Newspaper Page Text
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ESPABTKSHT
Organ of the Georgia Teachers Association-
Crgan of the State School Commissioner, G. J, Orr.
W.B. BONNKLL, Editor.
EDUCATION AND LAROR.
An Address Delivered Before the
Georgia Teacher’s Association
August the 1st, 1887.
By W. H. Fleming, Superintendent Public
Schools Augusta, Georgia.
As cc-workers we have met again at our
Teacher’s Association. The warm reception al
ways tendered ns wherever we convene, the
hearty grasp from the hands of former friends
and tbe pleasing acquaintance of new ones, our
delightful social intercourse reviewing the past
in the present and laying in store for future re
miniscences fresh incidents from the presen
these, and many other circumstancis combine
to make our gathering an occasion of enjoyment
But our chief object is, not that we eDjoy our
selves, but that by taking counsel together we
may the better advance the true interests of our
common cause.
The sul j9ct appropiate for discussion at such
conventions as that which now calls us together,
are naturally divided into, first, those pertain
ing to the work of teaching as such; and second
ly, those pertaining to the relations of that work
to external matter. In directing our attention to
the absorbing interest of the tormer we should
not over-look the grave importance of the latter.
All who are connected with education in any
form, and esptcially those of us who are ideati
fled with public education, should recognize the
fact that our work is not confined to the school
room; but that, at least in this democratic
oouDtry, public opinion must be taught and di
rected. Before that tribuLa' the practical ends
of education must be continually presented, and
the fallacies oi the short-sighted, thesslfish, and
the demagogical overthrown by the convincing
power of logic. With the humble hope of con
tributing something to the general good in this
broader sphere, your attention is asked to a dis
cussion of ‘Education and Labor.’
At the outstart, let us state that in the argu
ment, where the contrary does not manifestly
appear, we mean by education intellectual educa
tion, and by labor, physical labor.
It does not require the gift of inspiration or
the searching eye of omniscience to perceive
that in this age the reciprocal relations ot educa
tion and labor form one of the most vital ques
tions of political economy: vital—because labor
must always precede and continually sustain
true progreis; vital because education is in many
ways an essential factor in true progress; vital be
cause with tome classes it is not an uncommon
belief that education undermines labor; vital
because labor represents physical power and
when roused into passion uses it with cruelty and
blindness as too plainly attested by the horror of
the French Revolution and the outcroppings
even in this country of the hydra-headed Com
mune.
Morover, there are few subjects about which
there seems to exist a greater variety of opinions,
or perhaps it might with more propriety be said,
greater doubt and confusion. ‘Ignorance
is the curse of the country,’ says one. ‘You
are educating people above themselves,’ ex
claims another. ‘We need skilled workmen,’
urgts a third. ‘We have too many educated
mendicants,’ insinuates a fourth. ‘The capital
of the country, cannot bear the burden of public
education,’ pleads a fifth. ‘Education increases
and gives security to capital,’ argues a sixth.
And so on ad infinitum: some holding that educa
tion is a panacea for all human ills, and others
that it is necessarily antagonistic to labor and
will therefore, if encouraged among the masses,
gnaw into the very vitals of the body politic.
In a question of such complexity and scope it
will only be possible at this time to bring out
some of tbe more prominent truths which, it is
hoped, will be found to contain the essence and
pith of the subject:
1. Our first proposition is that in the past there
has been k a lack of harmony between education and
labor.
Labor can create nothing; it can only place
materials in position for the forces of nature to
operate upon. The workmen who handle the
clay and other ingredienis do not create the
, brick that are produced. They s’mply put the
materials in such position and under such cir
cumstances that the force of heat may slowly
drive off the moisture, and the force of cohesion
bind the particles together in a compact form.
Therefore, knowledge, scanty thugh it be, of
the forces of nature must always precede and
guide labor. To this extent labor and knowl
edge (which for all the purposes of argument
at this point is synonymous with education)
have always co-operated. The intellect has pried
into nature's secret armory, and muscle, under
the guidance of intellect, has brought out the
hidden forces and put them to practical use.
