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iSra®.
BOOKS, PAMPHLETS and CIRCULARS,
Posting anti Stnnr tints ,
BUSINESS AND VISITING CARDS,
AND JOB WORK, IN GENERAL.
EXECUTED WITH NEATNESS AND DESPATCH,
At the Office of the “ Southern Post,” Macon,
BY C. R. HANLEITER.
AN ADDRESS
ON FEMALE EDUCATION, DELIVERED IN THE CHAPEL OF THE
GEORGIA FEMALE COLLEGE, ON THE LAST DAY OF THE EX
AMINATION, BY GEORGE F PIERCE, PRESIDENT.
This is an occasion of interest to the Guardians of this Institu
tion and to the public, identified as it is with the performance of obvi
ous duty and that generous ambition which seeks on liberal and en
lightened policy the intellectual elevation of the State. It is a prophe
cy of the tuture, and the beginning of the fulfilment. Whatever may
have been the delinquencies of the past, the present affords cheering
evidence that the public mind is awake, and in motion. The impulse
has been given, and the first effect betokens large results, predicts a
prosperous i c sue to this enterprise, the first-born of its practical devel
opement.
Great evils in government, in society, in education, unless their dis
astrous operation can be traced, analyzed, understood, without some
labor of mind, unless the cause and the effect be in such juxtaposition
as to make the connexion striking, cannot be suddenly remedied. If
there be other apparent causes on which we may charge the wrongs
deprecated—we must work backwards —annihilating, as we go, the
secondary agencies which have sprung from the great source of all.
It is utterly impossible to introduce great radical changes, however cx
jiedient or necessary, by one sweeping innovation, without peril of total
discomfiture and shame. To attempt too much at once is to defeat
the whole. Some public spirited minds, comprehending at a glance
the proposed plan of improvement, may leap, without hesitation, to its
.adoption ; but the mass of the people on whose concurrence we must
at last rely for success, are slow to believe, not from inability to think
correctly, but from their adherence to established forms—their preju
dices in favor of the customs with which they have been familiar. The
people are practical lielievers ia the Baconian philosophy—they must
have the demonstration of experiment. Speculation, however sound,
is with them but speculation still, until they have tangible proof of sub
stance—some sensible manifestation of fitness for use. The operation
of these prejudices sometimes annoy the eager confident revolutionist,
and doubtless, frequency hinder the application of the most wholesome
correctives to existing wrongs. Yet it is a question whether the} - may
not be regarded as valuable safeguards against the introduction of those
wild schemes of reform that come with all the pride of pretension, as
sume the character of philosophy, are in themselves imposing, and yet
preposterous and absurd. One thing is certain—they demand respect,
if not for the preponderance of benefits in their favor, at least, for their
inevitable action, if condemned and set at naught. We live in an age
of extraordinary inventions—of bold, startling, independent theories—
customs venerable for their antiquity are associated without respect to
their age —institutions long approved are displaced bv the substitutes
provided in modern wisdom—opinions which have been received on
trust from time immemorial are exploded—faith in them destroyed—
populaiity constituting no shield to defend them from attack and over
throw. There is a curious prying revolutionary spirit abroad, and
whatever may have challenged our admiration, or secured our esteem
hitherto, must now be subjected to tlio ordeal of rigid scrutiny—the se
cret reasons must come forth—the intrinsic merits must be disclosed,
and if found wanting, must lie swept off, to join the rubbish of 1 *.gen
dary lore. According to the rule by which the judgment of the world is
now decided, reformers in design must expect opposition, ere they can
became reformers in fact.
Under such circumstances, cautio; becomes us. Every change's
not an improvement. Indeed, a system that is clearly erroneous in
some prominent particulars, and yet is permanent and uniform, is pre
ferable to o scries of changes. In the one case, experience may teach
ns to counteract the evil—we know what it is—how to neutralize it.
In the other, the evil, if not prominent, (and if insidious, only the mpre
to be dreaded,) operates for a while unseen, unsuspected, until at last
we are enlightened hy the consequences, and tiicn, it forced upon
new untried plan, we may, most likely will, repeat experiment, only
to renew our disappointment.
