HOW SHALL WE BEGIN? 505 



HOW SHALL WE BEOINf 



Begin from the start, by instructing the pupil WHY this 

 thing or that proposition is so; why addition, multiplica 

 tion, and division, are all there really is of arithmetic ; why 

 the rivers, constantly flowing into the sea, never increase its 

 volume ; why chemistry is the corner-stone of agriculture, 

 and mathematics the foundation upon which mechanics rest. 

 The fact is, the so-called higher education is an artificial 

 affair, contrived originally for a class the learned profes 

 sions. Hence, the vast army of toiling workers who, to-day, 

 are hungering for that certain knowledge that would enable 

 them, through the exercise of mind upon matter, to properly 

 lay hold of that Archimedian lever an intelligent and di 

 versified industry. 



One of the first things for the masses to understand is 

 that education is not incompatible with labor ; on the con 

 trary, indeed, that the better educated a man is the more 

 intelligently he can perform the ordinary duties of life. 

 There is a right and a wrong way to do every thing, from 

 hod-carrying to the most intricate sculpture ; from plowing 

 the furrows that are to receive the seed to building the 

 stack or rick of grain that shall turn rain ; resist the wind, 

 and keep its contents intact. 



How many artisans, through education to their art, can 

 claim to be really master- workmen, and able to command 

 the highest wages of the craft ? Scarcely one in a hundred. 



FARMERS AS CRAFTSMEN. 



How many farmers are really excellent plowmen, under 

 standing the niceties of turning sod, stubble, or fallow, and 

 the proper management of the furrow-slices, through the 

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