214 Practical Education. [May. 



hlacJc-fioicered poke, or Wood's Veratrum ( Veratrum Woodii ) . Sur- 

 rounded at its base by a copious rosette of large, smooth, radical leaves, 

 the smooth and slender stalk stands full six feet erect, bearing a spike 

 of a hundred flowers, frowning darkness, as if indignant at the intrusion. 

 A jet-ljlack flower is unknown, but these approach so near to blackness 

 as to show no tint of purple, except when reflected in the direct light of 

 the sun. This remarkable plant, first seen by us in Indiana, has 

 recently been sent also from Iowa, and we doubt not, will be found 

 abundant in the wilds of Kansas. 



PKACTICAL EDUCATION". 



A NOBLE ancestry is now regarded of little value by him who seeks the 

 patronage of his fellow men. Time has demonstrated the fact that poets, 

 philosophers, and statesmen, the most eminent that mankind have seen, 

 had their origin in obscurity. The world knew them not, and saw them 

 not, until as stars of the first magnitude, they took their position among 

 the constellations of the great, and emitted a steady, but increasing 

 light from their own original source. Instead of looking back, over the 

 catalogue of our parentage, to find some noble name as our passport 

 through life, we look into ourselves — examine our own resources, in 

 order that we may ascertain what we can do. 



To be able actually to do, rather than to tell what our fathers did, 

 has doubtless drawn the attention of a great portion of the community 

 to the idea of a Practical Education. There seems to be a demand 

 for such changes in the old courses of study, as will adapt them to the 

 wants of the active. This demand has met with an echo from many of 

 the learned of the land, and some important modifications have been 

 made, thus to meet the wants of the public. 



This idea is an important one, involving no less than the entire 

 educational interests of the country ; and, as it takes possession of the 

 public mind, will aff^ect the very foundations of education. It will 

 direct the first steps of those who build our institutions of learning, and 

 control the elements from which must spring all systems of public 

 nstruction. 



There is, perhaps, no word in the English language less understood 

 than " Practical," and yet there is no other more frequently considered 

 and discussed in this emphatically progressive age, when the avenues to 



