V12 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



and theological differences we agree to say that education seeks, by 

 social stimulus, guidance and control, to develop the natural powers of 

 the child so as to render him able and disposed to lead a healthy, happy 

 and morally worthy life. 



An oft-repeated maxim of the better sort reads thus: "On earth 

 there is nothing great but man. In man there is nothing great but 

 mind." Although we may object to the absolute manner in which this 

 statement is made, there is embodied within it a truth of the higher order. 

 Mineral, plant, animal, man, mark four giant strides in the march of 

 creation. Between the lily of the valley and the clods at our feet, our 

 of which it grows, what an infinite distance. For through this tiny 

 plant the dust of the earth is transformed into something of beauty, 

 fragi-ance and life; and between an organism like that of the lily, that 

 simply turns dead matter into life, and an organism that sees and feels 

 and moves, there is that difference which sepai-ates matter from spirit. 

 Animal is as far removed from plant as plant is from mineral. But 

 towering above the mere animal as the Alps tower above the petty 

 mounds at her side is the nobler creation which not only sees and feels 

 and moves, but thinks and speaks; whose mind can go back to the time 

 when the earth was without form, and void, and forward to the time when 

 it shall have grown old like a garment. Who can trace his way among 

 the stars; who can utter his voice from continent to continent beneath 

 the seas; who shows forth his creative power in poetry, eloquence and 

 song, and whose aspirations mount up to the Infinite and the Eternal? 



Thus we come back to the statement that on earth there is nothing 

 great but man; and what gives man his supreme greatness is mind. 



The mind has been divided into three general classes of faculties— 

 the faculty of knowing, of feeling, and of willing. These three classes 

 of faculties have been called the intellect, the sensibility and the will. 

 Every capacity or power which the mind can exercise is found to fall 

 under one of three heads. Every act of the soul is an act of knowing, 

 feeling or willing; an act of the intellect, the sensibility or the will. 



The mind is developed by culture. Its powers are strengthened and 

 made to act with vigor and skill by judicious training. Without such 

 training the mind may remain either comparatively inert, or its actions 

 may conflict with the moral laws of mental development, and fail to 

 produce the best fiiiits of culture and knowledge. The mind possesses a 

 variety of powers, and each of these powers operates with different 

 material and has an activity peculiar to itself. What would be best for 

 one faculty would not be appropriate for another. We need concrete 

 objects for the perception, facts for the memory, abstract truths for the 

 judgment and reasoning; beauty for the imagination, moral truths for 

 the conscience, etc. Man possesses a multitude of capacities and powers, 

 all of which contribute to his well-being and his dignity. These powers 

 are so related that they may be unfolded in very nearly equal proportions 



