Year: 1873

tiCal instruction IRON the coHoHV


Commencement Day. The young gentlemen
who are now coming out into the "oiIu' W
;oin us in the fight which all honest ana eui-
tivated persons are supposed 10 DC lnih"h
against ignorance and rascallty, nave ho'
civen deep study to the perpleXities Oh pom
tics or to those problems of philosophy "hicn
chiefly concern the everyday man III his deai-
incs with society. They have passed the nrsC
vears of their manhood in much higher society
tbon we enjoy. Seneca and Socrates are better
company than Tweed and Tom Murphy, ana
even Controller Schroeder is not much OIL
mathematician compared with Euclid we
look to a college education to lay groundwork
ofsoid principles, upon which the supeIstfucIuIc
shall be built after some worldly experience
If our young men come away from the
academic halls loving truth, and honor ana
manliuess, fortified with certain tests Tor diS-
tinguishing the genuine from the 1alse' ana
educated to an appreciation of the value OIL
nobility of character and uprightness 0l con-
duct. we have reason to be satisfied with their
training, and to hope that they will soon de-
veloD into useful citizens. But we DO not
draw them suddenly out OF the secluslOn OF
the study and expect to find them httcd all
&C once for leading part in the NOISY con-
flict of public affairs. We are not surprised,
therefore. if we find in their Commencement
Day orations very few illusions to themes
which the outside world deems all-absorbing
and all-important.


A young gentleman at Yale the other DAY
gave. however, an address which differed very
widely from the ordinary productions of srch
occasions. He had studied Cicero De OgclS
and Plato's Republic" to some purpose. lie
found in the masters of antiquity practical
and immediate lesson for tho pupils OF the
present day. 1t was warning against the
great dangers which now threaten democratic
institutions-the tyranny of wealth, the cor
ruption of the public conscience. 1t Is no
new thing for us, busy as we are with the
schemes of politics, of law, and of commerce.
to be told that the growing power of great,
grasping irresponsible corporations Is men-
acng the prosperity of the State, OF that the
science of government is degenerating into a
mere scramble for stolen dollars; but we are
not used to hearing these wholesome truths from
the lips of budding a. BIS. We must confess
that it is unpleasant to have the story OF our
national shame told in the college class-rOOms
and declaimed from the academic platform.
But it is sign of an awakening of the ma
tional conscience that students should find IN
the condition of public morality the most
pressing subject of discussion at season like
the present


Probably the New-Havcn speaker had no
new facts to tell his audience; possibly there
may have been nothing extraordinarily forci-
bic in his manner of setting forth such facts
as he had. The value of his speech was In
its teaching that the duty of the young men
who are now going out into the world was to
plunge into this turmoil of TOguery and apply
their fresh courage their vigorous enthusiasm,
to the task of setting things right. college
education il not worth much if it does not
make good citizens and a good citizen is not
q man who lives quietly and honestly IN the
midst of general decentralization without an
effort TO check corruption or to hasten reform.
If we could come at the honest opinions OF
our neighbors, we should doubtless find them
almost unanimous in q conviction that poll
ticians of all parties nowadays are little
better than rascals, and that good faith has
disappeared entirely from the management OF
public affairs. We do not believe our case is
quite so bad as that, but it is surely bad
enough and We know not where to
look for a remedy, unless our young
men are willing to help us. They
have not felt tho almost universal
contamination. They are yet capable of blush
ing for shame and thrilling with generous inn
pulses. Come over and help us, is the cry
which harassed and almost dcspairing COM
munity sends forth to the cultivated and am
bilious youth who are sallying forth to-day
by hundreds from the schools wherein they
have been trained for tho struggle Of life.
That they see what is needed from them is
one of the most encouraging signs of the sea-
son.


THE BROOKLYN CHATTER