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Show Free Schools and Universal Education. At the meeting of the Lotus Literacy Association last week, according to previous announcement, W. H. Appleby, Esq. read a paper which he had prepared on the subject of Free Schools and Universal Education, and afterward the matter was discussed at some length by members of the society. As the question is one of very great interest to the people, as the essay was worthy of being read by everybody, we present it here in full: The robin builds her nest today as she did thousands of years ago; and the inferior animals, since authentic history, have changed as little as the grass upon which they feed. In one generation they generally attain all the perfection of which their nature has susceptible, but it is not so with man. He comes into the world the most helpless of all beings, and remains so a long time; and if deserted by parents and friends at a very early age, with no one to care for or educate him, he grows up in some respects inferior to the beast of the field. History presents many such cases that the historian is well aware, that the first inhabitants of Europe and Asia, as far as we can learn from secular resources, were sunk very low in the depths of ignorance and barbarism. Where civilized nations now dwell, savage numbers of the human family, who were scarcely able to protect themselves from beasts of prey, once roamed. And what has made this mighty change? The answer is education, or the powerful intellect of man operating through the crudity of language. May the good work continue until war and wickedness shall cease, and all nations peoples be bound together under the broad banner of Universal Christian denomination? It would be very interesting to explain here, how civilization has progressed side by side with man s knowledge of the universe; but it might lead us too far from the subject. Now if education has done so much for man, what may we expect when it becomes universal? No tongue can tell nor pen describe, the glorious result that would follow the establishment of Free Schools in our own county. Charles Northend, the great American educator, has said that the establishment and liberal support of Free Schools should be the object of special interest to every citizen of our Union. On them, more than on any other cause under surveillance, depend the general diffusion and perpetuity of the ??? blessings and privileges which tend to the true explanation? of a people. Free Schools are the ??. ???? the mind: the lights by which republican virtues and others are most clearly and intensively reflected the best safeguard against all the ills of ignorance and vice. Without them no republican government can long exist and flourish; with them widely fostered and generally supported, no tyrants sway can ?? continue, no bigot s view be widely disseminated. In view of this how came thy follies how came thy very good children strive to guard and improve a ???????????? form of free public??? ?????? now come in Utah in ??????????? for the press and public educators to advocate Free Schools and understand education. The people are now willing to discuss it and ready to accept it. Why are we more ready to accept it now than we were five years ago? Because we are educated to a higher standard and are, therefore, better able to understand the good results that would follow its early adoption. It was attempted by some a few years since, that if we exclude the young men of Utah they will work for no other employment than clerkships, and the farms will be neglected. But observation and experience have not proved it so. We can now readily say that labors are only productive when guided by intellect. The work therefore of the educated merchants, farmer, or ? is now in greater demand and command in higher price. A yoke of oxen will perform a harder work in a day than twenty men. The oxen can be had for $1.00 a day, while each of the men can earn $7.50 or 8:00. The reason is because man uses intelligence with his oxen. Educated labor commands not only a higher price, but it opens new avenues of ? and therefore increases the general wealth of the community. Then how can the increase of wealth to better invested than in educating our youth? By such an investment, other branches of industry would be reached, which would result in still greater wealth and prosperity to the people. The statistics of every nation on earth, and state in America, show that Free Schools lessen crime and are productive of virtue and order. Let the rich then look well to their money interests, and consider which is the cheaper, to educate the youth and thereby increase and protect their own property, or allow the young to grow up in ignorance and crime, and become a burden to society. We know it is much easier to make children good, than to reform wicked men. It is also cheaper to build communities and school rooms, with pleasant yards and convenient out-buildings than to erect prisons and jails. The legislators of our territory, knowing the necessity of Free Schools and the benefits that will be deferred there from, have already done much to assists us, and will likely do more the coming election. Then while they are doing so much for us let us be willing to do a little for ourselves. It has been argued by some that education makes the educated rascal; yet every well informed person who will take a moment for reflection will admit that tens of thousands of ignorant felons, who are scarcely noticed and soon forgotten die every year. That the rascal who has received a partial education, is better known by the public, and his example, on account of its being the exception instead of the rule, is more likely to attract the notice of the m???! But no man who is a rascal is truly educated. Education does not ? ? its a knowledge of a few text books. Education is the training and perfecting of all the faculties of man, including the proper development of the physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual parts of his nature. It prepares him to act well his part in life, and make him a fit candidate for immortality. Some men again have said, The Gospel is a perfect law of liberty and so I do not believe in compulsory education. One may as well say he does not believe in feeding and clothing the body because no law of the Gospel compels it. But the law of good society counsels every man to feed and clothe his children if he has a lot, and if not, the State provides for them. And when the philosophy of the mind is as well understood as the wants of the body, no boy or girl in this great republic will be deprived of the advantages certified from a common school education. But it must be remembered that we are not advocating Compulsory Education under the present system, but universal education and improved Free Schools. When the system shall have been adopted, and Free Schools established through the width and breath of this fair land, if there be any so dead to their own instincts and the welfare of society, as to neglect the opportunities that will be afforded them, we can then talk of compulsory education. If this great moral truth could be firmly impressed upon the youth of our land, from the study of history and geography in our Free Schools, that when set a nation or a man becomes wicked and corrupt, the judgments of God are swift to follow the next generation would be as superior to us, as we are to the generation that condemned thirty thousand women to the flames for being witches. The strongest bulwark we can wave against the inroad of drunkenness and licentiousness is Free Schools. The greatest boon we can transmit to posterity is the establishment of Free Schools. Before we can become a wealthy, wise, or a free people we must support Free Schools. The wealthy, and those who weld an influence in society, should be careful how they oppose this question, if they wish their names revered by the coming generation. In discussing any great national question we must not be prompted by selfish motives, but like a Washington, take into consideration the prosperity of the nation and the debt we owe to coming generations. We have but little time to spend in words come late. Then let us continue to advocate it in our social gatherings at the workshops, and by the fireside. We will soon be called upon, in the words of the immortal Webster for action, noble, sublime, God like action. |