These remarks are generally true in their application, but especially
so, on the subject of education. Innumerable difficulties encompass it.
and whoever undertakes reform or enlargement, may confidently anti
cipate opposition. It is the doom of every thing good. Discourage
ments will arise to check the ardor of enterprise, illiberal opinions will
be entertained, predictions of failure will be made, chilling fears will be
hinted of labor lost, money squandered without profit, ridicule will shoot
its arrows, and the whole scheme will be consigned, in imagination, to
disappointment and mortification, and forgetfulness. If there be in the
scheme proposed aught of novelty, any thing that savours of extrava
gance in calculation, the changes will be rung upon that magic word,
“ Utopian,” a sort of generic term for every thing considered chimeri
cal and wild. Two years ago the notion of a Female College was
laughed at as a Platonic idea—a mere dream—an impracticable fancy
born in the reverie of some speculative mind, well meaning perhaps,
but utterly ahead of sober sense and prudent wisdom. A Female Col
lege ! Anomalous, absurd. A Town Academy, with its thirty or
forty pupils, was the “ Ultima Thule all beyond was fairy land.
So thought many. And yet this building is monumental proof that
the original projectors did not reckon without their host—that they did
not proceed upon an exaggerated estimate of the wants of the people,
or an unjust calculation of their liberality. The very flattering auspi
ces under which, as to number, this Institution has opened its exerci
ses, is demonstration of public feeling, and declares the sense of neces
sity to have been general. The wants of society demand that the level
of intellectual culture shall be elevated—that literary acquisitions on a
more extensive scale than have been common, should lie put within the
reach of that portion of our population, whose influence, silent and un
ostentatious, yet powerful and immense, tells with an emphasis upon
character and destiny too mighty to be surrendered to chance, too ya’-
liable not to be summoned to the promotion ot knowledge, patriotism
and religion. This Institution accords in its plan and general arrange
ments with the spirit of the times, and its infancy promises a maturity
of strength and wide-spread usefulness. The design is entitled to ad
miration and patronage upon every principle of political economy, eve
ry dictate of pract’cal wisdom, every obligation of saving Christianity.
Reared by individual munificence, who will repudiate its privileges or
denounce its aims? An acknowledgment of the capacity-—the wosth
of the Female mind—who shall demur to the confession ? The esti
mate is not exaggerated, and though the calculation has been tardy,
the conviction is completed. The only atonement we can make for
past oversight and carelessness, is ample provision for the present, and
suitable and efficient arrangements f r the future. In reliance upon
a liberal public, the Trustees of this Institution have essayed to redeem
the country from a stigma deep and deserved, and the past predicts
and ensures “ a crown of rejoicing,” as the reward of tiieir toil.
In favor of every enterprise like this, it may lie remarked that there
is an essential advantage in aiming ot the highest results. The failure
cannot be total, and even though the end accomplished fall far short
of the end proposed, it cannot but reach far in advance of the point
from jvhich we start. N< thing great or good ever was or will be exe
cuted but by hoping for and aiming at something greater and better
A diminutive contracted plan, when fillcJ up, confers but little lienefit,
and very often operates injuriously, inasmuch as the fact that something
has been done may lie appealed to in proof of lalior, mid in justili
cation of repose; while a higher standard, a more comprehensive sys
tern would have elieitcil our dormant energies, and sustained them in
prospect of a consummation proportioned in its usefulness to our abili
ty, and worthy of our nature in its enjoyment. In llie pursuit of
Knowledge, Burke has said that “ whether wo take, or whether we lose j
the game, the chose is certainly ol service.”
BY P. C. PENDLETON.
VOL. 11.
I
The object of intellectual education is twofold : “the discipline and
the furniture of the mind, the enlargement of its powers, and the storing
it with knowledge.” The faculties of the Pupil must lie elicited, roused,
j directed. Whatever may be the creative power of the mind, it is still
i a dependent agent, needs training, must be supplied with tiic materials
j for combination, taught to analyze subjects—to discriminate with
{judgment, taste must be elevated, refined—the treasures of memory
must be classified and skilfully arranged. This is no ordinary task. It
| cannot lie accomplished by a partial course of study. The hasty sketch
of a few text books, however well selected—taking notes on lectures,
I though scientific and valuable—to store up the technicalities of philo
sophy, to be able to call the stars by name, will not suffice for these no
| ble ends. It is a law of the mental world, that whatever is above the
j common standard of value, shall be obtained only by laborious dili
j gence. Attention, study, time, are all necessary. The habit of think
ing must be formed and incorporated with ail that is taught, identified
in its legitimate use with all that is learned. Without it, instruction is
transient in its impression, study a mere mechanical operation, and the
mind itself, under tutors, an apprentice, forever doomed to minority,
dependent on the master-hand for guidance. The intellect must be
tiirown on its own resources, or it is inevitably barred from all honora
ble attainment. Any system of education which proposes to fit its
subjects for practical useful life, must distinctly recognize the fact, that
however its arrangement of motives and instructions may stimulate and
enlighten, yet the scholar must form himself. If residence in an Acad
emy or College entitles to literary reputation, irrespective of merit and
acquisitions—if in the mode of Teaching, no regard is to be had to future
character and influence, then the materials may be ol a looser kind, and
more hastily put up, but the building unfit for utility or ornament, is
fated to mockery and ruin.
