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A discussion of the first, named point the relative merits 

 <t' classical and scientific culture is foreign to my present 

 purpose, though indirectly bearing on my subject, and demand- 

 ing, certainly, tin- thoughtful consideration of all who an- mad- 

 responsible for the edneatiou of youth, in these, the United 

 States, and in this, the 19th century. Earnest men, ali\ 

 tlic vastness and rapid growth of the republic, and to the 

 proud position it holds among the nations of the earth, as well 

 as to the importance of our vast agricultural, mechanical, and 

 manufacturing industries, are pressing the question with start- 

 ling emphasis, Why is it. that languages ten centuries dtad 

 an- thought better than German and French to fit an American 

 ambassador for the courts of Berlin or Paris? Why is it. 

 that the dead mythologies of the dim old ages of fable an 

 thought better than the ripe sciences of to-day the garnered 

 fruits of centuries of toil and miracles of genius to fit living 

 men for the work of life, in these stirring times? But to 

 such questions I refer, simply to say, in passing, that total 

 banishment of the classics is by no means necessary to the pur- 

 pose of those who would give due place to the sciences. How- 

 ever certain it may be that classical culture will in time become 

 of less commanding, if not of secondary importance, from the 

 relative growth of other learning, it has already too long held 

 its acknowledged position of preeminence, and become too 

 thoroughly inwrought into the whole texture of the world's 

 literature, to ! wholly set aside as useless. Far, far distant 

 In- th day. when old Yale shall no more impart that culture 

 in the polished tongues of Homer and Horace, which has given 

 strength, and breadth, and beauty to scholarship, all down the 

 centuries, and in all civilized lands. Far distant the day, 

 when the ieonoela>-t< hall lay violent hands on that symmetri- 

 cal and well compacted system of training, which, rightly 



