California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



(«J(lticiiti0iiiil 





What is a Good Education? 



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*( g^BkCK a, boy that which he will 

 2\l practice when he becomes a man" 

 Am, is advice which has come down to 

 iff ns form the ancients. Although 

 Ji/ there is no knowledge which is 

 useless, it is better to be systematic in its 

 attainment; and the kind of knowledge we 

 get should depend largely upon the pro- 

 fession or business we intend to' follow. 

 Still a man should not study simply one 

 tiling, for this would soon lead to unpro- 

 fitable naiTOwuess; but should so far as 

 possible, consider all things relating to 

 his pursuit. 



Boys should commence to study them- 

 selves early; this is especially true of 

 farm boys, for they have thrown around 

 them fewer opportuuities to di-aw out 

 their powers in the direction of the gi-eat- 

 cst efficiency. Washington has said that 

 "agriculture is the most healthful, the 

 most useful, and the most noble employ- 

 ment of men." Some have the impres- 

 sion that if a man cannot be anything 

 else, he can be a farmer. This is a false 

 notion, for it takes as much ability to be- 

 come a master farmer as it does to excel 

 in anything else. Agriculture is a science 

 and an art; no one, without special apti- 

 tude, need expect either to master or ap- 

 ply its principles as they should be un- 

 derstood and applied. 



But what shall be done with those boys 

 who live on farms, but who have a strong 

 inclination for something other than the 

 business of their fathers ? Shall they be 

 held to the farm to take a low position 

 among the others of their business, 

 or shall they be permitted to go 

 out into the world in the direction which 

 the promptings of peculiar ))owers de- 

 mand, to stand .perhaps in the front rank 

 of some other profession? 



This is not merely a question of grati- 

 fication to the individual, but it is one of 

 usefulness to the world at large. Every 

 man is noble when he fills to the best of 

 his ability the post to which nature calls 

 him. Boys who have reached the age of 

 fifteen, generally know sometliing of their 

 tastes and inclination, and their educa- 

 tion should have some reference to them. 

 It is for every man to get as good an ed- 

 ucation as he can; but all have not the 

 same opportunities. All should know 

 how to read and write, and use promptly 

 and accurately the first principles of 

 arithmetic. Good spelling is a useful ac- 

 complishment. Honesty is necessary, 

 and should be tauglit and learned every- 

 where, whether at home, in the schools, 

 or in the world. Energy and persever- 

 ence should Ije taught while honesty is 

 acipiired. Punctuality must be learned 

 in school, as it is one of the chief f|Uiili- 

 fications of a businessman. Then finally 

 a young man should acquire the techni- 

 calities and peculiar (lualitications needed 

 in his business. Though a man may have 

 received a classical education, a know- 

 ledge of Ijusincss is something which 

 would be quite useful and very often 

 necessary to him if he would be saved 

 from many of the inconveniences brought 

 about by ignorance of the ways of the 

 world. All should know considerable of 

 accounts, for a business habit is a great 

 economizer. Every business man should 

 write a plain, rapid business hand, and 

 have a thorougli knowledge of accounts, 

 theoretical and practii^al. A business 

 college can give the information and prac- 



tice in these directions, so far as it is pos- 

 sible to give them without actual contact 

 with the business world better than any 

 other school, on account of its greater 

 facilities and the attention given to these 

 particular departments. — La Crosse Ee- 



Eeason and Impulse. — All persons 

 having charge of children will be inter- 

 ested in the following observations on 

 this subject by Bev. H. N. Hudson: 



Principle and impulse are often spoken 

 of as ojjposed to each other. And, as men 

 are, such is indeed too often the case; 

 but in ingenuous natures, and in well 

 ordered societies the two giow forth to- 

 gether, each serving to unfold and deepen 

 the other; so that we have principle 

 warmed into impulse, and impulse fixed 

 into principle. This gives us what may 

 be described as a character informed with 

 noble passions. And say what we will, 

 bad passions will have the mastery of a 

 man unless there be good ones to coun- 

 tervail them. For Reason, do the best 

 she can, is not enough; men must love; 

 and their proper safeguard is in having 

 their love married to truth and virtue. 

 When such is the case the state of a man 

 is at peace and unity ; otherwise, he is a 

 house divided against itself, where prin- 

 cii^lo and impulse strive each for the su- 

 premacy, and rule by turns; headlong and 

 sensual in his jjassions, cunning and sel- 

 fish in his reasons. 



