EDUCATION. 213 



organized ; or if they are not, in every respect, adapted to meet his 

 wants, they require only a slight change in their arrangements. But 

 let us be understood : we do not take the ground that an agricul- 

 tural college, such as is contemplated in some quarters, would be 

 useless ; but that a course of study, such as is pursued in our col- 

 leges, is far better and superior in its adaptation to the wants of the 

 farmer himself, and the interests of the farming population. We 

 have three reasons for this opinion : 1st, The college course of 

 study furnishes more ample means to the pupil, by which he may 

 educate himself ; 2d, It supplies his wants ; 3d, The objects of 

 education are thereby answered. These reasons, it may be said, 

 run into each other ; and so they do : still, each one implies some- 

 thing which the other docs not. We shall, however, in illustrating 

 our views, treat them as one under different forms of expression. 

 One remark we would make in this place, viz. that many persons 

 claim to be educated when they have finished their college course : it 

 is a natural, though a very bad mistake, and there is scarcely any 

 thing farther from the truth. It is true that if a man is educated at all, 

 he is self-educated, whether it be at college, or sitting on a bench in 

 the chimney corner and studying by the flaring light of pitch pine 

 knots : it is always a self-education as far as it goes. 



To proceed : What does a college cours^ of study do for the pupil ; 

 or what is it intended to do ? It puts tools into his hands to work 

 with ; or perhaps this is too general and too figurative in its ex- 

 pression : w^c therefore say again, that it puts principles into his 

 lead for the better guidance of his talents. To be still more parti- 

 cular. Does he study Latin and Greek ? It is not that he may talk 

 Latin or Greek, or even read it in after life ; but to learn the con- 

 Jtruclion of language, and the different ways it may be used to 

 )ersuade and influence men. Does he study mathematics ? It is not 

 hat he may become a practical mathematician, and spend his days 

 n solving problems in mathematical science ; but that he may know 

 he power of numbers and signs in demonstrating truth ; that he 

 nay acquire a control over the faculty of attention, over the train 

 >f thought, and call in, in their true succession, the ideas which 

 ink together a demonstration of a proposition, or truths which are 



be evolved by a chain of reasoning. Does he study chemistry 

 nd natural history ? It is not that he may spend his hfe in the 

 »boratory, working in acids and alkalies ; but that he may know the 