But eliminating this and other issues, the truth
still remains that there has been an abseco3 of
harmony between education and labor, to the
extent that the one has not aimed, as it should
have done, at the advancement of the other,
that the two ideas have been represented by sep
arate classes of people, removed from one an
other, and ttat, in general, to be educated or
possessed of knowledge, was to be above labor
ing.
Now some one may suggest that education is
here charged with the crimes of wealth. But
making all due allowance for tbe co-operating,
and perhaps more powerful, causa of wealth,
a calm reflection will show that the pride of
intellect has conspired with the pride of purse
in withholding from labor the honor due its Gad-
given dignity.
A few illustrations will render the matter
clearer: In ancient Egypt knowledge and edu
cation were confined almost exclusively to the
priests and a chosen few. So closely did they
draw the cloak of conceit and self-importance
about them that a general diffusion of knowledge
among the laboring classes was rendered impos
sible. Classes and casts assumed a fixednesses
and rigidity that in after years made Egypt
herself, as someone had said, little more than a
mummy.
Greece, the home of philosophers and sages,
forms no exception to the rule. Her grand pbi-
1< sopher Aristotle, announced it as a principle
in his system of education for the free-born youth
cl Athens, that every kiDd of menial It bor as me
dlar ical work was to be av« ided. Ti e Spartans,
at first bold warriors pushing forward their con
quests, afterwards aristocratic lords keeping in
s*ut jection conquered peoples, form an illustra
te n scarcely less striking. The constant strife
between the patricians and plebeians of Borne,
the exactions which the lords made from their
feudal subjects, and the Church from her foliow-
ets in the middle ages, point moie or less dis
til c' < y to the Sf.me general truth.
But a detailed recital of examples is rendered
unnecessary by the simple announcement of the
wellkuown fact that human s'avery legalized is
interwoven with the past history of almost’every
people; a feet wliob is ample proof of the prop
osition under consideration.
It will be observed that no inquiry has yet been
attempted into the causes of this lack of har
mony, how it arose,why it continued,whether it
gradually decreased or increased. Tbe bare his
torical fact is all that we have endeavored to sub
stantiate. So much for our first proposition.
2. There does not at present exist the proper har
mony between education and labor. That the ten
dency has been, and still is, to more nearly har
monize them is not only willingly admitted but
proudly asserted. Nevertheless, the proposition
as stated needs no extensive array of authorities
to prove its truth. It will not be disputed.
Universal public education is of modern
growth. Some of the states of Greece had pub
lic education but it was not univeisal, that is it
did not apply to a'l classes. The slaves who per
formed the labor of production were not entitled
to its benefi.s Even now, in many quarters
where tbe teasibility ot public education for all
is admitted, i'.s expediency is denied. Lord Ba
con, in his day turned the stream of thought
into a new channel. He announced that the
true object of science was ‘the relief of man’s es
tate.’ This was a great step toward making the
edheated b ain ass st and relieve the laboring
muscle. In its true sense it does not involve the
degrading of esthetic culture ioto brutish ap
petite, but it does turn barren speculation into
fruitful discovery. But still, in England and
all the countries of Europe there exist undue
class distinctions. Dot only between the nobility
and the people, the rich and the poor, bat also
between the educa‘ed and the ignorant laboring.
In this republic where all men must be born
equal (whether the saying be true or false) and
where education is impartially bestowed and la
bor is in a measure honorable, the breech has
been grr atly narro wed but the union not entirely
consummated. In the learned professions there
are unlearned crowds, while acres of land invite
to manual labor; in commercial circles men will
be defaulters rather than laborers, aDd in some
classes of what is known as fashionable society,
a soft hand and an unburnt face form a sine qua
in general can profitably take, is not on this !
score incompatible with the requisite physical
exertion for ordinary labor afterward. So there
is no insurmountable obstacle here.
