154 STATE HOBTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



the general union of moral and intellectual excellence. I believe that they 

 may be, that they are sometimes separated, but I thank God I have never wit- 

 nessed it yet; I have still found that fully and thoughtlessness have gone to 

 evil ; that thought and manliness have, been united with faith and goodness." 



The object which lie had in view and toward which he directed his best efforts 

 was to secure in the boys under his charge, "the inquiring love of truth 

 (knowledge) going along with the devoted love of goodness." 



I believe, therefore, most fully that better school-houses, better furniture, 

 and more pleasant grounds are among the most direct and powerful means of 

 making the schools, in every respect, more useful and efficient. These 

 improvements will help very largely toward the production of greater excellency 

 in scholarship and of character. 



III. I have but a single other thought to present, as a final motion to induce 

 attention to the subject before us. It is this: Education and intelligence 

 are, in spite of all that may be said to the contrary, imperatively necessary to 

 the progress and prosperity of any nation, State, or of any school district. 



Horace Mann, whose authority in educational matters will hardly be ques- 

 tioned, says in his own peculiar and brilliant style : "An ignorant people not 

 only is, but must be, a poor people. They must be destitute of sagacity and 

 providence, and, of course, of competence and comfort. The proof of this 

 does not depend upon the lessons of history, but upon the constitution of 

 nature. No 'richness of climate, no spontaneous productiveness of soil, no 

 facilities for commerce, no stores of gold, or of diamonds, garnered in the 

 treasure-chambers of the earth, can confer even worldly prosperity upon an 

 uneducated nation. Such a nation cannot create wealth for itself; and what- 

 ever riches may be showered upon it will run to waste. 



"All the choicest productions of the earth, whether mineral or vegetable, 

 will, in a short time, by some secret or resistless attraction, make their way 

 into the hands of the more intelligent. 



"Let whoever will sow the seed, or gather the fruit, intelligence will con- 

 sume the banquet." 



While there are exceptions to this general law among individuals, no excep- 

 tions can be found among nations, or among even smaller communities. 



The same writer declares : " The declination of the sun towards the south- 

 ern tropic is not more certainly followed by winter, with all its blankness and 

 sterility, nor does the ascension of that luminary towards our own part of the 

 heavens more certainly bring on summer, with all its beauty and abundance, 

 than does the want or the enjoyment of education degrade or elevate the con- 

 dition of the people." 



"Considering education as a mere producer of wealth, it follows that the 

 more educated a people are, the more will they abound in all those conven- 

 iences, comforts, and satisfactions which money will buy; and, other tilings 

 being equal, the increase of competency and the decline of pauperism will be 

 measurable on this scale." 



The application of those truths to the work of securing the best possible 

 school-houses, and the most beautiful grounds which can be had, is obvious. 



These are in themselves grand educating forces. They exert a mighty and 

 beneficent influence upon children, upon teachers and upon parents. 



They will be among the means of preserving our public school system, and 

 of rendering the instruction given in the schools more excellent, both intel- 

 lectually and morally. 



Permit me, in closing, to express the conviction that this society can do no 



