SCHOOL AND STATE. 265 



compel the education of her subjects ? Surely the need of the present hour is a 

 broad intelligence grounded in the hearts of the people. 



We are all of us parts of the mighty whole. Your voice and my voice form 

 a part in the destiny to come. Your vote and my vote help to frame the mas- 

 sive structure of our laws. Those who have gained the heights and are looking 

 back upon the thousands yet toiling to reach the high plain of truth and virtue 

 and knowledge should send all the succor of a strong government to aid them 

 mount the steeps of ignorance. Storms are brewing. If the State do not educate 

 the children, let her beware the hour of peril, when to their hands shall fall the 

 reins of government. Spread wider the influence of the common school. Guard 

 it with the strong arm of the treasury. Why, in the Congress just closed at least 

 ten pension bills have been introduced and one important educational measure ! 

 See that the teachers of the child that is to bear the burden of the State are taught. 

 Can the hand of a dauber paint the " Madonna" of Raphael, or the hand of a 

 blacksmith chisel the " Minerva" of Phidias? We educate commanders of men 

 at Annapolis and West Point; should the great army of pupils be without leaders 

 that are trained? Certainly, he, who, from the State's point of view, says that 

 the teacher can take the delicate tablet of the child's mind and write upon it the 

 eternal characters of love and truth and knowledge without being a consummate 

 artist, is a traitor to his country and unworthy the civilization which gave him 

 birth. 



If the abuses about us give rise to a wish for a limited power to control the 

 operations of State, then it is evident that there are defects in our system. Let 

 us educate more with reference to the State ! Let the child lisp with its first 

 numbers the words "Home" and "Country." From Kindergarten to Univer- 

 sity, teach the ethics of citizenship. Abstract mathematics will never make a 

 patriot. Mere knowledge is cold, let it be more of a stepping-stone to an under- 

 standing of the laws of society. Better to be without grammar than without 

 political economy. Teach the "Why" in history rather than the " How" and 

 inculcate the lessons of peace rather than the lessons of war. Repeat ever and 

 always the political story of the Revolution. Teach more of the laws of the land 

 and speculate less about the inscructable laws of nature. If you dissect a flower 

 or tell the sermon in a stone, teach also that all the bright infinity about us beats 

 responsive to the heart of man with love and tenderness and truth. Crown the 

 ever present " Now " with the gems of the good, beautiful, and true. 



Under the present school system of the United States, too little attention is 

 paid to the education of the citizen. We should begin early to teach of govern- 

 ment and of our relation to the State. New men are acquainted with all the 

 laws that environ them. Remember, that a large per cent of our school children 

 leave school at the age of fifteen to enter the workshop and the store and to labor 

 at the plow. If they do not learn here of the varied institutions of our govern- 

 ment, is it true that they may learn without bias from the public hustings ? 



Oh, there are minds to be fed. Thousands have never yet seen the light of 

 truth. The prince and the pauper are alike slumbering in our midst while arrant 



