Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1915-06-09

To talk across continent; to sail
if such a word it suitable-be-
meath the surface Of old ocean; to
rival the very birds Of the air in our
flights; to flash our thoughts in
stantly for thousands of miles, with
and through no other medium than
the unsubstantial ether that we
breathe-these, and countless other
like marvels, are now possible TO
man.
In the domain of the purely con-
crete and practical man has made
vast strides indeed. In the domain
of the abstract and mental, we see
new methods and new systems com
ing into vogue. In the specific
realm Of education, we find progress
in methods and means of imparting
instruction that are commendable
and efticacious.
But in that department of educa-
ton, which believe TO be by far the
most important, namely, in the de-
partmcnt Of character building, we
can never learn too much, we can
never reach perfeCtion-we can al
ways improve. "EXpcrience teaches"
lays the old saw. But with all our
experience perhaps we have learned
but little Of how to improve upon the
old methods of character building.
| want to-day, while not for one
moment abating the need Of praise
that improved methods Of instruc-
ton, regard for hygiene and all the
other cOmmendable features that
have come into our school system Of
teaching so richly deserve want to
talk TO you about character building.
No education is worth while that
has not a moral basis. Knowledge
is power. But knowledge may be
just as bad thing as it may be good.
The application Of the power that
knowledge gives is the measure Of
its value.
If my knowledge Of mechanics en-
ables me to open the bank sale when
the combination is lost so that the
bank cashier can get the funds to pay
them out to the banks customers,
that knowledge is valuable, useful
and put to a good purpose. But the
same knowledge enables the thief to
open that safe and rob it. Knowl-
edge is good or bad according to how
we use it. 1t is sharp tool-dan-
gerous or helpful according to it's ap-
plication.
Then it follows that, unless the
pupil is taught how to use knowl-
edge, the result may be for evil in
stead Of for good. SO it seems to me
thai what we need to struggle for
most is true wisdom, and that what
we must put at the very foundation
of all education, and teach and incul-
cate, is wisdom
What is wisdom? Wisdom is the
application Of knowledge. In this
day Of new things we ought not to
forget the eternal verities-the old
standards that are as ancient as the
eternal hills-first principles that
never will and never can change.
he CHilu is not lllllc reservoir
to be crammed as full as possible Of
facts in the shortest possible time.
The child is a moral creature 1t has,
as well as a wondrous mind, heart.
1t is an immortal being. And the
spiritual and the real touch and in
termingle, and the one takes it's COM
pleXion very often from the other.
The child has a dual nature; it
has had mclinations born with it.
But, thank God, it has the love also
in its heart for the pure, the noble,
the good, the brave and the true.
The heart Of a child is a paradox,
a seeming contradiction Therein is
mingled the good and the bad If
we allow the child to think that
knowledge is a mere stepping-stone
TO material success, and fail to teach
the child that knowledge must be
sanctified to be worth while-sanc-
tilted, made good--by high aspira-
tions, noble ideals, good motives
in word, by pure heart, or at least
a heart that loves purity we fail as
teachers in our first and most vital
duty.
This is the age Of materialism. But
the world outside the material-the
world outside Of those things that are
merely earthly, that we can see with
our bodily eyes, and touch, and taste,