214 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



But, lookinjT the entire field over and getting back to first princi- 

 ples, we must admit that it is not the part of the public schools, or 

 even of the university, to attempt to till the minds of students with 

 all the knowledge they ought to possess, but rather to strengthen 

 those minds so that they may grasp the thoughts that will present 

 themselves for consideration in life and be able to work out some- 

 thing that will be of benefit to the possessors. When one leaves the 

 common school, the high school or the viniversity, he has not yet an 

 education; but, if he has prepared himself to become educated by 

 and by, he has done well. He is ready now to go into the world, 

 learn its lessons and grow stronger from his contact with it. In the 

 primary school we find that the teacher examines the pupils and 

 selects those who are fit to go into the next grade, and at the end of 

 another year selection is made and a part of the pupils are promoted 

 to go up a notch higher. So selections and promotions are made 

 until the high school is reached; then there are more severe exam- 

 inations and the successful scholars are admitted; then other 

 examinations must be passed before entering the university. Here, 

 again, those who do their work well may pass on, while the weak- 

 lings are continually dropping out. All the way through, certain 

 ones are selected to go on, and, by and by, when the school days are 

 ended, the pupils, good and bad, go out into the world where the 

 great selection of all is made, and the world looks the graduates 

 over, examines them, selects the ones that can do its work and offers 

 them places suited to their capacity. The question now is not "How 

 much does the man know?" nor "What are his views on this subject 

 or that?", but the world asks what use it can make of him. I can give 

 you a good illustration. When a boy I met a cousin who was in the 

 habit of "taking a drop too much." He stopped and began to talk 

 about his neighbors; they had, it seemed, been saying some pretty 

 hard things about him. I said, "What is the trouble?" "They have 

 been lieing about me; they said I was drunk." "Well, William," 

 said I, "were 5'OU not drunk?" "No, not so drunk as they were." 

 Said I, "Are you drunk now?" That was a poser. It puzzled him 

 for a moment, and then the answer came back, quick as a flash of 

 lightning: "I am drunk now, but I am right on all the great moral 

 questions of the day." (Laughter.) The fact is, too many are right 

 on all the great moral questions of the day, but are not able to do 

 an5'thing useful. It matters not so much what a man knows; that 

 is not the question. It is of but little advantage to be a regular 

 encyclopedia. If we want that kind of knowledge, we can go to the 

 encyclopedia for it. The great question is, what can the man do? 

 Men have said to me wherever I have been, "Mr. Pendergast, doyou 

 know of a good boy to work for me?" "What kind of a boy do you 

 want?" I know what the answer will be: "I want a good, smart, in- 

 telligent, accurate, diligent, honest boy, who is willing to work 

 faithfully; a boy who can do what I want done and is glad to do it." 

 That boy, when found, will prove to be the one who was headed in 

 the right direction in some school. That is all; the teacher is just a 

 finger board. He can point the pupils in the right direction and 

 bring them up to that point where, when they leave, they can go on 

 studying what they have acquired an interest in, so that, whenever 