Secondly, as previously intimated, the aspira- i
tion of the soul for higher achievments need i
not antagonize labor, sis to materially aid it :
Free labor is weak without energy. Aspiration
is the parent of energy,
of the world. Where do you find the greates
activity? Not among the ignorant, but among j
the educated. Nor will the facts warrant the i
conclusion that the education is entirely the
result of native vigor, instead of being in part j
the cause of increased activity. Again, consid- j
ered even from an individual point of view
Let us not be accused either of promul
gating the doctrine that higher education is of
no benefit to labor. But we had better meet the
issue fairly. Nothing can be permanently gain
ed by dodgiDg it We have only shown that to
give this higher education to those who are to
labor all their lives will not materially increase
their efficiency. High education and efficient
motives must be aroused. Mr. Herbert Spen
cer, one cf the mest comprehensive and pene
trating minds of the age, lays dowD the ’propo-
Lit us now investigate tbe causes that have
operated in producing the effects we have been
discussing, and ascertain if possible how far
they are inherent, which are permanent and
which are temporary only.
Oue universal, permanent cause is that in the
processes of education and labor different facul
ties are employed; that of (mental) thought on
the one hand and bodily action on the other.
There seems to be a general law throughout ani
mated nature that a special adjustment of one
faculty involves, more or less, a non-adjnstm6nt
of other separate faculties. Thus we have the
foundation of the evolution of species in the an
imal kingdom. Notwithstanding ihe fact that
the grea’est combined energy results from a
strong mind sustained by a strongbody, it oiten
happens that the development or special adjust
ment of one is sscured at the expense of the
other. It would seem that each person has so
much potential energy to expend upon body
and mind. A fair proportion must be given to
each in order to sustain its health and vigor.
But if more than a certain amount is expended
upon the mind, bodily activity is lessened and
vice versa.
The great intellects of the world have not, as
a class, been in a condition to boast of the phys
ical strength of their earthly tabernacles, Dor
have the victors in the athletic sports of the an
cient Olympic games and the more modern
college regattas been renowned for their intel
lectuality. Practice makes easy; and we are all
inclined to perform those things whicn we can
do with perfect ease and skill. Fatigue and
hardship are never sought alter as au end,
though endured as a means to an end. The
habits acquired in searching after knowledge
and in undergoing the processes of education
render it muoh easier and pleasanter for an ed
ucated man to tax his mind than his body. The
opposite holds, in a measure, of the habitual
laborerer, a carpenter accustomed to ply his
trade every day would find it less irksome to
handle his hammer and shove his plane for a
number of hours than to be engaged for the
same time, if such a thing were possible, on a
difficult subject of thought. Hence arises a
tendency in each person to rely on those facul
ties that have been most developed or best ad-
justed.
Therefore, an eduoated person has more or
less a tendency to avoid labor. Let us bear in
mind, however, that it is only a tendency, only
an influence that is constant but not impossible
of being overcome by other influences that may
be brought to bear. An arrow is aimed upward.
Gravity constantly acts upon it to bring it down
to earth. But the force from the tension of the
bow overcomes gravity temporarily, and the ar
row mounts upward. Just so moral influence
and other forces may, and do, often overcome
the tendency of the general law we have an
nounced, Nevertheless the law acts.
Another permanent cause would seem to lie
in the deeply rooted conviction of the superior
ity of the mind over the body and the longing
and yearning of lofty souls after something
higher.
‘To scorn the promise ofthe seal,
To seek and not to find,
Yet cherish still the fair ideal.
It is thy fate, ohl restless mind!’
This second oause which is the maia-spring
of progress, though permanent, is not so wide
spread as the one first mentioned. The aristoc
racy of learning created by such a commenda
ble desire, while partly excusable for erecting
a bar to free social intercourse because of an
absenoe of congeniality, has looked with too
little sympathy upon the mass of fellow beings
below them. This aspiration, the lingering
essenoe of the creator’s breath, is permanent,
but its forms of action may be modified, and it
is not impossible to thus eliminate whatever
evil tendencies, if any, it generates.
