210 STATE BOAED OF AGRICULTUEE. 



better educated, better drilled teachers. This is not all. There should be 

 system in our common schools. Now everything is taught from A B C to intri- 

 cate problems in algebra, and one teacher is expected to do it all. Goldsmith's 

 school-master is yet to be found in every district school in this broad land. 

 There should be a division of labor. When a scholar has acquired a careful 

 knowledge of the most common branches let him pass out from that school to 

 another where the higher branches are successfully taught. Farmers, do not 

 keep your children all their lives in the district school at home. Let them get 

 out and come in contact with other and more superior advantages. Let them 

 look out beyond the narrow bounds of two miles square and gather knowledge 

 elsewhere by coming in contact with different minds. 



The common schools are the bulwark of American freedom. They are the 

 only thing, under God, which shall save the nation from final weakness and 

 decay. We glory in the school system of Michigan, and justly. But let us 

 remember we have only laid the foundation. We must go on to perfect it by 

 increasing its efficiency and thoroughness. We are doing enough work ; let us 

 now try to do better work. Do not crowd the mind, but see that the schools 

 teach thoroughly and that the scholar 2inderstands the little rather than guesses 

 at a great deal. 



No duty should be so pleasant as that which provides for the education of all 

 our people, of whatever class and condition in life. And if we neglect it we 

 ruin our prospects for national growth and permanency. 



Every person in this broad land should fit himself for citizenship. This is 

 the highe-t aim Ave can set for ourselves with a sure prospect of attaining it. 

 Intelligent citizenshij:) is the best and closest relationship we can sustain to our 

 nation. It is the voice of public opinion which restrains and controls those in 

 power. They fear it. It is more potent than the cannon ball. It will cause 

 the tyrant on his throne to tremble. It has overthrown many a ruler whose 

 stubbornness had caused him to resist it. 



How important that we should be prepared as citizens to consider the tend- 

 ency of every great national question — such, for instance, as that of the cur- 

 rency. How important is it that our minds should bo so trained that we can 

 divest ourselves sufficiently of all feeling and prejudice, and decide such propo- 

 sitions upon their merits and the facts in the case. Did you ever in a time of 

 political excitement take up a question like this of the currency, provide your- 

 selves with the material, and then study it out, following it into all its ramifica- 

 tions, considering its effect upon society out-ide of any personal convenience, or 

 otherwise, it may present to yourself? And yet this is the way we are to attain 

 the full measure of our power and influence as citizens. Too many peo2:)le 

 slide over the consideration of these questions. They get in the wake of some 

 person who is supposed to ])e popular enough to ride into power without consid- 

 ering whether the propositions he enunciates are true and deserve tlieir support. 

 We must drift away from this blind tendency to hero-worship. Follow a leader 

 by all means, because in all countries some one must be set upon the watch- 

 towers to guard and sound the alarm ; but follow him because the truth he pre- 

 sents is just what is needed for the growing prosperity of the country. Do not 

 yield to him, however, because you have always' placed confidence in him. 

 Examine the foundations of the political faith he presents for your considera- 

 tion ; and if, upon careful study and meditation, it meets with your approval, 

 then close around your leader as the representative of the truth you profess. 

 But if it be false, then do not hesitate to rally around another, or, it may be, 



