Year: 1867

ficers, teachers and parents.


NEGLECT woRKETH RUIN.


When the rebellious Israelites had
forsaken the laws of God, and become a


sinful nation of evil-doers, the Lord OF


Hosts addressed them in the following


manner: "Come now, and let us reason


together; though Your sins be as scatlet,


they shall be as white as snow; though


they be red as crimson, they shall be as


wool. If yebe willing and obedient,


ye shall eat the good of the land" Now


/ will not say that we are guilty of as


much sinful and malicious negligence
of duty, as were the inhabitants OF
Judah and Jerusalem to whom this
language was addressed; yet, the exhor-
tation is as applicable to us, the boasted
intelligence of the nineteenth century,
in many respects, as to the rebellious
sons and daughters in the darker ages
of the worlds history. No let US sec if
we can prove the assertion. God had
written their duties (Which was his
Iaw) on tables of stone. 1t had been
pressed upon them by the eloquence Of
his faithful followers-his most efficient
Interpreters. "They knew their duty,
but did it not" Hence the aggra-
waited character of their crimes.


It is true that our lawmakers have
not written the duties of school officers,
teachers and parents upon tables Of
stone; nor have we received much oral
instruction on this point; but have they
not printed them in legible characters,
pamphlet form, and distributed them


among us as o guide TO actions Has
not God, in his written revelation, made
our duty apparent when he says to us,
"Do unto others as you would have
others do unto you." Again, He COM
maIds us"to bring our children up in
the nurture and admonition of the
Lord" And finally, has He not written
the law by which we should be gov
erned in our actions toward our child
rem, pupils and subjects in indelible
characters upon the tablets of our
hearts' We think all must answer
from experience that He has. Now, do
we discharge all these duties faithfully
and in O christian spiritf If we do not,
then the assertion made in the onset is
proven. l shall not attempt, howevre,
to prove that education is the maturing Of
the mind, because l presume none will
deny it; yet there are none who claim
that education does not develope our
moral natures, while they acknowl-
edge that refinement and civilization
hold in check those crimes of violence
that originate in their indulgence, but
tend rather to increase than diminish
those of fraud and gain, by mul-
tiplying the pleasures which can be
attained only by the acquisition of
property. And in proof of the assertion,
they tell us that man was expelled from
Paradise for partaking of the tree of
knowledge, but this argument may be
refuted by plain texts of scripture,
which are not mere flourishes. "a wise
man, ~ says Solomon. "will hear and in
crease learning" again, "fools despise
instruction" An eminent writer speak
ing upon the subject says: "An irwin
cible proof that the tendency Of knowl-
edge Is to produce morality, lies in the
fact that there is no special residence
for moral attributes in the human sys-
TEN, but only an imperial reason that
sits enthroned in the palace of the
brain. Moral and mental endOwments
are not separate and independent, but
the moral springs from the intellectual.
Moral obloquy is u misnomer for men
tai obloquy. Perfect morality is only
reason in perfection. Morality is the
music to the mind, which arises from
the happy accord ofits faculties, while
immortality is the discOrd produced BY
their arrangement or imperfectiOn from
want of proper training" 1t follows,
then, as q natural consequence, that to
produce clear moral perceptions, edu-
cation must remove the scales of igno-
rance from the intellectual eye. What,
then, is the duty of those to whom the
care of the instruction of our youth Is
committed Do they not occupy high,
responsible position, and have they not
O great deal to do with the future
destiny of our countryi Nothing is
more evident than the fact that upon


those who are now our youth will de-
pend in n great measure the destiny OF
our nation. Upon our youth will de-
yolve the management and guidance of
the affairs of State. But, in order to
enable them properly to discharge the
duties, incumbent upon them certain
training and discipline must be under
gone. It is q hcf pregnant with mean.
ing, that we need men of thought and
Investigation to take charge. Of affairs
of State. We must, then, educate our
youth to think. They must be taught
that process of reasoning by which cor,
rect conclusions are arrived Mt; and
when they have once adduced truth
we may expect them to sustain it at any
cost. They will not then be as the
vacillating wavering iminds of some
who believe anything and everything,
and vet, believe nothing; mere vans to
be whirled about by every new and
fitful breeze. The free school system of
our State proposes to accomplish this
grand result. 1t is;true the law is not
SO perfect as we could wish; but, taking
it as whole, it will compare favorably
with the school law of any adjoining
State; and in some respects our own
system has the preference. But it is
useless W Vain VI buc uti2ity Va " A"" -
the power which organizes, does not
direct and sustain it. The mightiest
river would leave barren bed if its ma
tive fountains were exhausted; and
our school law will prove pOwerless to
effect, if we fail to supply it with the
nutriments of life. 1t is certainly the
duty of all, as they value good
citizens and good government,
to encourage our schools; and
especially, is it the duty of school officers
and parents to encourage them in every
possible way. From considerable ex-
perience in teaching, have learned the
sad truth, that officers and parents fire.
ouently neglect our schools in various
ways. remember of having visited .
patron of my own school, some two
years since, for the purpose of laying be-
foro his mind the plans / had adopted
for the instruction of his children, and
of irving to induce him to visit the
school. He gave me an Indifferent hear
inc ms TO the mode of instructing, and


when / requested him to visit the school,
he made the following reply: "Oh, Pm
so busy;I hassAp, much to do; l have
two hundred head Of sheep, five head of
horses. six head of cattle and fifteen