The local and tempoary causes that have oper
ate! in conjunction with the permanent ones
pointed out in producing a non-adjustment
between education and labor, are manifold and
need not be enumerated. Chief among them
are special forms of government and peculiar
social customs depending upon changeable
public opinion.
3. We are now in a position to take up our
third and most important proposition, that there
is no inherent, fundamental reason why education
and labor can not be fully harmonized.
This may at first appear to involve a negation
of some of the principles already announced.
But not so. Eduoation and labor, viewed as
mere isolated processes, can not be es c entially
unified, but considered in their general bear
ings and praotical relations, they may be brought
into harmony as one note of music blends into
another. The confusion upon this subject
arises chiefly from the faot that the two ideas
are studied rather in their isolated singleness
than in their manifold relations, not only to one
another but to the various offices of life. There
is not an atom of matter in the universe that
does not act upon every other atom; and in the
complexity of human society a similar law ob
tains. Man can not be an isolated being. He
is a member of society. In considering sccic-
logicil questions the proper conclusions can not
be reached by following the course of a single
thought.
Let us refer baek for a moment to the two
permanent causes we have assigned for the lack
of harmony between education and labor. What
are their necessary results? F.ist, as to the
sooial adjustment of one faculty involving the
ncn-adjnstment of separate faculties, we should
observe that it obtains with appreciable effect
only a’ter continued praotioe has produced
settled habit. The extent of education which
the state is asked to afford to her citizens in
sition that utilitarian ethics will alwavs fail of
regulating human conduct because of the fee
bleness of the motive upon which they rely.
And so with labor. Its utility will not suffice,
the^aitions I labor may not well be united in the same indi- ; It must have social sanotion. That this sanction
didual. But that is no sufficient argument j by the cultivated and refined can never be com-
against high education itself by the state. It is , plete while labor is ignorant, uncouth, and vul-
of incalculable benefit to productive labor. j gar, is too plainly true. But labor as it now is
John Stuart Mill, one ot the foremost political ! deserves a better recognition than it now re-
eoonomist of the age, says: ‘No limit can bs set i ceives and labor as it ought to be will be elevat-
to the importance, even in a purely productive j ed and in a measure refined by education,
and material point of view, of mere thought.’ This is a grand cause to the advancement of
labor is often the means of securing other me | Again he I ££*£“?££ SS^STUSSL^SSS
f b u 7 tu W re: Ch The r iSSXtYS i BhJt.onr point of view 7 and ’colder not only < — — —
moderate draughts from the Pierian Spring is °«r individual acts and the motives by which
not to enervate but to energizs. : th ?y determined but national and umver-
An illustration will serve to make clearer one , sal results, intellectual specu a.ion mus. be
general proposition to which we will now return. upon as a most influential part ot the
We Lave a youth before us who is to follow the productive labor of society, and the portion of
trade of a blacksmith. Tae no-educationist 1* revenues emp oyed in carrying on and in re-
This man will have certain mechanical munerating such labor as a highly productive
-- - 1 part of its expenditure. The opponents ot
dream and
say.
operations to perform with his mucles. He is
endowed with sufficient native sense to use them.
To educate his biain will not increase his phys
ical strength or endurance. Do not waste time
and money in bestowing an eduoation where it
will do no good.’
These remarks would be very pertinent if
urged against a steam engine or force-pump.