The common plan of education, as adopted in the country, isesnen
tially different from that which we approve, and contemplates results
when compared to all the benefits of a legitimate efficient system, that
I are at last but a substitution of names for tilings. The very best that
(can be said of it is, that it is better than none. In almost every other
;case pecuniary surrenders are made with hesitancy and close calcula
tion of value received, but in this there has been the most improvident
expenditure of money, if not without complaint, at least without any
j equivalent consideration. The universality of the evil, like responsi
bility, when thrown into common stock, without a specific appropria
tion to each individual, see.ns to have diminished the burden, and made
endurance a virtue. Who does not know that in the popular mode of j
Female Education there has been more tinsel than gold—more regard
'to imposing display than substantial benefit ? The polish of manners,!
initiation into the mysteries of dress, the arcana of the toilet, to teach j
| the feet the poetry of motion, the lingers to strike melodious numbers j
from the well tuned instrument, the ornament of a name signifying
! nothing, the eclat of haviig finished education at some distinguished
i Seminary, have been the end and aim of too many Parents, and of ah
most all who have assumed the management of youth. Education
I hitherto has not corresponded with the capacity of Woman—her re
sponsibilities, her relations in life, her merits, or her influence. Vari
ous causes have operated to produce this state of things.
It is a supeificial age—hasty, enterprising, locomotive in spirit. It
I appears in the adventurous speculations of commerce—in the aban
donment of the former slow processes of accumulation —in the wild
i schemes of men that make haste to be rich, and in the increasing dis
, osit on apparent every where, to make a . .irshow of character and
jof means upon fictitious capital. The world is travelling under an
j impulse that scorns delay, ridicules the sobriety of steady motion, turns
icontemptuously away from the actual advantages that are scattered by
[the way, and posts precipitately' ahead, bounding with hope of iro
i measurable good I* come. The certain is abandoned for the problem
jutienl. A real good that comes along in the way of sober industry,
land every lav toil dwindles into downright dwarfishness, in prospect
! of the magnificent boon that eager expectation conjures up in airy form
| from the dim but not distant future. There is a want of patience, a
I restless longing that spurns at the lesson of experience, a passion forj
tlieoiies and experiments that looks up the energies of the people in
[false confidence, presumptuous reliance upon plans and notions, or|
ievaporates them in dreams of the philosopher’s stone, that is to turn!
[every clod into gold, rescind the decree of God, and exonerate the;
I world from the curse of labor. Idleness expects to reap the rewards
j of industry, the poor man of to-day to be the rich man of to-morrow,
! and fortune is to plant our crops, gather our harvests, prepare our food, I
weave our apparel, and meet all our expenditures, while we sit u in olio j
cum dignitate,” burning incense to our skill and shouting huzzas toj
the march of mind. Distance must be annihilated, mountains dug
down, vallies filled up in the flash of thought, twenty years must be j
crowded into one, and the young man of this generation must have|
more, know more, enjoy more, than the patriarch of the past, and all
jby the potent talisman of the ago which realizes every tiling it ima* j
Igines, and imagines whatever it pleases.
The same spirit prevails as to Literature and Science. It pervades [
[all departments of learning from the School Mouse to the University.'
| The course of education must be brief and rapid. The opinion seernsj
i to be entertained that patient study, diligent laborious application would
[suffer the world to get a century in advance of the rising generation, j
j and leave them forsaken of the eager crowd to plod along in darkness
jand in want. Every step must be regulated by quick time; and yet
I the untaught scholar must talk of books familiarly, as though he had,
| been born and reared in a Library.
