| Show EDUCATION BY lly ALEX ALEXANDER ander ANDEn OTT there are subjects of a nature so grand and at the same time so pleasing of a truth at once orce eo so high and self evident that whilst argument the most profound judgment the most correct and eloquence the most persuasive can only render them justice and no more even the feeblest advocacy cannot injure them because they themselves speak to our best feelings with a force so irresistible that they find a response in ev every ery good mans heart an arr advocate in in every wise wise mans mind and among these sacred subjects one of the most important and admired is education which is a blessing in itself and calculated to lead to farther blessings as it constitutes the means of acquiring and of diffusing knowledge to him who has tasted its sweets whose mind has been enriched by its vast and varied stores who has learned duly to appreciate its influence and user usefully use faily fally to apply its powers what boon morer precious can this earth offer than knowledge knowledg ev echil while hil hll e he to whom unfortunately its ample page has niever never been unrolled what regret more bitter cache sufi fer than to know that he is excluded from its blessed paths what wish more natural more ardent can arise within his mind than that his children should possess and avail themselves of the advantages that to him have been de denied lord bacon says knowledge is power but it is infinitely more for knowledge weid well directed is virtue knowledge applied is happiness and thus knowledge combines within itself power p ower virtue and happiness education is the superior endowment which en enables abl abi es the man to enter into the world it is an inexhaustible treasure for all time and eternity it serves as a sort of intellectual gymnastics for the development of the reasoning rea reasoning sonin or thinking powers connected with talent education is is the footstool foot toot stool on which genius occupies its lofty position in the temple of fame it confers honors on mankin dand constitutes utes the quintessence of social and intellectual intercourse it is our happy privilege to live in times when science daily makes new and important discoveries and achieves fresh triumphs what the sages of the olden time never dared to expect what it has been the labor of ages a es to accumulate and prepare in our days we te be hold bold applied and carr earned ed out bythe by the aid of science i e man controls i 0 o sr a certain extent the power of the elements while nature obedient unveils her secret recesses at his bidding by the aid of science man crosses the ocean at his will in vain vaia the tempests ra rage ge the winds howl the tides try to impede his pro progress b ress his steady bark still holds its sway propelled by a force of his own OWE formation independent of wind and tide by the aid of science the extravagant wish of the poet is realized time and space are as it were annihilated a n nihl and he who hailed the rising rising sun in n the e grea great me metropolis ropo is on the shores of the Tha thomesina Tham mesIna esmay witness its setting in the mighty cit city y on the anks banks of the seine by the aid of science man explores the caverns cairns of the vasty deep penetrates into the lapof earth or rise rises s into the air higher far than ever ea eagle eale 0 le winged his boldest flight nature gifted man with two hands science multiplies them a thousand fold nature be stowed on man a limited portion of bodily strength but she gave him mind and therefore grant himbur a spot on which to rest his lever and with science he may way move the vast globe from its it axis A new and mighty agent has been called into hito operation the creature the servant of man its powers are such that what our fathers would have disputed as impossible we witness with indifference as everyday every day occurrences c curren ces what our ancestors would have scouted as the wild dreams of a diseased imagination agi nation are become realities the advantages of which we enjoy and in almost every domain of human knowledge energy and re search are crown crowned edwith mith with success who shall limit the progress of science who on earth shall say to it thus far and no farther far therl science has but just awoke to the full consciousness of its power and already it has done so much Consider for instance he stupendous knowledge of a humboldt ile he looked on man and at once became master of the inmost recesses of his soul as it were by intuition in his works he exhibits the mind of man in all its phases his propensities his hia habits his practices his reasoning false and philosophical are all exhibited in truth and power his virtues his weaknesses his eccentricities are all known to this great anatomist of the human mind his hopes his passions his frivol oties are all laid bare to him his Hi language translates thought into visible images his genius shines equally on the evil and on the good on the wise and on the foolish the monarch and the beggar begar be gar he turns the globe for his amusement and ind surveys the generations of men and the individuals as they pass with their different concerns passions follies ollies f vices virtues actions and motives the loftiest loft iest mountains will crumble to the dust and the rivers be dry before nobility of mind and intellectual greatness will become obsolete with the true rue and the good whether you are robed in the purple of royal grandeur or whether you move in the most humble sphere of life the desire of intellectual and moral improvement the thirst for true knowledge will if properly carried out make you both happy and good and render you the instruments st of diffusing happiness and usefulness to all who come within the reach of your influence and when the golden bowl of your life ilfe is broken your mental excellence will speak even from out of the grave with a most emphatic e hatic r eloquence ms our r descendants will witness the further development of science and behold its highest atrium triumphs hs so that where we rea reap p the first fruits ts they will reap the full harvest but the seed of that harvest has been sown by us the noble inheritance enriched with the spirit of divine knowledge and the greatness of future ages will date its rise from ours the people that liveth on the everlasting hills of the great I 1 am for the errors which we root out will not mislead them the prejudices that we overcome will not narrow their minds whilst on the foundations that we lay they will build the infant institutions of tuition that we behold in these valleys and which call for our kindness and nursing will see in their maturity and admire in the fullness of their vigor and thus the mental and moral improvement of generations yet unborn will have received its strongest stron est impulse from us the pioneers of the wilderness wilderness in the state of california when pursuing his hiar collegiate studies while a youth used to walk two and three miles after school hours to saw wood for neighbors in order to get money to pay the postage on his mothers letters and to purchase things which he needed his schoolfellows school fellows derided him now many of them envy him young man if you wish to respect yourself or to be respected by others if you prefer freedom to slavery if you wish to live happily ii and contentedly and to die calmly and peacefully slake your oten own way SIRIUS |