Working by f xed rules, unfeeling, untiling,
nn-social, irresponsible, inanimate, they have
no need of an educated brain. But not so with
tbe man before us. We will grant that educa
tion, in the sense in which we are considering
it, wili not increase his physical strength, but
may even diminish it. Yet, while no greater,
force will be added to the blow of the hammer
the man’s educated brain will, after practice,
increase the skill with which the hammer is
handled; the knowledge of the properties of hia
tools and materials and of the forces of nature
employed in his work, will lead him to improve
his methods and make new inventions which
will relieve him of much of his drudgery. Such
has been the history of past, and snch will be
the experience of the the future. Thus the
direct efficiency of labor is increased, and these
s’:ill remain as a balance to the credit of educa
tion, its indirect effects upon judgment of the
everyday affairs ot life, increased prudence and
forethought, better morality, and broader use
fulness in other relationship of society.
Again, the prime object of labor is not to
work, but to produce. What effect has edu
cation upon production ? Scientific discoveries
and enventions in the last three hundred years
have doubtless increased the productive power
of the world’s labor an hundred fold. That
there improvements could not have been made
by the ignorant and untutored is too plain for
argument.
From the foregoing considerations it would
appear that there is no fixed, absolute, philo
sophical reason why education and labor should
not be fully harmonized.
But if thi3 be true, how comes it that educa
ted people seem so anxious to avoid physical
labor and follow intellectual pursuits? In the
first plaoe, brains rule the world and command
a higher price than mere physical labor. It is,
therefore, but natural and commendable that
one should make the best of his circumstances.
The demand creates the supply, and the supply
goes where the demand is best. Moreover, ed
ucation in most countries is so scantily diffused
that physical labor being generally performed
by the ignorant and vulgar, the educated do
not fancy the association.
When, however, the pressure is increased and
education becomes more general muoh of the
work now left exclusively to the ignorant will
be done, nd better done, by the educated. The
aversion that exists to many kinds of work will
thus gradually die out. Hence this class of
evils attributed to general education is due, in
fact, to a lack of general eduoation, and will
disappear as education becomes more general.
To come nearer home, the pride which once
kept so many of the young men of the South
from honest labor was the immediate offspring
of the system of slavery that existed among us.
The degredation of labor was sealed by law,
while society scaroely allowed a gentleman the
privilege of occasionally shining his own boots.
There did, however, flourish under that system
some splendid specimens of men and women—
the one class unswerving in their integrity, the
other unapproachable in their purity; the one
generous and brave, the other lovely and true.
But out of that noble raoe a better womanhood
and a broader manhood will yet arise. The tran
sition from comfort and ease to hardship and
toil was sudden and severe. But sustained by
a pride that was too proud to yield to misfor
tune, the people of the South have cast aside
the golden fetters that bound them and have
gone earnestly to work.
Where slavery exists labor can never rise to
its proper dignity, and therein lies it3 greatest
political curse. To educate slaves is suicide.
The higher classes of the Southern people as
distinguished from the slaves, were wealthy
and prosperous; but the country, taken as a
whole, had reaobed before the war the highest
pitch of prosperity attainable under her insti
tutions. Future growth would have been im
peded by existing organization, for growth in
human society depends upon organization just
as it does in the vegetable and animal kingdoms.
However fertile the soil,the fern cannot be made
to overtop the pine. A wren, though placed in
the bowers of EJen, oouid not match the eagle.
Organic structure itself may be slowly altered,
but not without the consumption of force that
might otherwise be expended in growth. The
change of the South’s organic structure was not
effected without suffering and loss; but now a
ju .ter, stronger and more glorious future awaits
her.
But again, education considered as a purely
intellectual development may produce two clas
ses of resulls. First, it enables the mind to
evolve thoughts out of itself and reason upon
abstract questions;secondly, it enables the mind
to guide and direct the physical powers in the
various relations of life. * From the former we
have the philosopher, from the latter the educa
ted workman. If there be any rightful limit at
all to the education of labor, it lies just here.
All labor should be educated to tbe extent of
imparting to it quickness and skill, prudence
and forethought in its application. Beyond
that, the effect of education upon labor teoome
less direct, though by no means unimportant.
The fundamental principle of popular educa
tion, so far as it btars upon the laboring masses,
is to cultivate common sense, or, in other words,
to teach people to think about their daily affairs.