Parents yield to the course of things, catch the spirit of the times, [
j and are content with the name instead of the substance of ancduca-j
i tion. The ill-advised policy of the country upon this subject, operates j
disastrously upon the whole circle pf Female Literature. The inferior
; standard of attainment which has been set tip has brought down
[cation in the estimation of the people generally, to a corresponding
[level.* The reputation of scholarship lias been acquired by a course
jof instruction too hurried to give it a substantial value. The tempta
tion is thus presented to the young to content themselves with know- j
ledge too superficial for actual life, simply because prevailing sentiment;
[and pernicious doctrine secure currency to the possessor. Many
.persons of limited means, unable tocncountei the charges of instruc- !
[tion for a series of years, and yet anxious that their children should be
educated, made competent to compete with theirfellows, resolve that they ,
j shall at least pass over every thing within a- period too brief to learn
more than a fraction of the allotted task. The vanity of the parental
heart is flattered by the seeming attainments of the child so dispropor
t’oned to its age, the precocious deyelopement of mind, the rapid travel
through text boons, and delighted with the approximation of the time
when the expenses of board and tuition shall cease, and the youthful
disciple of learning launch into society : no inquiry is made into the
1 nature and extent of the preparation for the duties that ensue. When
the time has come in the prevailing fashion of the country, when it
should be said that the young lady has “finished her education,” the
| qualifications necessary to justify her withdrawal from the place of in
[ stn.trlion are presumed, and education ceases. The real signification
of the current phrase, her education is finished, if interpreted aright, is
simply, that she has quit going ttmchool. In the exaggerated judg
j meat of partial friends, it is thought a fair conclusion, considering the
lulls of money paid, and the time consumed, and the capacity of the
child withal, that the amount of learning should correspond ii value
[land extent. And so pci haps it might, it there had been a proper ad
justment and proportion of time and studies, but on this overcharged
j system, wliere quantity nod not kind is the wlesideratim, no wonder
; need be felt if the material turns out to be of a quality so f ail and unfit
for use as, in the issue, to find its home with the rubbish of the world
In the name of Literature and Science I protest against the principle
of meusuring education by dollars and cents, 'i lie question is not,
DEVOTED TO LITERATURE, INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. COMMERCE. AGRICULTURE,
_____ FOREIGN and DOMESTZC NEWS, AMUSEMENT, &c. Ac.
TERMS . THREE DOLLARS, IN ADVANCE FOUR DOLLARS, AFTER THREE MONTHS. 1
MACON, (Ga.) SATURDAY MORNING, AUGUST 3,1839.
a hat it costs, but, what is it worth ? Who can compute the sum ? Its
accomplishments are so splendid, its advantages so manifold, that it is
profanation to depreciate it by comparison with gold and silver. Beauty
fades into deformity, strength degenerates into weakness; fame is fickle
as the veering winds, fortune is a bird of passage, and like the stormy
Petrel, rests not; health, sight, hearing, friends, all fail, but knowledge
abideth, and well nigh defies the fluctuations of this troublous world. A
title to influence with those who know us well, a recommendation to
those who know us not, an employment when we are vigorous, and a
solace when we arc weary ; an independence in poverty, and distinc
tion in wealth ; an ornament in youth,a resource in age; who would
despoil it of its claims and reduce it to the grade of an ordinary inter
est? Shall we talk of expense in the attainment of a good like this-?
Hoard our treasures for ignobfe ends, or lavish them upon the ridicu
lous fripperies of a vitiated taste ? But, miserable folly ! Look over
the country, survey its domestic arrangement, and say whether ex
penses are actually diminished by the withdrawal of Pupils from our
Female Institutions. Many persons who are too poor to educate their
children as their true interest and the Parent’s duty demand, squander
enough in blind and mischievous* devotion to unreasonable customs,
not only to secure all the blessings forfeited, but to extend them to
those who now are outcasts from every educational privilege. The
plea of exhausted means by which knowledge is arrested, means no
thing less than that, if any more is expended 6n this interest, some
use’ess ornament of mere taste must be foregone; the circle of festive
enjoyment must be contracted ; some altar of fashion must be left with
out incense, and the whole household perhaps, w ithout a represent
ative in the temple of the great Diana. It is thus that Schools ore
scantily supported, children half taught, knowledge doomed to a bound
ed sphere, and the means of the country appropriated to follies, diver
sions and entertainments, that minister to no virtue, and that pamper a
thousand vices.