Be Faithfttl. — A man cannot afford to 

 bo faithful under any circumstances; a 

 man cannot afford to be mean at any time; 

 a man cannot afford to do less than his 

 best at all times and under all circum- 

 stances. No matter how wrongfully you 

 are placed, and no matter how unjustly 

 you are treated, you cannot for your own 

 sake, afford to use anything but your bet- 

 ter self, nor to render anything but your 

 better services; you cannot aft'ord to cheat 

 a cheater; you cannot lie to a liar; you 

 cannot afford to be mean to a mean man; 

 you cannot afford to do other than deal 

 uprightly with any man, no matter what 

 exigencies may exist between him and 

 you. No man can afford to be anything 

 but a true man, living in his higher na- 

 ture and acting from the highest consid- 

 erations. 



The sure foundations of the State are 

 laid in knowledge, not in ignorance; and 

 every sneer at education, at culture, at 

 book learning, which is the recorded wis- 

 dom of the experience of mankind, i.s the 

 demagogue's sneer at intelligent liberty, 

 inviting national degeneracy and ruin. — 

 G. W. Curtis. 



We cannot bo too much impressed with 

 the importance of literary culture. We 

 should not despise nor think lightly of 

 the moral, imaginative or poetical ele- 

 ments of our being. Tlio poetical ele- 

 ment has more to do with our happiness 

 than any of the coarser kinds of know- 

 ledge called facts. 



Learn thoroughly what you learn, be it 

 ever so little, and you may speak of it 

 with confidence. A few clearly d<ifined 

 facts and ideas are worth a whole library 

 of unceatain knowledge. 



fyxxt^mnlmu. 



Soliloquy of a School Teacher 



^m 



BY ELISA E. ANTHONY 



|]|f| ALK about peace in a school room! 

 I've been endeavoring to find it for 

 the past month, and I have not even 

 found an infinitessimal atom of it — 



suppose it was lost before I arrived. 



I only wish that those people who call 

 children "sweet cherubs" and "little an- 

 gels" could experience what I have. They 

 would change their opinion after seeing 

 the "sweet cherub" throw himself on the 

 floor and roll, shrieking with passion, be- 

 cause he could not have " his own sweet 



will." 



My patience is almost exhausted. If a 

 scholar transgresses the rules, and I pun- 

 ish him for so doing, the following day 

 an irate parent will visit me, and say that 

 her precious boy is very delicate and 

 must not be thwarted; and if I venture to 

 explain, she will raise her vinaigrette to 

 her aristocratic nose and sweep proudly 

 away, while her "precious boy" behaves, 

 if possible, worse than ever. 



Sometimes I fall into a day dream, 

 when the pupils are quiet, and I am 

 roused by "Plerse, ma'am. Bill Brown is 

 pinching me black and blue," — "I aint, 

 either,"— "You are,"— "Please'm Molly 

 Hicks threw an apple at me,"— "Can I go 

 out"?"- "Say, teacher, isn't six times six 

 forty-two?"— "Oh! teacher, Sally Marsh 

 is throwing notes to the boys,"— "You're 

 a little tell-tale; I ain't doing no such 

 thing,"— and so on, until I am almost 

 crazed with the noise. 



I recover my dignity, which I had al- 

 most lost, and restore order for about five 

 minutes. 



In a short time I hear a loud whisper, 

 " S-a-y, Clementiny Snij^kiu, I heard my 

 ma sav that Mrs. Firy told her that she 

 heard 'from her brother-in-law that he saw 

 teacher walking with a man; just think of 

 it— a TOtoi.'" and there is a titter, which I 

 quickly suppress, and am— oh, so glad 

 when school is out and I am free. To 

 think that I cannot walk with my cousin 

 without people -making remarks. My 

 every action is criticised. If I speak, 

 every word I utter is watched, to see if I 

 speak contrary to the rules of grammar. 

 If I read a novel, their hands are up- 

 lifted in holy horror at such wiiste of 

 time; and the first o|)portunity they have 

 they borrow that condemned novel. 



If I speak to a_ man under sixty years 

 of a"e they say i am a fiirt; if I remain 

 (luie't I am called liaughty. 



If I dan<'e they are sliockod and say I 

 am frivolous; and if I decline to dance 

 they kindly sav that I am above my place. 

 If I dress plainly 1 am .styled a miser, 

 and my friends (?) wonder what I do with 

 all my moiM\v; and if I dress a trifle bet- 

 ter I am wasteful and (extravagant. 



It is very diJlicult to please everyone, 

 and the best thing I can do is to get mar- 

 ried and please one person, so remember 

 mo when you see an eligible young man. 

 Fltoie Mill, August, 1875. 



"Time softens all things," except the 

 young man who parts his hair in the mid- 

 dle and whistles in the street cars. No- 

 thing can make him softer than he is. 



GitATiTnDE. — A bacheUn- luiule a will, leav- 

 insj his property to the girls who had refused 



, .~ *- .,1 .1. T 11 ..-lAr .^■■vflllw 



liim, saynig, 

 hajipiness." 



' to them I owe nil my earthly 