Half the ills of life befall us because we will
not think, because we fail to apply to our daily
duties the logic of common sense. We persist
in groping our way by chance in the dark in-
fct.-ad of using the meaDS which God has given
us of lightening our paths.
We have thus struck upon a principal that
should always be remembered in constructing
a coarse of study for the schools. For this rea
son, scientific studies should be introduced as
early as possible. Far be from us to join in the
cry of the literary rabble that essays to make
light of classical studies. They impart a refine
ment and culture that will in vain bs sought f r
elsewhere. But from the necessity of the case,
their benefits must be confined to a compara
tively few. Yet, beyond all question, the best
possible advantages should be given to those
general, or which on the other hand her citizens : few. The yield will be ten-fold in profit.
higher education who think and
muse and fret about economy will find no reluge
here. Culture ever improves and elevates not
only the individual but the state.
But there is another way in which education
substantially aids and benefits labor. Industry
is limited by capital, and for the increase of
capital security must be afforded. Capital re
quires protection not only by the government
but against the government,’ to borrow the
phrase oi‘another, f That there is greater secur
ity, ceteris paribus, where the masses are educat
ed than where they are ignorant will surely not
be disputed. Physical power in the hands of
ignorance is an almost unmitigated evil. Among
an ignorant people protection to capital and
property may be enforced, as between man and
man, by tbe strong arm of the government. But
the experience ot the past teaches us that under
such circumstances .he government itself be
comes rapacious and preys upon property and
capital by burdensome taxation, if not by open
seizure. Extensive labor must be forced into
subjection by the bayonet or elevated into a
proper conception of its relations to the body
politic by education. To take the first horn of
the dilemma, would be to insult the very genius
of our American govsrnmeat, and thus we are
thrown perforce upon the other. How impor
tant a part then must education play in the
drama of our future progress ! Washington
presents the thought in these vigorous words:
‘In proportion as the structure of a government
gives foroe to public opinion, it is essential
that public opinion should be enlightened.’
So far, in considering labor, we have directed
our attention to phj sical labor alone. But there
is another very interesting aspect of this sub
ject. As previously stated, the objeot of labor
is production. Actual work is only a means to
that end. Therefore he who by toiling with
his brains produces tenfold more than he could
have done with his hands is a tenfold more valu
able laborer in its true economic sense than he
would have been had he labored only with his
hands. The architect who plans the building
for a cotton factory is as truly a productive
laborer as those who put tbe mortar and bricks
together, or those who weave the fibre into doth.
Those comparatively few minds that by mere
thought have discovered the expansive proper
ties of steam and invented processes for its prao
tical application have probably added as much
to the material produce of the civilized world
as is represented by half its laboring popula
tion. Mental work directed in the popular
channel is as truly productive labor as manual
work. Manual labor should not therefore, as is
sometimes the case, arrogate to itself the exclu
sive credit of production. A broader view
should bs taken and the truth recognized that
the distruction between manual and mental
work, when directed to production as a common
6Dd, rests upon the well formed principle of the
division of labor.
Labor of the one kind or the other is the
foundation of national wealth and progress. In
the ideal state there will be no drones. All will
work, save those who are unable to do so and
those who have earned rest by previous work.
The censure of public opinion will fall with
overwhelming disgrace upon him who consumes
in idleness what others produce in toil. All
the inhabitants oi the perfect state will be
laborers in this broader sense.
So much then for our third proposition that
there is no inherent, fundamental reason why ed
ucation and labor cannot be fully harmonized.
But he is a poor physician who having made
the diagnosis of a case and found the symptoms
favorable can yet offer no remedial measures.
By what measure can a just combination of these
two forces in society be most practically and
speedily effected ? We have investigated the
what and the why; let us now look at the how.
