TRAINING AT THE MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 163 



I would guard osjiccially af^ainst that sort of education which invaria])ly pro- 

 duces one-sided men. While one's chief lahor should be given to the particular 

 branch of one's own choosing, he should by no means ignore those otlier 

 branches of learning with which it is closely connected. As I look ni)ou it, a 

 college course should not be considered as affording one an education, but 

 simply a foundation for it. 



3. An important improvement in our educational mctliods would be the in- 

 troduction of some systematic and efficient means for the promotion of esthetic 

 culture. The world is full of beauty, — but it too often exists unseen. Few, 

 comparatively, really know that there is such a thing as a sunset, — or at least 

 possess any adequate conception or enjoyment of the wondrous beauty which this 

 phenomenon so often presents. But nature teems with pictures as beautiful iu 

 their way as this. There are the hills and the mountains, and the valleys, the 

 iield and the forest, the lake, the river, and the sea ; the varying seasons, the 

 calm and the storm, the sky, and the stars, and life everywhere. To bo able 

 to appreciate all this so as to find real enjoyment of nature is a source of con- 

 stant improvement, and is in every way desirable. Even we might claim for it 

 some practical utility : for he whose mind and heart are such as to enable him 

 to appreciate the beauties of nature leads a fuller life than he who knows not of 

 their existence, — and it is always better to lead a full life than a half life. 



Not lono- since I chanced to be taking a sliort excursion through one of the 

 most charming regions i have ever beheld. The way led over a succession of 

 hills with distant and near views constantly changing, but always beautiful. 

 At a certain point, near a farm-house, there seemed to be the culmination of 

 the beauty of the whole landscape for forty miles around. There were alternat- 

 ing pastures and meadows, woodlands and open fields, and orchards laden with 

 the blossoms of early summer. Beyond this foreground was a succession of 

 countless hills of varied outline, and of numerous valleys checkered with farms ; 

 a dozen miles away, shut in by softly molded hills, a crystal lake shimmered in 

 the golden sunshine, while in the extreme distance outlying spurs of the Alle- 

 ghanies gave grandeur and majesty to the scene. It was a picture which the 

 eye may seldom look npon, — one that should fill the heart with joy and rever- 

 ence, with inspiration even to look beyond it to the hand by which it had been 

 created. 



The farm-house in question, which was of ordinary appearance, had upon 

 one side of it a covered verandali, on whicli the farmer no doubt sometimes 

 rested from the labors of the day; but it was not placed upon that side, where 

 it might easily have been, which commanded the view I have attempted to 

 describe, but on the other, where the near view was a lean and unpicturesque 

 wood-pile. Hanked by a weedy yard, and shut in just beyond by rather ill-look- 

 ing barns. Here was the owner of the farm living all his life it may be in the 

 midst of scenery than which scarcely any could be more beautiful, and yet prob- 

 ably not knowing of its existence. How much better for him had he been able 

 to look out upon this wondrous picture which the hand of the Lord had shaped, 

 and gather satisfaction and improvement from it day by day. 



What is needed is tliis, that the child should have its mind drawn to the sun- 

 set, the clouds, and the sky, and the thousand beauties which nature so abun- 

 dantly supplies; with little difficulty he may be taught to observe and 

 aj)preG!ate them; and this appreciation, as I believe, will strengthen with his 

 growth until in his maturity it will be an invaluable source of enjoyment and 



