31 G STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



the educated Cliinainan slioiild bo llio wisest of men. The western 

 world starved over a llionsaiid ycai-s on tliis sort of sdiolasticisni. 

 Knroi>e liad nodiinjr else lliron^liout the middle apjes, and nolhinj; came 

 from it but staj^iialion. New Iriith and ever more new truth is the 

 only nourishing food on which a ])eopIe can grow. An<l this is intel- 

 lectual achievenu'nt, and it lies at the very basis of all jtrogress, and 

 hence of all national prosperity. And as scientific education trains 

 one in the j)ercei»tion and use of facts, and in the ability to se}>arate 

 the true from the false, so we can jjlainly see toda^' tliat national 

 progress is directly measured by the prevalence of scientific training 

 in education. The three nations in which science enters largely into 

 the school training of all children are Germany, America and Swit- 

 zerland. In France the popular educational methods are shaped only to 

 the passing of certain state examinations, and so have largely lost their 

 vitality. In I^ngland the masses are practically uneducated, and in such 

 schools as they have science finds little or no place. The notorious 

 inability of the English generals in the present war to realize a situa- 

 tion not cognizable by their sense of sight, is but one of the thousand 

 illustrations of the almost entire absence of the faculty of the imagina- 

 tion in the English mind. This ability to jjerceive the invisible is a dis- 

 tinctive product of a scientific education. Both England and France 

 are relatively dropping behind other nations, and in the opinion of 

 many this can be traced to their methods of education, while (xermany, 

 America, and Switzerland are all forging to the front. This is because 

 these countries contain so many citizens who have learned what to do 

 and how to do it. There are, however, many ways of acquiring an 

 education in the realities of the world, besides going to school. The 

 American pioneer has probably acquired this knowledge of things as 

 thev' are, and has learned what to do and how to do it more effectually 

 than any other class of men in the work. He has also learned self- 

 reliance and has developed a tremendous amount of private initiative. 

 He stops at no task, however impossible it may seem to others. He 

 has achieved a continent and created a nation. As compared to a 

 mere man of books, he is a giant in all matters wdiich give strength 

 to a nation. I cannot stop here to insist on the absolute necessity 

 which rests upon every man and wonum who aspires to serve as a 

 significant factor in society, in any capacity, to cultivate at all times 

 and on all proper occasions, a clear and forcible style of expression 

 in conversation, in formal address, and in written composition. 



MORAL UPRIGIITXESS. 



I have placed clearness of mental vision before nio;al upright- 

 ness not because it is more important, Init because it is more 

 fundamental. The mind must perceive the right before the con- 

 science can enforce it. This field of moral education and training 

 belongs to the teacher and minister alike. As a teacher I am 

 convinced that the education of children and young people should be 

 largely' occupied with the eternal verities. And this again means a 

 training in the exact and natural sciences. A hypocritical scientist it 

 is impossible to even conceive. How can a sophist or a hypocrit be a 

 searcher after truth? This passion for the true, whatever it may be, 