I. The plan that first suggested itself is the es
tablishment of industrial schools and of colleges
far instruction in practical agriculture and the
mechanic arts. Herein we have a direct urion
or compromise—the shortest route to the ulti
mate good. Whatever of actual work is accom
plished in these schools and colleges is, by its
surroundings, lifted up and dignified, while
the students who go out from them into the
world soon beoome employers and leaders in
the various branches of industry in which they
engage. The only limit to the profitable employ
ment of this means of harmonizing education
and labor is the one prescribed by economy of
money and economy of time. Experience shows,
if we have read aright, that such institutions
are not self-supporting. It would seem that as
a rule, the mental and physical energies can not
at the same time bear to be so severely taxed as
to enable one to take a full course of study and
earn a livelihood. The comparatively limited
time of tuition in the public schools renders it
imposible that a full course of practical instruc
tion in the industrial arts should be engrafted
upon them. Everything oan not be done at once
Already the objection has been raised that too
much is being crammed into the schools. The
number of books and variety of subjects should
not be increased at the expense of thorough
knowledge and mental discipline. Further
more, the cist of such a scheme would be more
than the capital of the country, and particu
larly of the South, could bear. This consider
tion should ever be present in our minds when
developing plans for the advancement of public
education. Admitting and upholding as we do
the perfect right of the state to tax for educational
purposes, there are two points of prime import
ance to be examined: first the necessity, which
exis's for it; and secondly, the abilily of the state
to afford it.
Too heavy a taxation upon capital paralyzes
the very industries by which it must be repro
duced, if reproduced at all. It is safe to say,
however, that in the vast majority of cases the
cry of ‘halt’ comes up from the money holders
long before the paralyzing limit is reached.
II. If direct instruction in the industrial arts
cannot of itself meet the demand, what else can
be done ? A healthy public sentiment should be.
and can be, created that will remove the withering
curse from labor and elevate it into social recogni
tion.
All persons are influenced more or less by
public opinion. The leve of approbation and
its opposite, the fear of censure, Bre deeply
rooted in the human breast. It is not sufficient
merely to show that labor is useful. Stronger
Parents should instill into the minds of their
children the truths that labor is honorable and
and that to be useful is a virtue. The press
should teach the wholesome lesson and the pul
pit too .proclaim it. The women of the land
should not give to tops the smile that, of right,
belonging only to men. But above all, the
schools in which the mind and character of the
coming generation are beiDg moulded should
studiously inculcate the doctrine. The atmos
phere of the school-room should be untainted
with the noxious breath of a false pride that
looks with contempt upon any honest work.
The public schools cannot all be converted into
industrial schools, but they can all exert a
wholesome, moral and social influence in be
half of industry. Voluntary industrial exposi
tion among the pnpils might be encouraged as
is done in some of the western states. And par
ticularly the selections in the reading books and
the precepts of the teacher might be made with
a view of creating, cultivating, and developing
the proper sentiment upon this subject. A
healthy public sentiment in behalf of labor
would be a wondrous power in the nation's
progress.
‘Honor and shame from no condition rise.
Act well your part there all the honor lies.
But finally, wealth is uot the only element of
a glorious state; and if, in the field of argument
we have sustained the causa of education in its
bearing upon labor, the patent of wealth, the
battle of the public schools has been won against
all foes. If education is beneficent to labor, it
is beneficent to every public interest. Among
all the elements that make up the perfect state,
there is not one other that it can by any possi
bility antagonize. Neither aristocracy of rank
nor of learning nor of wealth has ever been able
to disoover another. Educition incieases power
and enlarges the scope of public opinion. It
promotes obedience to law, and surely the fires
of patriotism will burn the brighter in the soul
fiom the recollection of parental ble-sings be
stowed by the State. It is the. foundation, aye
the stream itself of literature, science and art on
whoso placid bosom we rest with sweet and
quiet joy as we glide down the current of time
Wm. H. Flemming.
July 25, 1878.
♦The Study of Sociology, page 311.
Youn
Sou sal ionul Shooting.
Girl Seriously Wounded by
voted Female Companion.
