Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

excite in all, covetousness and ambition, in the successful, vanity and pride, in the unsuccessful, a spirit of rivalry, envy, and jealousy-the afflicted would be regarded with less sympathy, and the weak in body or in mind, and in moral feelings, be neglected-in consequence, these would not only cease to produce, but, from the disorders arising from want and neglected training, many of the able producers would be required to restrain the turbulent, and thus production would in every way be restricted; for, as their numbers increased, there would be required judges and gaols, soldiers and barracks, police and station-houses, lunatic asylums, poor-law guardians and union houses, poor-law commissioners, assistant poor-law commissioners, factory inspectors, and numerous commissions.

Let any man call to mind those acts of his life that were performed solely from a sense of duty, and with the least regard to his own happiness, and it will be found, that, just in proportion to their disinterestedness, were they accompanied with pleasurable emotions, and are always recurred to with the most grateful recollections. How unphilosophical, as well as irreligious, to appeal to pernicious and sordid motives, which it should be the whole business of education to supplant with nobler aspirations, and which were discouraged even by those unaided by the light of Christianity.

"Inveniuntur qui colant honesta in mercedem, et quibus gratuita virtus placeat non. At illa habet nihil magnificum in se, si habeat quidquam venale."-Seneca. A modern Divine observes:

"God has so constituted the mind of man, that it must seek the happiness of others as its end, or it cannot be happy. Here is the true reason why all the world, seeking their own happiness, and not the happiness of others, fail of their end. It is always just so far before them. If they would leave off seeking their own happiness, and lay themselves out to do good, they would be happy."

And should the colony adopt the suggestions of political economy, then would be sacrificed a principle, the want of which has abridged, if not destroyed, the real prosperity and happiness of all nations professing Christianity-the principle may be comprised in one word-CONSISTENCY.

It

is that which enables the rude inhabitants of North America to train successfully their children in that course which they deem the path of duty; which constituted the leading attribute in the celebrated system of the Spartan legislator, and produced the general character predetermined by Lycurgus; and when it shall be duly appreciated by the civilised nations of Europe, is destined, in an unprecedented degree, to diffuse more widely the blessings of Christianity, and to enlarge the boundaries of science.

All travellers who have visited the North American Indians have borne testimony to the astonishing acuteness of their faculties-distinguishing the footsteps of different animals and those of any hostile tribe with such surprising accuracy, as to determine the numbers that have passed in any given direction, and where not the slightest impression can be discerned by an European. Sounds are discriminated and objects perceived at distances almost incredible. In their warlike enterprises they sometimes lie concealed in profound silence for days and nights; and so cautiously will they steal upon their enemies, that not the rustling of a leaf can be heard. But not only do they excel in those athletic exercises, in which, as children, they may be supposed to have taken peculiar delight—a faithful discharge of the higher moral duties is equally conspicuous. Respect for the aged, who, as well as the mothers, are the instructors of children, is always shown. Taught to endure torture with resignation, they raise the song of death in the midst of excruciating torments, and exhibit a self-devotion and a fortitude not surpassed in the proudest days of ancient Greece and Rome.

Hunter, who when a child was taken captive by the Indians and dwelt among them for many years, describing a long and dangerous expedition

of a party of Indians across the American continent to the Pacific Ocean, remarks: "At the breaking up of the winter, having supplied ourselves with such things as were necessary, and the situation afforded, all our party visited the spring from which we had procured our supplies of water, and there offered up our orisons to the Great Spirit for having preserved us in health and safety, and for having supplied all our wants. This is the constant practice of the Osages, Kanzas, and many other Indian nations. breaking up their winter encampments, and is by no means an unimportant ceremony. On the contrary, the occasion calls forth all the devotional feelings of the soul; and you there witness the silent but deeply impressive communion which the unsophisticated native of the forest holds with his Creator."

on

Through what mysterious process are these qualities of dexterity, fortitude, self-sacrifice, and devotion acquired? From Consistency in training. That which is taught by the elders and parents to the children is the subject of daily conversation; that which is inculcated as a duty is daily exemplified in practice; so well is the association of ideas understood, that even the games of the children have reference to their duties in after life: dwelling continually in that society in which they

will one day be called upon to sustain their part, the laws, customs, and manners are in accordance with the principles of education, and the general character is moulded by combined and harmonious influences; their education commences with their birth, and ends only with death.

Let us suppose, that, in lieu of this mode of education, the children were removed, the boys to one place and the girls to another, away from a general intercourse with society, and there confined to learn with irksomeness certain hieroglyphics, which, when painfully deciphered, would explain their duties; these they would in time repeat by rote without any clear comprehension of the meaning, and consequently with little interest. Let us further suppose, that in the short intervals they returned to their parents, they found them not only negligent of these duties, but pursuing, unrestricted, conduct the very reverse: here the teaching and the training would have two opposite tendencies; and when it is considered what imitative beings children are, and how powerful is the influence of example, it is not difficult to determine which would preponderate.

Notwithstanding our great superiority in intelligence over the wild Indians of America, and although to the knowledge possessed by the Greeks we superadd the result of the accumulated

« AnteriorContinuar »