1836.] 



J-ARMERS' REGISTER. 



275 



makes all the mischief, and occasions all the ex- 

 pense. This is my fiji! persuasion from thirty 

 years experience, and somewhat extensive obser- 

 vation." 



To these selections others of similar interest and 

 importance might be added from the Report fi-om 

 which they have been derived, particulaily the nu- 

 merous and harmonious opinions of literary men, 

 on the necessity and utility of regular systematic 

 exercise to the student; but our time tbrbids the in- 

 dulgence, and the maxim of Festinaad finem ad- 

 monishes us to cut short this address. 



From the view that has been taken, we perceive 

 then, with a clearness which cannot be mistaken, 

 that the marmal labor system of education is ap- 

 plauded by '-'a cloud of witnesses,'" and commended 

 to our patronage and aMeniion by arguments and 

 /acts immmerable, palpable, and unanswerable. 

 Will the inquiry be misplaced, when we ask, Shall 

 it here, (on this consecrated ground, this literary 

 high place, which is destined to send ibrth a migh- 

 ty stream of influence for good or ill, to an extent 

 which no arithmetic can calculate,) shall it here 

 receive the countenance and patronage which it so 

 richly deserves 7 Manual labor schools are already 

 in success/ul operation in this southern country, 

 and the prosperity that has attended them has been 

 such as to silence the cavils of opposers, and re- 

 move the apprehensions of the distrustful. With 

 all enlightened and candid persons there can be 

 but one mind respecting their practicability and 

 their pccaZi'ar importance in this southern region. 

 It is the very section perhaps, of all others, within 

 the hraits ol our republic, that is best adapted to 

 their growth, both on account of its soil and climate, 

 and in which, from its peculiar situation, their in- 

 fluence is most imperiously demanded. 



Again, then, I ask, will "the ancient and honor- 

 able Dominion" consent to be outstripped by her 

 neighbors in an enterprsie of so much grandeur 

 and promise I Will parents, instructors, and pupils, 

 repose in inglorious ease, and cry a little more sleep, 

 a little more folding of the hands to sleep, while 

 others in the race of competition press forward and 

 bear off the prize 7 Will the young men of Hamp- 

 den Sidney and Union Seminary sit still; or will 

 they "awake, arise, and put on their strength ?" 

 Interests that are dear as honor and life; are sus- 

 pended on the praciicaZ reply which this inquiry re- 

 ceives. 



It is stated, as is probable on good authority, 

 that in years that have gone by, "some of the 

 Virginian philanthropists offered to educate some 

 of the Indians, and that they received fi-om the 

 shrewd savages the following reply." (He that 

 hath ears to hear, let him hear what the savages 

 have said to the civilized!) 



"Brothers of the white skin! You must know 

 that all people do not have the same ideas upon 

 the same subjects; and you must not take it ill that 

 our manner of thinking in regard to the kind of ed- 

 ucation which you ofTer us does not agree with 

 yours. We have had in this particular some ex- 

 perience. Several of our young men were some 

 time since educated at the northern Colleges, and 

 learned there all the sciences. But when they re- 

 turned to us, we found they were spoiled. They 

 were miserable runners. They did not know how 

 to live in the woods. They could not bear huntrer 

 and cold. They could not "build a cab'n, nor kill a 

 deer, nor conquer an enemy. They had even for- 



gotten our language; so that not being able to 

 serve us as warriors, or hunters, or counsellors, 

 they were absolutely good for nothing." 



The calamities which are here set forth in such 

 graphic terms have by no means been confined to 

 the fathers and the eons of the Jbrest. The white 

 young men of Virginia, in great numbers, have 

 since been educated in like manner " at Northern 

 Colleges," or nearer home: and when restored to 

 their parents and guardians have been found, for 

 the most part, like the sons of the red men, to be 

 ^^ absolutely good fir wf/t/rtg." They have pro- 

 ved to be "miserable runners." Not one in twen- 

 ty of them has risen to eminence in professional 

 life. They could "bear neither hunger nor cold." 

 They were practically ignorant of mechanical and 

 agTlcultural employments, and strongly averse to 

 them; too high minded and indolent to labor, and 

 too weak and effeminate to " serve as warriors, and 

 hunters and counsellors." Will Virginian parents 

 learn a lesson from their own past experience and 

 tliat of their savage predecessors ? The correc- 

 tive which we propose for the evil complained of, 

 (and it is too serious for merriment,) is the imme- 

 diate introduction of the manual labor systeifl in- 

 to all our institutions of learning. If this feature 

 is introduced and kept up in them, with a promi- 

 nence proportioned to its importance, our youth, 

 who are educated in them, if not fitted lor useful- 

 ness and distinction in the departments of law, 

 medicine and theology, will not be utterly "spoiled" 

 as the sons of the red men were; but will be good 

 " runners," useful and respectable laborers, me- 

 chanics, planters, and farmers. This after all, is 

 the population, of which, more than any other, 

 Virginia needs an increase. The low state of me- 

 chanic arts and of agriculture among us, or rather 

 the prevailing vice of indolence, is the true source 

 of the present disasters which are so often made 

 the theme of popular declamation by stump orators 

 and upstart politicians. It is indolence, more than 

 an}- or every thing else, that checks the spirit of 

 enterprise; that covers this fairest portion of our 

 contment with sackcloth; and spreads over it the 

 sable shroud of desolation. Let then a revolution 

 be effected in our system of education. Let our 

 youth be trained for the duties of practical life. 

 Let them be instructed in what is useful, as well as 

 ornamental; and let them bring minds stored with 

 the riches of learning and science, to bear and act 

 on the subject of most absorbing temporal interest to 

 the American people, I mean the neglected subject 

 of agriculture, and all will yet be well. The citi- 

 zens of the south will then be independent indeed, 

 and not in boast. Labor, like "marriage," will be 

 "honorable in all." The work which misguided 

 abolitionists are laboring with a zeal that would 

 be becoming in a better cause, to perform by a 

 meddlesomeand violent interference, will be effect- 

 ed by the gradual and voluntary agency of her own 

 inhabitants. Herpopulation will multiply. Com- 

 merce will thrive. Barren fields will be clothed 

 with verdure. The productions of the earth will 

 be increased. Crowded cities and smiling villages 

 will spring up. The halls of legislation will be 

 occupied by the hardy and virtuous cultivators of 

 the soil, the men of all others the most safe to be 

 entrusted with the enactment and administration 

 of laws. Colleires, acndoniies, and schools, will 

 prove the nurseries of enlightened, healthful, in- 

 dustrious, and happy lii^eman; ajid Christianity, 



