PRACTICAL EDUCATION.*

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: In obedience to the call of the trustees of the Spencertown Academy, I appear before you on this occasion, and am happy to congratulate both you and them, and the citizens of Columbia county generally, on the completion of this beautiful edifice, and the opening of its halls for the purposes of public instruction. It is truly an ornament to your pleasant village, and reflects honor upon the intelligence and public spirit of those who have taken hold of the enterprise with earnest hands, and have carried it through to its completion. Credit is also due to the fairer portion of creation, who on this occasion have shown themselves truly the "help-meet of man." It is truly an honor to its noble-minded founders, and to the state; and this beautiful and substantial building is now set apart for the purposes of education, where all may come and taste of the fountain of knowledge, as they go to your neighboring springs to drink in the waters of health. I doubt not, generations yet unborn will rise to bless the memory of the liberal founders of this academy; and, if there be any amongst you, who, from avarice or selfish motives, have withheld their due share from this great and noble undertaking, I would say to them, come in even at the eleventh hour, lest your children and posterity should rise up against you; for, truly, the great object of accumulating wealth is to be useful.

I confess, my friends, that I was not a little surprised, when I received the invitation to address you; because, as a plain business man, I am not much given to making speeches, and am not in the

*An address delivered at the dedication of the Spencertown Academy, New York, September 23, 1847.

habit of making pretensions to what I do not understand, or of giving promises which I cannot perform. Little did I think I should ever be called upon to address my fellow-citizens on an occasion like this, so near my native place [Stephentown]. Had it been your pleasure to call for an essay upon the qualities of hemlock bark, as used in the preparation of an article without which you would have nothing to stand upon, and but for which, I dare say, not an individual in this assembly would have been here to-day, I should have been ready; for in that field I am at home. Had you required of me to tell you how a young man, thrown penniless upon the world, may carve out his own fortune, by industry, economy, integrity, virtue, and perseverance, I think I could have given some hints upon that subject, also. But I must say I felt great reluctance, when your worthy trustees invited me here to address you,

- because we generally see liberally educated men, men belonging to the class called the learned professions, and not plain farmers or mechanics, singled out to appear on occasions like the present. I dare say, too, that many a gentleman now before me could give you a much more edifying and instructive address than I shall pretend to offer. All I can promise is, that I will not detain you a great while, in the delivery of a few brief thoughts that have occurred to my mind, amid the busy cares of life, since I received your invitation to be here; and all I have to ask is, that you will bear in mind that you are listening to a plain man, and give to his remarks just as much consideration as they deserve, and no more. In other words, "Do as you would be done by."

We live in a free country. So our constitutions and laws tell us; and, from all that we can see and feel, we believe it is so. The pulpit and the press declare this great truth; and it is still the burden, occasionally, of our Fourth of July orations. But are we so educated as to understand that we are free? to know, in reality, what freedom is? Is enough attention paid, in our higher

schools and academies, to this great object? I think not. There is not one of us, at the present day, who knows anything of oppression, as exercised by a despotic government. We never saw it, or felt it, or feared its coming. We all have a voice in public affairs, the poor man just as much as the rich man. We vote just as we please, and for whom we please; and we sometimes, it would seem, put men up or put them down, just to let them understand that the people govern,—that we are, in fact, the governors. We go to church where we please and I hope all go to church somewhere; we pay what we choose and can afford to do for the support of the gospel; and we know nothing, practically, of kings, lords, or hierarchy,—nothing but what we read in books, or in the current history of other nations of the world. Such being our position, substituting, as we do, the government of the people for the rule of a king,- how important is it that all the people should be educated, so far, at least, as to know their rights and privileges, and how to maintain them!

It has been said by a great man of England - Lord Bacon that "knowledge is power;" and, if it be true as applied to a monarchical system of government, how much more true is it when applied to a republic!

Young men, remember that you are soon to take the place of your elders; soon on you this academy will lean for support; and, before you are aware of it, you will become the pillars of society. The youth now at their studies will soon fill these important stations, for good or for evil; and, truly, the instruction which will here be given will flow forth over the land, if rightly given, by good teachers, dispensing wisdom and power.

Our greatest statesmen have, on all occasions, recognized the vast importance of educating the people — the great masses, who constitute the bone and sinews and greatness of a country. WASHINGTON, though not himself trained to the wisdom of the schools,

as a great self-taught man and leader among men, recognized this great duty of education. And FRANKLIN, the apprentice boy, who rose to be one of the greatest men of the age, gave his testimony in favor of education.

Let me stop here, just to remind my young friends that they must not adopt it as a rule, that, because BEN FRANKLIN, the philosopher, ran away from his master, therefore all runaway boys will make philosophers!

But what is education? It is the business of life; and he is the best scholar who is always learning, in the school or out of it, from teachers, from friends, companions, from all about him.

Nature is a great teacher, and we may learn many a lesson that may be useful to us from the world of living things around us. The school-room is not the only place where knowledge is to be found, the knowledge which is practical and useful in life. I look upon our schools as the great instruments, under Divine Providence, of opening to the rising generation the grand vista of knowledge; and if I could recommend any change in our system of education, it would not be to relax their tone, or subject them to any new-fangled theories, but to inculcate upon all teachers the importance of making the pupil thoroughly understand what he is taught, and how to apply it to use. Make everything, as far as possible, practical, substantial; and, while the scholar is laying up a stock of knowledge generally, his great aim should be to make it available and useful particularly in reference to the trade or occupation he intends to follow. We know in practical life that men often accomplish much without learning,- but how much easier could they do it with it! Many of you may be called to fill high stations in government, which you now little think of attaining to. The scholar who feels his way along, carefully and surely, will know every part of the ground he travels over, and can tell you all about it; whilst one who has been allowed to skim the surface with

a sort of railroad speed, knows no more at the end of the journey than he did at the beginning, only that he has been over so much ground, has been through certain books in certain studies, and has good marks for lessons, and all that; but what is in the books, or what he has learned, he cannot, for the life of him, tell! I have seen some men, wearing college honors, who could not state an account, measure an acre of upland, or even tell who was governor! This may be an extreme case; but it shows that faults exist in our systems of education, which ought to be remedied. Some say the fault is in the teacher, and others say it is wholly that of the pupil. I am inclined to think there are faults on both sides,— a desire, in both teacher and scholar, to go ahead too fast, to cover too much ground, for the sake of making a show. This getting an education in a few weeks, or months, seems a little like imposture. It is not unlike some of the new discoveries for tanning hides, by which good sole-leather is said to be made in six weeks, while your oldfashioned, thorough method of tanning, requires as many months. Look at the leather produced by each. The one is but half-tanned, green and worthless, while the other is solid, owns its affinity to the tanner, and is durable. So with a boy pushed ahead too fast in school; he comes out "half-tanned," and, practically, knows but little more than when he entered it. The truth is, my friends, that education, after all, is principally the work of the individual himself. The idea that a teacher, however patient and faithful, can make a boy learn, without his hearty coöperation, is absurd. Some have supposed that if a young man be sent to the grammarschool, and then to college, he must, of course, become a scholar. But the professors can tell you how great a mistake this is; and let me tell you, my young friends, that, if you expect to obtain an education without labor, constant, ever-active and willing labor,— you will find yourselves mistaken. You must labor with your head, as well as your hands. If you aspire to excellence, you must