HORTICULTURAL REMINISCENCES. 233 



eating youth in habits of industry and a knowledge of practical 

 life. He had been surprised to see the feeling of young men in 

 regard to manual labor. We should not think of teaching German 

 to a person going to reside in France, nor should we fill the heads 

 of children with things that they can never make use of, leaving 

 them ignorant how to supply the common wants of life. He hoped 

 to see more attention given to industrial education and hoped 

 to see horticultural labor embodied in it. There is no greater in- 

 congruity than in training young men or women to imaginarj- posi- 

 tions which few of them will ever occupy. ' The training of our 

 schools is excellent so far as the intellect is concerned. The 

 speaker mentioned a case within his own knowledge, where a 

 3'Oung woman after her schooling was over spent her time in read- 

 ing novels from a circulating library, until she married a rich man, 

 and then her ignorance compelled her to ask a skilful house-keeper 

 how to take care of her home. Her marriage was a sad misfor- 

 tune ; her life was spent in dissatisfaction and was most unhappy, 

 for her resources were exhausted. So with regard to young men ; 

 he had seen many a gay young man whose father had accumulated 

 a fortune, but who had never been trained to self-reliance, un- 

 happy for want of occupation for mind and body. It is wisely 

 ordered that the human mind cannot be happy without employ- 

 ment. Young men join clubs because they feel the want of some- 

 thing to fill their empt}' minds. There is no better place to begin 

 the greatly needed change in education than in our schools. The 

 speaker said he was heartily interested in our industrial schools. 

 The absence of editorial comment on the article quoted by the 

 essayist from a religious newspaper was in eflJect a most pernicious 

 comment. 



Benjamin P. Ware said that a very broad subject had been 

 opened. The essayist's description of female seminaries reminded 

 him of what has been done for young men in our State Agricul- 

 tural College. The students are taught agriculture practically, 

 and inducements are offered to them to earn money. Poor boys 

 who come there with little or no assistance from their parents can 

 get' a practical education. In other states there are similar colleges 

 under similar management. It is the duty not onl}'^ of our people 

 but of our legislators, to provide practical education for our young 

 people. The scholars in our schools have found when graduated 

 that they knew nothing practical. There must be something wrong 