The operation of the causes to which we hove referred, have found
but too much countenance from those who have assumed the responsi
bilities of Teachers. To learn a child with rapidity lias been consi
dered a prominent recommendation of an Instructor. Reputation has
been made dependent upon this art. A slow painstaking system is
considered a relic of the dark ages, a sure indication of incompetency.
I t requires rare courage and independence to set one’s self in opposi
tion to an evil not only common but decidedly popular; to grapple in
hostility with public sentiment, unaided and alone; to wage war upon
a policy where resistance is the signal for ejectment from business.
Besides this hurried superficial course diminishes labor. It is far easier
to ask questions printed in the book than it is to originate them ; to
hear successive lessons that have been memorized ; adhering strictly
all the while to the text than it is to enter upon a lucid explication of
principles, showing their reason and their application. To gather
about an Academy the eclat of a name, no matter for what, so it
brought scholars, has been considered an attainment and a blessing.
This could be accomplished the more readily by conformity to the
reigning custom, than by an iudependant and diverse mode. Popu
larity has been the price of error, and desertion the reward of truth and
faithfulness.
Besides, it is the interest of Instructors to please patrons in their
own way. The result is, that plans have been circumstantial, vary
ing with itie imites und views unci prejudices of those who have en
couraged the School, On all other subjects the professional man is
presumed Ki know best the rules and principles and action of his pro
fession. Ihe lawyer may be independent in the management of his
case; the physician in the treatment of his patient; but the school
master is under authority, and must obey or suffer defection and aban
donment. As to what is to be taught, and how long, and how much,
and as to the best mode of teaching, every man lias his opinion, and
must be heard, and generally submission is the condition of support.
In this conflict of opinion, where caprice originates and sustains one
side of the question, and is seconded by interest and policy on the part
of the Teacher, it is not surprising that sound judgment should be
surrendered to terminate the struggle. Parents sometimes submit the
choice of studies, and the length of time they are to be pursued, to the
inexperience of their children. By the sweeping privilege, “study
what you please,” they seem to think they shift all responsibility, and
cut off all reproach and clamitous afterthought. The authority which
God has ordained for the direction and control of the rising genera
tion is injudiciously and wickedly abandoned, and one of the dearest
interests of time is committed to the immaturity and fickleness and
ignorance of childhood. This recreant desertion of the order of na
ture, of the wisdom of years, of the lessons of experience, lias
buted much to diversify and augment the errors of a system already
piebald and absurd. The higher branches of education command the
highest prices, nnd the doating fatlier or the careless guardian is made
to believe that the infant mind has been underrated, its immense capa
cities misunderstood that what a child can learn was never dreamed
of in the ancient philosophy, and can hardly be credited, even in this
age of mental illumination, and accordingly, the alphabetical scholar is
introduced to the sciences. The Spelling Book now belongs to the
■nursery, and is an offence to the Academy. Grammar is too simple
for a j oung lady of nine or ten, and must yield to Chemistry, Philoso
phy and Astronomy, as the only appropriate employment of the extra
ordinary mind's of the rising generation. Arithmetic, the graduating
text-book of our fathers, ra dismissed as a vulgar, useless study, that
ought not to be mentioned when children are learning Algebra and
Geometry. In a word, elementary education, the only basis on which
valuable practical knowledge can be reared, is utterly neglected. The
cone is inverted—the pyramid is set upon its apex, and while propped
and supported by thecontrivcr’s skill,excites wonderand admiration_as
a triumph of intellectual mechanism; but, abandoned, to find
its own cenl re of gravity, necessarily obeying the laws that govern both
matter and mind, it totters and falls. The chaotic mass, even in its ruins,
indicates a labor and ingenuity, which if properly directed, might have
wrought a monument more durable than brass or marble. The waste
ot time, and the |>crversion of ability, and the utter violence done to the
analogy of things in the prevailing modes of leaching, arc melancholy.
No man can form a distinct conception of the preposterous plans that
arc in operation under the specious pretence of improvements, unless
favorably located so as to extend his survey over all. The only fea
ture of system that appears is uniformity of error. This judgment is
founded chiefly upon the developements made by the examinaiions of
pupils for admission into this Institution. Among the teachers whose
scholars contribute to make up our number, there are a few honorable
exceptions, exempt from the censure and condemnation pronounced
above. But, as a general truth, if grossest error had been sought by
labor of thought, of set purpose, success could not have been more
complete. Every thing winch ought not to be is, and every tiling which
ought to be is not- This remark is intended to apply to the age and
capacity of the child, the character of its studies, to the time, the mode
the results of its instruction. Nothing is more true than that a well
i proportioned education is essential to symmetry of mental, character.
