer finely and carefully bred and with JIM
telIigence and field lore almost human needs
as much care as human baby. He must be
Protected against too much cold or heat, deted
ard exercised, is shiyering bunch Of nerves
with his tair half the time between his legs or
anxiaasly and tentatively vibrating. Then he
viii go away with the first man he sees carrying
d gun. Old Tom. the horse, will pull pillow
patiently season after season and carry to
church on Sundays and is grateful and glad to
ret hts oats and corn and pasturage at the
regular times. thoroughbred with fancy
rxms and a distinguished ancestry VIII die on
u II food and stabling are not exactly right.