| Show thought and ana reading native energies of thought are developed I 1 n few persons persona to any great extent the whole life from boyhood to age of what are called the educated is surrounded by formulas and methods which too often crush pervert or enfeeble the minds bey hey they are intended to develop and strengthen 1 th few men of education are marked by 8 such uch individuality of character and power of ac action to i n as many of those to whom the iron gates of th the e temples of knowledge have been barred I 1 A cours course of culture which is merely external which seeks to run the he mind in ino into o foreign 11 molds which fills the memory with a mass of information that encumbers the free exercise of reason which pays more attention to facts than to faculties ties which pours knowledge into the mind without involving its latent powers fails falis in making a n man educated fails even in its own purpose ot of fixing learning in the tha memory how many of those who have received what is called caled a liberal education are liberally endowed with knowledge how many of them are able to turn what information they possess to a good account A vast number of physicians clergymen and lawyers are created cre abed every year by colleges but liow how many manx are endorsed indorsed indor sed as good by those they are sent to aid indeed every individual who is educated at all must to a great extent educate himself 11 he must either cooperate co operate with his instructors or strenuously labor without foreign aid it the taste for knowledge is keen and the will to ob jain it strong ell eil impediments will vanish into thin air this taste and this will are all that are desired hundreds of names can be mentioned in illustration of the fact men have risen the lowest ranks of life and achieved a proud elevation over the rich and the titled by possessing sing this energy of purpose in in the pursuit of knowledg knowledge e obstacles purpose es which seemed insurmountable mountable to more indolent men they have grappled with and conquered hunger and th thirst arst whether of nf the mind or the palate can only be allayed by the possession pos of their objects let a youth or a man once realize that he is an immortal soul that gods whole universe is without him and that its marvels are open to his view that whatever may be his talent there are a thousand ministers all around him to develop and f furnish it with food that knowl krowl knowledge edre edye is of priceless value and worthy of all ail the exertion and self denial it may cost and arid he will induce in no languid babble about the he hardness of his lot and envy no person who has larger means and less energy Cour Cou courage naje agre then courage of mind courage of heart is necess necea arry sarry to the man who desires the rich treasures of a cultured intellect ile he must wrestle like an athlete with all difficulties be he must trample under foot all sensual desires wh which ich would woo him from the rough road to the primrose ros katl kati path he must have a high ideal before him he e must mast love knowledge for itself as well as asfor for its useful applications application he will find that the proper direction and control of his animal nature the edh edo education cation catlon of big bis conscience and religious sentiments will insen insensibly sibly gibly blend with the acquisition of knowledge he will see that those soft and effeminate pleasures which enfeeble the body also relax the mind and mae ma make mabe e it indifferent careless and arul easily satisfied with mediocre attainments and he will see that the intellect is neve never so clear never darts upon truth with more uner birg sagacity never is capable of such exertion as when it is under the guidance of a moral p purpose and is impressed by a sense of responsibility to god moral intellectual and physical education are so closely connected that it s difficult to ge separate parate them even for the convenience veni ence of classification in our own day clay the means of education have been heen een multiplied until they have become within the reach of all earnest ear riest minds no person will despise their ald aid none but intellects of gigantic strength and grasp can afford to dispense with them I 1 A 1 dwarf behind a steam engine ma may remove mountains but no dwarf can hew the them ml down own with a pickax pick ax and he must be a titan that hurls them abroad with his arms few are titans of this sort no one who truly esti estl estimates matei the reach of his powers will neglect the vast mines of or thought and knowledge contained in good books in them ihm he will find fird hieam steam engines number ber to aid him in the task of cre fre removing moving mountains ains and novt now let us rapidly reter reer to some topics relating to reading we of this age are especially favored in the article ct cf books book not only in those which have been produced by the great of former ages ages but in su rut h as the intense mental action given to the peo people save by the facility of publication continually spreads ads before us the press groans E and lii iii some cases the reader likewise beneath the weight of new publications rare indeed are our means for diffusing the results of intellectual labor A man thinks a thought oday o day and tomor to mor row it is whisked all over the length and breadth of the country on the very wings of the wind much trash tobe tobe sure finds an articulate voice and many bearers