De«
Baltimore, Md., Deoember 7.—The particu
lars of the singular and mysterious circumstan
ces attending the shooting of a young lady at
Pocomoke City, Md., by a companion of the
same sex, comes from that place. About a month
ago Miss Ella Hearn, of Pocomoke, was shot, as
supposed, accidently, by Miss Lilly Dner. On
the day in question, Mr. Clarke, a resident of
the town, while passing the house of the Hearn
family, was startled by a report of a pistol, fol
lowed by the piercing shrieks of a woman. Clarke
nntastened the garden gats and entered the
house. On the floor, at full length, was the fig
ure of Miss Ella Hears, while standing directly
over her, her face wearing an expression of ter
ror, mingled with surprise and grief, was her
friend and constant companion, Miss Lilly Duer.
In ner right hand sbe held a pistol, still smok
ing. As soon as Miss Duer saw Clarke she seem
ed to regain her selfpossessioD, and asked him,
in a trembling voice, to run for the doctor, and
leaning over her prostrate friend, wept bitterly.
Mies Duer gave the following explanation of
the affair: She and her friend were sitting to
gether in the room, talking, when she, holding
the pistol carelessly in her hand, accidently
touched the trigger, causing it to go off. The
contents of the pistol struck Miss Hearn in the
mouth, the ball takiDg an upward course and
lodging somewhere in the head.
Miss Hearn was supposed to have been fatally
wounded, but lingered, and during unconsci
ousness, charged Miss Duer with shooting her
intentionally. The latter is described as a mad
cap, independent sort of a girl, a good shot, and
exceedingly excentric. She is described as beau
tiful, and a singular characteristic with her is
her evident dislike to male company. She was
devoted to the wounded girl, and since the
charges of the latter have been made public, is
supposed to have shot her in a fit of jealousy,
caused by the intimacy of Miss Hearn with an
other lady. The affhir having been mooted
abont, Mits Dner disippeared a few days ago,
and is supposed to have fled to escape the con
sequence of her act.
* Mill’s Political Economy, page 'Zl.
f John Stuart Mills.
SCOURGING A NAKED WOMAN.
Is Civilization Played out in Virginia!
In the Police Court here, yesterday, a woman
named Mrs. Nancy Lynch was sentenced to re
ceive twenty-five lashes for stealing some pieces
of iron from the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad
Company. Soon after she stood in tne yard of
the city jail, with her ejes fixed upon the whip
ping post, a stout brown post about seven feet
in height and three feet in circumference. An
official m the yard called to an attendant:
‘Throw me down that tickler,’ whereupon a
cowhide about half an inch in diameter at the
butt and tapering down to a point, was tossed
into his hand. Nancy shuddered. The official
said:
‘Take down your clothes, Nancy, and hug the
widder.’
‘Must I take all off?’
‘Yes, and hurry up.’
Nancy unbuttoned her dress in front, and
stripped to the wais;, her upper clothing falling
down over her hips and exposing to the gaze of
the few bystanders a glossy skin from shoul
ders to waist. In a moment more she had
embraced the ‘widder’ or whipping post. She
gripped the post, her head turned toward
the official, and, as he raise! the cowhide, seem
ed to nerve herself for the lashes. Rapidly
the twenty-five stripes were lain on, each
makiDg a horrible murk on the skin. At first
the victim did not move; but as the remainder
descended in rapid succession, sue writhed
and twisted in agony, and the tears ponied
down her cheeks.
Mixed Sentiments. —There is a revival going
on at Dry Creek, Kus. One of the ministers, an
unmarried man, went around and talked very
pretty to all the youDg misses, and got them in
turn to get up aDd say, ‘I love Jesus.’ There
was one who was overlooked. She evidently
felt slighted, and rising, said very snappishly,
at the Bame time bringing her fist heavily down
on the back of the seat, 'I love Jesus, too.’
Ministers should be careful and nss all the
t«rs alike.