J52 TKANSArriOX^ OF TIJK H.I.iN'OfS 



knows notliing, and cares to know nothing outside of his material pos- 

 session ; if the costly vohuiies, laden with the lore of ancient and modern 

 times, which he may have purchased, as some people do, for the sake of 

 show, are to him sealed books, which he only takes from their shelves once 

 or twice a year, to have them dusted and replaced ; the most uneduca- 

 ted of us feel that this man's life is little better than a splendid 

 mockery. The higher or intellectual part of his nature, either from 

 necessity or choice, has been left uncultured. It is an old saying that 

 there is no royal road to learning; and we might vary it by saying 

 that there is no golden road, or modernize it by saying that there is no 

 railroad to learning or knowledge. It is true that wealth may enable 

 the man of whom we have been speaking, to obtain for his children the 

 most approved means of education ; but in so doing, he sends them 

 away from his own splendid mansion, to obtain that which he himself, 

 with all his riches, does not possess. 



F^ducation means the development of the human faculties, and these 

 faculties are so numerous and so complex,that the determination of the best 

 means and methods of accomplishing this end is the most important 

 and the most difficult problem which can present itself for our solution. 

 This difficulty is greatly enhanced by the diverse pursuits of mankind, 

 and the diverse conditions of human society, so that what is a suitable 

 and sufficient education for one man, is not so for another. The ne- 

 cessities of society require, as a general rule, that every man shall 

 devote himself to some one trade or profession. x\nd as population be- 

 comes more dense, the range of a man's education becomes more 

 specialized and consequently more contracted ; and most men have but 

 little time and little inclination to learn much outside of their special vo- 

 cation. The preparation or training for these various tiseful occupations, 

 constitutes, in the aggregate, what is usually understood as a practical 

 education ; that education by which a man is enabled to procure food 

 and raiment and shelter for himself and his family ; and the better ed- 

 ucated, or the more expert he is in his special calling, the better will he 

 fare in these respects. 



But the question arises, whether there is nothing else which a man 

 can and and ought to learn, in case he does have the time and opportu- 

 nity; or if he have not the time himself, is there nothing else which he would 

 wish his children to know. If we suppose the uncultured rich man 

 we described above to have a bright and active child, it is very certain 

 that the child will not be satisfied with his father's small stock of knowl- 

 edge. J lis active mind will be reaching out after new light, new facts, 

 new thoughts; and it will make no difference in his estimation, whether 

 the knowledge which he may thus acquire have any practical applica- 

 tion or not. The fields of investigation which will open to this child 

 are boundless on every side ; so varied and so extensive, that the longer 

 and the farther we traverse them, the more conscious we become of 

 their limitless extent. You recollect the anecdote of Newton, that when 

 some one expressed a wonder at the extent of his knowledge, he replied, 