but we may hope that no small amount of sterling t is added to the intellectual treasures of the world each however erroneous each system however novel has its utterance and experience as much justice justice from the world as the passions and prejudices of men wiil allow books are born fret their time lime upon the stage languish decay and die but the real thought hey they contain is immortal it does not perish with the moss of verbiage paper and calfskin calf skin which aich envelop and perhaps conce alit but is reproduced in other works either in its drig original blai kial purity or in a form adapted to the advancing intelligence of the world As no atom of matter perishes so no particle of thou thought bt ever losea its being plato seneca cicaro bacon newton milton mllton allowing that their works be not generally read by the mass of mankind yet the great ideas they originated still bold their sway away over the minds of men and are reproduced now in elementary books on morals education and literature peter parley and mrs trimmer may be on the title pahe pate page but a greater than they is in the text who reads readi dacons novum noeum newtons New tons fons principia or la places Mecham que celeste none certainly but scholars but the thel results of these great 9 reat works are found in common school books books are registers of what has been beer thou thought glit alit and done in former ages five thousand years of sad sid experience have rolled over the generations of men and of these there we have records more or less authentic the thoughts thought actions joys sorrows mistakes triumphs virtues and crimes of mankind the rise gise rise progress and decline of states the physical intellectual and moral progress ct cf the race the successive changes through which society ha passed in its onward marag march to civilization iza tion and the good or bad opinions and deeds which kave have have forwarded or ch checked aked the p progressive ogress lve ive nature of man min all lie before us in books r with almost skeleton exactness with this pyramid of experience looming up tip above the tile clouds of time 1 1 and almost commanding bur our attention how singular in ular it is that wo we are not wiser and better every nobie noble noble nobie idea which has ha been originated in former times limes is is the antelle intellectual emual heritage 11 of very every descendant of adam hundreds of great minds have tasked their power to the tha he utmost to give the knowledge we possess of the material world of duty of government and of human nature and il it is not paradoxical to assert that any person of moderate abilities can make himself wiser than the wisest men of antiquity and yet opinions on government morais morals religion are still rife anong among us although their operation in former times has been fruitful in nothing but I 1 contention misery and crime men still elevate passion over principle altho it is written in the great book of a thousand years experience and with the verv very tears of angels that the gilded baits which vice vlee vice tenders to her votaries vot aries are but dead sea fruit which tempts the eye but turns to a ashes hes on the up from all past generations there comes one ore long lon ion everlasting wail about the of worldly objects and yet how many in the words oe of pitt still make the 1 counting house bouse their temple the ledger their thein bible and money their god we must learn to profit by what we ready read or the past ha hat been of no use to us good books inflame literary ambition create a desire adesime in the mind to produce aca A drop ot 01 inky ink falling rawn like dew upon amt aft hought bought produces that which makes thousands perhaps millions think let not the student tu dent fent therefore in ih his zeal to i develop his own mind lose the power of learning from the minds of others let him be neither a copyist nor a dog matis malis bu but a patient seeker beeker after truth ruth with f faculties alive to what is true in whatever form and from whatever source it may come the subject ef of our essay is so vast that it be impossible limited a as we are for room to enter upon the many topics related to it enticing as they are from their wealth of suggestive 11 ness the subject indeed is so broad in itself and has so many relations to an the duties and professions of life that a short article can merely give a few hints on some of its numerous departments whatever affects the moral religious intellectual or physical condition of a human being from his birth to his death whatever tends to make him a good or a bad man a dunce or a student must be considered part of his education some sort of culture he will receive let him look to it that it is of the right kind let him resist all bad bail influences influence let him assiduously cultivate all good if he is educated passively by outward means his education may lead him to the workhouse house bouye or the gallows if his bis mind be trained to act for itself if there be a quenchless thirst I 1 in him for knowledge and virtue his education will redound to his own honor and be he a benefit to his race whether he is to be a drone or a laborer a curse or a benefactor rests with himself let him feel the weight of h hp y responsibility and know that whether he be surrounded by advantages or hemmed in by untoward circumstances that he can not escape the duty of self training through thought bought and reading youn tourig Yo urla americans mag magazine a |
