538 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



plete being. He possesses a physical nature that is as truly of earth 

 and air as that of any of the lower order of beings, and it grows in the 

 same way by assimilating the elements that surround him. He inhales 

 the air, even though it be at zero temperature, and by it his blood is 

 purified and sent coursing through his body, laden with new cells of liv- 

 ing substance to replace everywhere the cells that have served their pur- 

 pose and parted with life. But man is more than a body. He is, indeed, 

 an animal, but he is more than an animal. He has an intellect, by the 

 exercise of which he has the power to apprehend or receive a knowledge 

 of external facts through the senses. He has a consciousness of good 

 and evil, and is,- therefore, a being endowed with moral faculties. He 

 has an intuitive perception of the spiritual and apprehends something 

 of the first great cause of all things, which calls forth his veneration, 

 and he worships, hence he is a religious being. 



Education has to do with the harmonious development of all the 

 powers of this wonderful complexity. The body grows strong from nour- 

 ishment and proper exercise, and in the manner of growth of the mental 

 powers there is a very marked similarity to that of the body. That is. 

 by self action and assimilation, by grasping and using the means neces- 

 sary to intellectual, moral and spiritual growth. The whole subject may 

 be comprehended in a single sentence, viz: Man is educated, or rather 

 educates or grows to a ftill measure of his powers by a proper vohmtary 

 exercise of all his faculties. 



I want to say to an> and every young person, if you are to be edu- 

 cated, you must do the work yourself-. Some other person might eat 

 your dinner, but you wotild go himgry. If some other person does your 

 thinking, you will remain weak in mind and ignorant. No one can give 

 yoti an education. You must reach forth with all the powers you possess, 

 even though that be as the putting forth of the feeblest tendrils of the 

 vine, grasping something to raise it nearer to the sweet light upon which 

 it feeds. And I want to say to those who have sons, daughters or pupils 

 to educate, if you would succeed wnth them you must inspire them with 

 the idea of self-effort. There are too many young people who are dawdling 

 along through their school days, depending upon teacher or others to 

 drive, drag or carry them through a course of study, expecting to come 

 out at last with all the knowledge and accomplishments necessary in 

 life's struggle, who are doomed to bitter disappointment. They will find 

 themselves but weaklings, overgrown infants, fit only to be jostled aside 

 by those who have grown strong through self-exertion.. 



Now, while it is true that the education of any person must depend, 

 first, upon his own exertion, it is also true that the conditions which 

 surround him have a very great influence in aiding or hindering his prog- 

 ress, and it is within the range of human power to make or improve 

 some of these conditions and to furnish many needed helps. In this 

 possibility to furnish helps lies the field of our labor in providing schools 

 and furnishing them with the best educational appliances, the first fac- 

 tor of which is a good and competent teacher, and the second a neat 

 and comfortable room with cheerful surroundings. 



