
The Enquirer, No. XV. What is Education 2 
js.not transferrable, You may engage 
mafters to infru& your child in this or 
the other accomplifhment, but you muft 
educate him yourlelf, You not only 
ought to do it, but you must do, it, whe- 
ther you intend it or no, As education 
is a thing neceflary ! for all; for the poor 
and for the rich, for ti fetter as well 
as for the learned ; ; providence has not 
made it cependent u upon fyltems acer? in, 
‘operole, and difficult of invei tigation. 
It is not neceflary with Rouflzau cr Ma- 
dame Genlis, to devote to the education 
of one child, the talents and the time ofa 
number of grown men; to furround him 
with an artificial vorld; and to counteract, 
by maxims, the natura al tendencies of the 
fituation he is placed in in’ fociety, 
Every one has time to educate his child; 
——the poor man educates him while 
working in his cottage—the man of 
bufine(s while employed in his counting- 
houfe. 
Do we fee 2 father who is diligent in 
his profeilion, domeftic in his. habits, 
whole houle is the refort of well-informed 
intelligent people—a mother, whole time 
js ulefully filled, whofe attention to her 
duties fecures efeem, and whofe amiable 
manners attract affeétion > Do not be 
{olicit ous, relpect ble couple, about the 
moral education ci your offspring! do 
not be unealy becaule you cannot fur- 
round them w ‘ith the a apparatus of books 
and fyftems 5 or fancy you miu retire 
from the world to devote yourfelves to 
their i impr ovement, In your world they 
are. brought up much Becre than could 
be under any pee of pas igens education 
which you coy!d | provide e for them; they 
will imbibe affeCtion from your carefles ; 
tafte from your converfation ; -urbanity 
from the commerce of your Tociety ; and 
mutual love from 4 Be example. Do 
not regret that ycu are not rich enough 
to provide tutors and governors, to watch 
his Reps with fedufous and fervile anx- 
iety, and furnifh hi ri with maxims it is 
morally impofible he fhould a& upon 
when grown up. we not you fee how 
feldom this over culture produces its ef- 
fest, and how many thi ning-and exe ellent 
characters fart up every day, from the 
bofom of obicurity, with {carcely any 
cafe at all ? 
Are children then to be neole&ted? 
furely not; but having given them the 
inftru&ion and accomp! Yiments which 
their fituation in life requires, let us re- 
ject ppt iyous folicitude, and truft that 
their characters will torm themfelyes from 
the ipontaneous influence of good ex- 
ryt 
amples, and circumftances, which impel 
them to ufeful action. 
But the education of your houfe, im- 
portant as it is, is only a part of a more 
comprehentive fyftem. Providence takes 
your child, where you leave him.. Provi- 
dence continues his education upon.a 
Jar get fcale; and by a procefs which in- 
cludes means far more efficacious. Has 
_vour fon entered the world at eighteen, 
opinionated, haughty, rafh, inclined to 
diffipation ? Do not defpair, he may yet be 
cured of thet faults, if it pleafes heaven, 
There are remedies which you could not 
perfuade yourfelf to ufe, if they were in 
your power, and which are ipecific in 
cafes of thiskind. How often do we fee 
the prefumptuous, giddy youth, changed 
into the wife counfeilor, the confiderate, 
fteady friend! How often the thoughtleis, 
‘Bay girl, into the fober wife, the atfec- 
tionate mother! Faded beayty, humbled 
felf-confequence, difappointed ambition, 
lofs of fortune, this is the rough phyfic 
provided by providence, to meliorate the 
temper, to correct the offenfive petulan- 
cies of youth, and bring out all the 
energies of the finithed chara aéter. AF 
fictions foften the proud; . difficulties 
pufh foward the ingenious; fuccefsful 
induftry gives confequence and credit, 
and developes a thoufand latent good 
qualities. There is no malady of the 
mind fo inveterate, which this education 
of events is not calculated to cure, if 
life were long enough; and fhall we not 
hope, that he, in whofe hand are ali the 
remedial procefles Sf nature, will renew 
the difcipline in another fate, and finilh 
the imperfeét man? : 
tates are educated as individuals, by 
circumftances; the prophet may cry 
aloud, and {pare not; the philofopher 
may deicant on morals; eloquence may 
exhauft itfelf in invective againit the, 
vices of the age: thefe vices will cer tainly 
foliow certain ftates of poverty or riches, 
ignorance or high civilization. But what 
thefe gentle alteratives fail of doing, may 
be accomplifhed by an feaGaeqeteaay war, 
a ‘lofs of trade, or any of .thofe zreat 
alii Done by which it pleates Provi- 
dence to fpeak to a nation in fuch Jan- 
guage as will be heard. -If, asa nation, 
we would be cured of pride, it-muft be 
by mortification; if of luxury, by ana- 
tional bankruptcy, perhaps ;. if a injuf- 
tice, or the {piwit of domination, by a 
lofs of national confequence. In com- 
parifon of thefe ftrong remedies, a fal, 
or a fermon, are prejeriptions..of very 
little ethicacy. 
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