CORRESP ONDENCE. 



843 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



MOEAL INSTRUCTION IN OUR PUBLIC 

 SCHOOLS. 

 Editor Popular Science Monthly : 



IN "The Popular Science Monthly" for 

 January I read with much interest, but 

 not surprise, an article by Benjamin Reece, 

 on " Public Schools as affecting Crime and 

 Vice." The author very clearly shows that 

 our school system is not elevating the moral 

 standard of the rising generation, as had 

 been so sanguincly expected, but rather, that 

 as the minds of the masses are increased in 

 knowledge, there is an equal if not more 

 rapid increase of vice and crime. But the 

 root of the evil is not in the system of pub- 

 lic instruction, for, as a general rule, no 

 teacher is given a school who does not bear 

 an exceptionally good moral character, and 

 a majority of them are members of good 

 standing in the various churches. With 

 this guarantee for the moral training of the 

 pupils by precept and example on the part 

 of the teachers, it seems to me that all is 

 being done in that line that can be done. 

 Furthermore, the Sunday school, where 

 moral training is especially attended to, is 

 now considered an indispensable adjunct to 

 every church; yet, with all this, vice and 

 crime are on the ascending scale, and in a 

 most astonishing degree. 



It is a mistaken notion that simply to 

 educate a people is to improve them moral- 

 ly ; for a man can possess the most exalted 

 moral qualities without the least intellectual 

 culture, and vice versa. Now that our ethical 

 hooes in public - school education are not 

 fulfilled, what shall be further done to lessen 

 this dark cloud of vice and crime ? My an- 

 swer is, we must combine other lessons with 

 our present system of moral teachings, and 

 these other lessons must be ethical object- 

 lessons. Man, to a very large degree, is an 

 imitative creature, and especially so in child- 

 hood. By constant imitation of what he 

 sees others do, habits are formed, and, once 

 formed at that early period, be they good or 

 bad are rarely, if ever, entirely suppressed 

 in after-years. All the ethical subject-les- 

 sons may be given him that is possible ; but 

 if there be object-lessons that go counter to 

 them, these invariably take the deeper root, 

 and soon nullify or supplant the former. 



With these truths before us, is it not the 

 imperative duty of all all who wish for 

 good government, safety of person and prop- 

 erty, and the advancement of the race to 

 become bright and living ethical object-les- 

 sons to the rising generation ? Nor is this 

 all that is to be done : we should discounte- 

 nance and remove all who are not ethical 

 object-lessons worthy of study. Man's imi- 



tative propensity is called forth principally 

 by those whom he thinks are his superiors. 

 Consequently all those in high places of all 

 kinds who are pernicious object-lessons 

 should be the first to be removed ; for, if 

 the source be putrid, the onflowing stream 

 becomes foul also. The author, in the arti- 

 cle referred to, very truly tells us that the 

 fall of the Roman Empire was " an effect of 

 a moral ruin." Now, all readers of Roman 

 historv know that the germ of this " moral 

 ruin "" had its birth in the topmost strata 

 of Roman society; and the masses, with 

 ready imitativeness, became rotten to the 

 core. The sad finale of that wonderful em- 

 pire we all know. 



Is Roman history now preparing to repeat 

 itself in these United States ? The indica- 

 tions all strongly point that way. Do we not 

 see venality and corruption pervading, more 

 or less, every branch of the Government? 

 Even our halls of justice are frequently 

 tainted with it, while the politicians and 

 office-seekers, with scarcely an exception, 

 are prostituting the elective franchise 

 throughout the land by a venal use of the 

 "almighty dollar." This bribe -money is 

 brought to bear almost exclusively upon the 

 needy poor making their pockets heavier, 

 but dwarfing their moral manhood. With 

 this state of things, is it to be wondered at 

 that vice and crime are rolling up m billows 

 mountain- high? Is it to be wondered at 

 that our public schools, our Sunday schools, 

 and pulpits are impotent to check the ap- 

 proach of this "moral ruin"? Nor can it 

 be checked until the wise and the good 

 throughout the land determine to elevate 

 to places of honor and trust only those who 

 are calculated to make the best ethical ob- 

 ject-lessons for the study of the rising gen- 

 eration. How many can we point to who 

 now sit in high places that would make good 

 object-lessons for the study of all our school 

 children? Purify the fountain, and the 

 stream will become likewise limpid and 

 pure. E - p - Meredith. 



Atlee's Station. Hanover County, Va., 

 January 27, 1S90. 



POLITICS AND FARM MORTGAGES. 

 Editor Popular Science Monthly : 



Sir : It was a gloomy picture of the condi- 

 tion and prospects of agriculture in the United 

 States which Mr. Joel Benton drew in his arti- 

 cle entitled " The Decadence of Farming," in 

 the November " Monthly." A similar view is 

 presented by Judge Nott, in a series of articles 

 published bv the New York " Evening Post ; " 

 while recent reports of the State Commission- 



