28 MR. stone's address. 



and moral condition of the rising generation. And many have 

 still to learn, that to read, write and cypher, is not education 

 enough for a mechanic or a farmer. If, indeed, we listen to 

 some European " patron " of the laboring classes, we shall be 

 told that it is " quite enough of general knowledge for the chil- 

 dren to know their prayers and the catechism, and of geogra- 

 phy, for them to find their way from their house to their 

 work." We shall be assured that no importance is to be 

 attached "to intellectual improvement amongst the agricultur- 

 ists," and that no attempts should be made to " raise these peo- 

 ple out of the condition which Providence has assigned them."* 

 This may be a popular doctrine in the '• sea girt Isle," where 

 more than a miUiori and a half of children of a suitable age to 

 attend school are left in a condition of complete ignorance ^'\ and 

 where field laborers, of both sexes, herd promiscuously at night 

 in cattle stalls and stables ;% but it is not a doctrine to be re- 

 ceived by the farmers of Massachusetts. It is no doctrine for 

 the farmers of Essex County, and in their name, and for my- 

 self, I repudiate it now and forever. 



It is Mind that gives man his supremacy. It is develop- 

 ed intellect that lifts one man above another, and procures for 

 the individual unblest with this world's abundance, respect, 

 honor, influence and consideration that wealth can never pur- 

 chase. I would have the humblest farmer's boy, by education, 

 raised to a level with his more favored fellow. I would give 

 him a fair start in the world — a fair chance to be felt, through 

 the influence of his talents, in the assembly of his townsmen, 

 or in the halls of legislation. I would have every farmer's son 

 know enough of chemistry, to analyze soils, and prepare com- 

 posts§ — enough of geology, to understand the origin and nature 

 of soils — enough of botany, to understand the structure of 



*Colinan'3 Euiojjean Ag. p. 191, 195. 

 fiMann's seventh Ed. Report, p. 40. 

 ifColman's European Ag. p. 51. 



§Cheini3try, by unfolding to us the effects of heat and mixture, enlarges our acquaint- 

 ance with the wonders of nature and the mysteries of art. In a young country, where im- 

 provements in agriculture and manufactures are so much to be desired, the cultivation of 

 this science, which explains the principles of both of them, should be considered as an ob- 

 ject of the utmost importance. — Dr. Rush, on the mode of education proper in a Rtpublic. 