But that class of studies which not only forms the most effectual dis
cipline of tlic mental faculties, but is best adapted to the initiatory train
ing of the pupil is displaced, and in its stead is substituted a course
which is l oyond nature in the order of time, disjointed, overstrained
and ridiculous. Whatever the native character of the mind may be,
1 its capabilities of enlargement, whatever its readiness of memory or its
devotion to study, there is an order es study appropriate to its pro
! gressive dcvelopemcnt. An unnatural violent transfer from the sim
ple elements of learning toils more complex and subtlu combinations,
cannot hut derange its movements, encumber the process of growth,
nnd most likely, give nn obliquity to the intellectual habits, deleterious
in its primary and ultimate effects.—lf tin* mode of instruction cherish
tin* sense ot dependence, in the pupil, on books, promote reliance on
C. R. IIANILETER, PRINTER.
NO. 41.
memory for ideas, abandon invention to chance, the mind, whatever
its stature or its adornment, must be effeminate, deficient in vigor, and
all its life time subject to bondage. Education cannot create ge
nius, but education may well nigh destroy it. And even now, there
lurks in society many minds capable of reasoning, and sentiment and
poetry in their strength, and tenderness and inspiration, that are doom
ed to depart from earth unknown to fame, because misdirected and
perverted by their unfortunate early training.
I am not one of those who sliout paeans to the genius of the age
hail every production os an improvement—receive on trust everything
that is recommended, and am old-fashioned enough to believe that no
velty and advantage are not synonimous terms. The ostensible facil
ities of the day in the simplification of school books, by way of learn
ing fast, in my judgment, ought to be regarded as an injury. That
books ought to be simple in explanation ; distinct, clear and easy of
comprehension, is too obvious to need comment. But this is not the
end or attainment of those who have flooded the land with revised edi
tions of old books, or with some comprehensive substitute for off.—
Abridgements—compcnds—affect no valuable purpose, and operate in
juriously, inasmuch as they give superficial views of the subjects on
which lltey treat; and having been adopted because of some exigency,
real or supposed, as to time or means, they preclude alt likelihood of
any further information. If more had been regarded desirable, a more,
extensive work would have been selected, or if an apparent necessity
controled the choice it is not probable that a change of circumstances
will promote the enlargement of those desires which have been schooled
into satisfaction with a fraction.
The most of the modern books have reference in their arrangement
only to one of the powers of the mind. Questions and answers ore.
arranged for the convenience of memory, without regard to any other
faculty. A disproportionate attention is thus rendered to the severaV
powers by all who adopt them. The natural consequence has been
that the thinking faculty has been left to its native slate, or to such
training as was collateral with what seems to have been the great busi
ness of instruction. The exercise of judgment, the work *f discrimin
ation, analysis—the art of classifying the materials of knowledge, as
signing each to its proper place, and giving to all a practical use and
value, have foimcd no part of Female Education. Whatever impor
tance may attach to memory as an attribute of mind, it is at least cer
tain that it is not entitled to take prcccdcrKe of all the rest. Education
is a term injudiciously and deceptionally applied, while it distributes its
benefits with partial haßd and selects from the intellectual powers
the especial object of its favoritsm that, which is, at best, a mere recipi
ent —capable it is true of improvement, but wholly dependent. The
inevitable result is a distortion of the mental character—an unintelligi-
ble compound—an omnium gatherum without order—a “stretching out
of the lihes of confusion and the stones of emptiness.” To bring out
the mind in full and vigorous exercise there most be a balance of pow
er—symmetry, in adjustment securing the harmonious co-operation of’
all the native endowments respectively. Reason, imagination, taste*
can never be brought to full perfection unless cultivated in due propor
tion. If either predominates character must correspond, and will be
determined by the excess, the preponderance will unsettle, distort and
circumscribe the habits and operations of the menial man. This mode,
of educational painting furnishes society writh caricatures instead of Tike*-
nesscs. Nature’s design must be filled up by dilfigcut study of thw
, sketch :if freedom be allowed to fancy,and prejudice, in mixing colors
and choosing positions, we shall have a flaming back ground with tiny
figures without force or spirit to redeem their littleness. Apart froan
j all other considerations it is objection enough to say, that the whole
class of ideas is made upon the principle of association, dependent upon,
the tenacity of memory. The words identified with all that is known,,
once forgotten, the last trace ol knowledge is gone ; or, if not utterly
effaeed, becomes at least so dim and indistinct ns not to be a converti
ble medium for the demands of life. The image and superscription,
disappear with the lapse of time, and the coin can not be recognized!
