NEED OF RECONSTRUCTION. 37 



that shall meet the wants of the time. Our college has done its 

 work nobly ; it has stood at the head of education in the United 

 States. From it have gone some of the most learned men, some 

 of the most prominent men in public life ; and yet I say that that 

 institution, with all its wide scheme of instruction, has done its 

 work, and must be reorganized in order that it may be up to the 

 requirements of the time ; and we feel this so strongly, that at 

 this moment there is a committee of the professors who, in con- 

 nection with the president of Harvard, are considering in daily 

 meetings, — not in weekly or monthly, but in daily meetings, — 

 what shall be done to prevent Harvard from falling behind. 

 And, gentlemen, let me say to you, that the pride of America, — 

 our public schools, — needs the same overhauling. They require 

 a new nursing. They were framed after a vast deal of prepara- 

 tion had been given to their details, and after reports by Horace 

 Mann, who had studied the best schools and the best system of 

 teaching in Europe. His information was adapted to the wants 

 of the community at that time, and out of that, and what we 

 had already gained, and what was already in practical execution, 

 has grown that admirable system of popular instruction, which 

 has given America that general education which every man 

 enjoys. But I say that that system needs nursing again, and 

 must be overhauled anew. For what reason ? Because the 

 public schools must send pupils to the Agricultural College that 

 shall be fitted to take hold where that college begins — for begin- 

 ning it must have. It cannot begin with the a, b, c ; or, if it 

 does begin with the a, b, c, in botany, in zoology, in mineralogy, 

 in geology, in physical geography, it cannot go so high as to 

 meet the enlightened views of its president. If it is expected to 

 grow, the common schools must send there scholars who have 

 already the a, b, c, of what shall be taught there ; other- 

 wise, the college will sink to that low position so well described 

 by Professor Chadbourne, to which some colleges have allowed 

 themselves to fall, merely for the sake of gaining a temporary 

 popularity. We do not want any of that sort of humbug. We 

 want something substantial ; .and that substantial thing which we 

 want is education, as general as before, as liberal as before, but a 

 little better adapted to the wants of the age than it is now ; as 

 well adapted to the wants of the age as it was in the beginning, 

 but a little better adapted than it is at this moment, because, at 



