S84 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



the provisions of this bill ought, so far as the amount of 

 the legacy and the terms of the will permit, to respond. 



Such views are in accordance with the spirit of the age, 

 and the wants of the times. It is not a world all of flowers 

 and sunshine, this we live in. It is a world, where thou- 

 sands are starving ; where tens of thousands toil to live — 

 live, only to die ! It is a world, where cruel suffering 

 exists, where shameful crimes are committed, where terrible 

 oppression is endured, where dark ignorance is found. It 

 has scenes of wrong, and outrage, and guilt, and woe. 

 They rise before us. They thrust themselves on our atten- 

 tion. Not to gild, not to embellish ; a graver, a sadder 

 duty is his, who would aid in such a world's improvement. 



To effect permanent good in such a world, we must reach 

 the minds and the hearts of the masses ; we must diffuse 

 knowledge among men ; we must not deal it out to scholars 

 and students alone, but even to Tom, Dick, and Harry ; 

 and then, as a wise and witty female writer of the day ex- 

 pressed it, " they will become Mr. Thomas, and Mr. Rich- 

 ard, and Mr. Henry." They may not become profound 

 scholars, erudite graduates ; — nor is that necessary. Well 

 to know common things is the essential. It is not elaborate 

 learning that most improves the world, or that exerts most 

 influence in its government. Working-day knowledge is 

 simple, almost in the ratio of its importance; and Milton 

 has told us, 



" That not to know at large of things remote 

 Prom use, obscure and subtle, but to know 

 That which before us lies, in daily life, 

 Is the prime wisdom." 



The ancient masters realized not these truths. With the 

 millions they had no sympathy. In private, and to the ini- 

 tiated few alone, did they deign to unroll the mystical page 

 of their philosophy ; they scorned to expose it to the gaze 

 of the profane vulgar. 



Thanks to the stirring spirit of progressive improvement, 

 all this, in our age, is changed. By modern teachers the 

 PEOPLE are spoken of, spoken to, cared for, instructed. To 

 the people the characteristic literature of the day is ad- 

 dressed. What has become of the ponderous folio, in 

 which the learning of the Middle Ages used to issue, to a 

 email and exclusive circle, its solemn manifesto ? Now we 

 have the slender pamphlet, the popular tract, the cheap 

 periodical, cast forth even to the limits of civilization, pen- 

 etrating into every nook and corner of the land ; often 

 light, often worthless, but often, too, instructive, effective ; 