The mere recitative exercises, commonly adopted, may be perform
ed by the pupil with distinction, without enlarging niatcrially the
of actual knowledge ; the technicalities of science may be stored away
in the recollection in utter separation from acquaintance with the prin
ciples tlicy define ; the rules and the examples under them may all' be
|so studied as, that while the instructor observes the order of the book;
in his interrogatories, no mistake shall lie made by the scholar; but
[invert the order, change the phraseology pf the question, bring it up.
under some aspect different from the* book, and confusion follows.—
;The principle is not understood away from the terms in which its de
i finition is couched, nor its application away from the examples associ
ated in the text with the rule. Wlmt child is there to be found ac
quainted with the scholastic phrases employed in all' works of science 7“
f)oe3 the committing them to memory explain and define ? Will tha*
repetition of them at the daily lessons, or the annual examination, en
lighten the understanding as to their meaning ? Nay, verily ; all this
may be done and yet the secrets of science lie unrevealed among tho
definitions of the book, even as the lore of Egpyt amidst the obscurities,
of her hieroglyphics.
The pomp and circumstance of an examination, and the special,
training for it, both operate to produce the conviction that reputation!
is made to rest upon the fictitious plausibilities of an imposing parade
rather than the sound practical acquirements of an unpretending, yet
thorough scholarship. To stand an examination, respond fluently
to every question, seems to be the chief good to which academic ta
ilors usually point. The ordeal passed, the teacher smiles with grati
fication, and public opinion confers its diploma, and the delighted scho
lar moves oft' the stage with all her blushing honors thick upon her ; but
what availsit all ? The lapse of a few months—absence from books —
new engagements sweep the ill-understood words away, and the mind:
1 instead of being enriched, as it might have been under proper manage
ment, becomes barren, like the soil of earth by its own cultivati in.—
The labor of years departs with the forgotten terms, and leaves only
those slight benefits winch result necessarily from kirtmaey with books-,
i Like rugged rocks that tower up shrubless, and without verdue —the
rains of heaven having washed the vegetable mould away; minds
thus educated, stand out in society with scarce soil enough to support ’
the bloom, or feed the fragrance of a solitary thought.
A partial education is infinitely preferable to a superficial one. To>
know a few things well, to have them rooted in the mind, is certainly
better than a hasty sketch of every thing. Tue vnodera fashionable
plan not only lavishes too much time on ornament and accomplish*,
meet, (by the way a wretched misnomer,) but is essentially defective in
the mode and extent of instruction. To elevate the literary charaotv
of our countrywomen, the whole system must lie revolutionized. Lim-.
it the range of investigation and examine with care-*—initiate. the scho-.
lar into the art of learn ; ng—make the mind self-dependent—rouse up,
its energies, end give the direction for profitable employment. The.
foundation is.then stable ; the plan is intelligible; the mind knows its
powers, and how to use them.; the consciousness of capacity is stirred.,
into life; a generous emulation will find in the bosom a welcome, aojl
a home ; the promise of distinction will redeem the intellect from stag
nation, and revolving years wiH witness constant improvement- Bat.
the popular system discards the reason of the case, puiis ari its fevers
and pulleys to work, us if the mind were to be s\v-u»g up to its appro
priate altitude like d*nd matter without effort of its o\v* by. the nwra.
force of plan. Apart from the instruments of elevation there is no.
ground to stand upon,'and the ill-treated subject cannot sustain itself.
We might just as soon expect the unfledged eaglet to.soar from its
muuutain cyry und rival- in ibght, the parent bird, whose well-tried
wing Imd swept the thunder’s path full many a rime, as to sec u mind
thus educated, lifted high ; seif.poisod, die wonder and admitntion of
nil Isdow, or sweeping abroad on pinions hold, unwearied and -Arong.
.Substantial knowledge, high attainments in science, intinurtti acquaint-
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