Year: 1879

anQ our pest GaIen Le employed III Gue


planting aud cultivation of those yas'
: fields where the seeds Of knowledge
have never been sown, and where the
{. song of the reaper has never been
heard. Who can question or gainsay


the statement, when assert thai


there are districts in our State upon
which education, it may be said. has
never shed its rays, and where ignor-
auce, with its attendants. crime and
vice, stalks boldly over the land, IN,
blushiug and unshamed by the light


Of day? Much has been said Of the


''march Of intellect" in Tennessee,
and its accompanying sisters, virtue


and prosperity. We read of such a
thing. but where, among men shall


be found its abiding place? Much,


too, has been said and written on the


giant march of education; and the


echo is borne from hillside to hillside


that the schoolmaster is abroad in


the land, but the Ignorance that we


see around us proclaims with no un-


certain sound, that he is certainly not


at home. The great increase of crime,


the crowded state of our prisons, the


enlargement of old and the erection


of new receptacles for criminals,


prompt us to inquire into the causes


which have led to such an unfortun-


ate condition of things, aud, if poss-


ible. to suggest a remedy therefor.


The statesman ascribes the situation


to inefficient laws; the moralist to


bad example and defective instruc-


ton; and the divine, to inward de-


pravity of heart, and the influence of


evil spirits. However, with all due
Difference and respect to those yari-


GUS opinions, / humbly venture to
suggest that the true cause of the
evils that exist around us, can be


found in the 'uncaItivated state Of
mans intellectual powers" / can
assert, without fear of contradiction
or denial, that prevailing rascality is
the natural offspring of prevailing |
ignorance. Evidences OF this fact
are abundant, and it requires but lit
tie exercise of our judgment to be
convinced of the truth of the state
ment. Let mans intellectual pow
ers be placed in state of cultiva-
tion, and, in proportion to the extent
of that cultivation will crime de.
crease. While ignorant and thought
less men are prone to evil, and easily
led aside from the paths ofrectitude,
these who are thoughtful and con-
templative subdue the vicious, aud
bring the animal into subsection to
the spiritual nature, and thus, by
exalting man above the mere plane
of sensual qualification, prepare him
for that high rank, in the order of
creation, he was designed by his
Maker to occupy. But as one of the !
specific objects of our assembling
ourselves here to-day is the discus
sion of such amendments as we may
deem judicious for embodiment in
memorial to the Legislature, which
is soon TO convene in Nashville, it
will, perhaps, not be out of place
here to offer some suggestions, the
practicability of which shall leave
to you TO determine.


LEGISLATIVE ACTION.


would first call your attention to
legislative action, aud the wisdom
and propriety of its eseroise, in con-
nection with the education OF the
State. / shall express my views on
this subject without entering upon
the question as to whether the pub
lie schools or the colleges ehoald !
take precedence in their respective
claims for legislative attention and
public patronage. We are fully sat-
isfied that both classes Of lnstitu.
tions are not only necessary, but
that they are mutually beneficial,
and, in a manner, dependent for
their usefulness on each osher. Let
the common schools continue to diff
fuse knowledge and plant these
germs that will ultimately mature
with the college walls aud let the
colleges send forth their educated
talent. to engage in the instruction
and training Of the minds of the
youth of the land, The interests of
both institutions being not only iden-
tical, but of like character, it is
proper that their operations should
be conducted in spirit Of perfect
harmony. In this connection, per-
nit me to suggest the following i'm
portant amendments to our existing
school law In the frst place, 1 would
advise that free school instruction
be afforded from six to twenty -one,
instead of from six to eighteen years
Of age. the limit, as provided by the
present Law. By this extension that
very class Of students which would
most highly appreciate the advan-
tages Of education. and who would