Newspapers / The Orphans’ Friend (Oxford, … / Dec. 15, 1875, edition 1 / Page 2
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i I Tins OliPHAXS’ FRIEXU. UOOD TILI> CHIitlSTillAS. The Oiii’iiANy’ Friend will he {‘lilt, one year, to any address, lor ONE TURKEY, delivered Jit Oxfiird or Mars Hill. WAKJI'EO. Here is a sudden call from a minister, whether married or sin gle, we do not know'. He wants a girl, he wants her "at once,” and he wants her 3'oung'. Cer tainly he can get a girl. But lie ought to tell what ho wdll do lor her and ivliat he ivill require her to do for him. This world abounds in gills; but they have their values and their lights, and a choice ti'irl is worth her weight in rubies. Sic dixit Solomon. “I waitt Tut as a mirsc fur my yuiii? abfl- (Irea; but ylutuld oxpcc.t bur t'> assist iu any liuuse-wovk sulioii to Imr strength. J sboubl like to be assured that she is bealtliy, honest, good-natured and trulhi’iilj fond ot ehiklren and obedient, fn n‘turn for her services, 1 would engage to (dotlie her respectably, to care for liei* in sickness, to give her a good (•oininon seliool cditcation, to see that she at tends church and Sabbatli school, and to give her the same religious instruction I do uiy own cliUdreu. I cannot promise to bring her up as a lady. I shall expect liev ti> wortc, but 1 will try to make her a g)od, useful woinau, able to care Rrr herself in any situatiini to whiith she may 1m3 called. 1 would wish her to attend tlie Presbytorian cliurch, as that is my uwu and there I could see to her better. II she suits me and is contented with her new hoiue, 1 si uuhl like to retain her on these terms until she is eighteen years old. 1 \M.)uld liko also to know what 1 must do, if wo are not mutuahy satisfi(‘d. I believe 1 have stated iny wishes candidly, and it remains for you to say whether you c.in truKt mo with tmo of your charges. 1 can on ly add that I feel the responsibility of taking one, and will try to do my duty by hcr.'^ Let iiH extiniine your proposi tion : You offer food, elotliing, attoiitittn in sickness, and tlie Tirivilege ot attending tlie I res- Dytorian church and buuday school, till 18 years old. As^ lor the “common school education, ’ she has that before leaving the Asylum. Then you require her to be “healthy, honest, good-na tured, and truthful; fond of cliil- dren and obedient.” During the Confederate war, a captain was repreinanding a sol dier for drunkenness, and said: “You are a brave soldier, a faith ful sentinel, respectful, obedient, reliable; but you have one fault ■—you will )xet drunk.” “Well, Captain,” replied soldier, “did 3'ou expect get all the cardinal virtues eleven dollars a niontli ? really seems to us that if our la dy friend would consider hew little she offers, she would not re quire so nuu’h. Ifesides, a gron ii woman, fort>' or fifty }'ears old, would suit her much bettor tlian a girl. ^Ye advise her to employ some poor widow—“as many such there bo,” who are now seek ing enqiloyment. “1 would tike to luivo a girl from your Asy- I’l^in—not merely as a scrvai.t; hut oijc as a coinpauion-iuul also that would assist mo in my domestic dutii'S. I wish a girl that is smart, quick and intelligent, ono that 1 can improve and g've a good Imme. I have two buys, and soon they will ho off at school and 1 will Im alone. My hushaml and I will en deavor to do our duty to\ViU'ds her. c pro- lorone who luis no f.iiuily connections. Please let mo hear from you, stating tlio reqiiu'c- meuts of your institntiou.” Adam had a girl Avith hio fam ily" connections’- no father, no mother, no sister, no brother, no uncle, no aunt, and no ‘coun- tr\‘ cousins,’ nor 'summer friendo, from the city.’ In our day girls generallv have ftinnly conneetions who ought to love them and wish tl-ioin well, if nothing more. But this lady refpiires her girl to be hmiart, quick and intelligent, and she must show tlrcse qualities in lier work. Such a girl would be a treasure in auv' house. All tfiat is promised is to “do our du ty towards lier.” But there are ro maii)^ views of duty. Just say how much a month for such a girl during mutual satisfaction. ‘•PiiU I gt't a irirl "I- lint lii'iir at mu'C. C_c tmivlcc tlie to for It The Orjiliaii Houses at O.xford and Mars flril are now abundant ly supplied with the lollowing articles : Baby shoes and caps, dolls, baby rattles, chewing gum, jews- harp.s, iire-crackers, brass rings, Grant-aiid - Colfax breast - pins, jiainted cand}', beads, marbles, and worn-out sliirts. . In tact we would be very glad to exchange these articles for bacon, pork, beef, fat fowls, molasses, llour, meal, feathers, new clotli, and blankets, or comforts. FOliNB «««>D AT l..iST. A gentleman living near Leas- burg said to a friend collecting money for the orphans : "Here is an old ragged teu-ceiit piece ; 1 have done my best to pass it, and no one will take it. The or phans are welcome to it, if it will do them any' good.” We carried it to a bank and straight across the counter came a new teii-cent piece. Wonder if the man, wlio so reluctantly' gave it, will be sor ry' or glad when lie hears that his money was good. Secretary Watson of Matta- intiskeet Lodge No. S28, sends S3,50 and .says: ‘Our contribiition.s may seem small, but you must remenber that our Lodge is young, small and poor.” Yes, but your charity beats will rag'iiar ])ul.se. You make rajular contributions, while some old, large, and rich lodges send nothing. M.vson’ic Oodk op N. 0.—This is the title of. a new' and hand- s cue hook of 1.50 pages, prepar ed by' Grand Secretary, D. IV. Bain. It tells conci.sely' and ex actly' what is Masonic la’.v in North Carolina. It also gives the Ancient Coiistitutious and nioderu forms and cerenuuiies. Tubli.shed by Joliu Nichols & Co. Brice one dollar, only'. EDUCATION IN J-IPAN. BY WILLIAM E. GRIFFLS, LaU of the Inijxirijl Japanese CoUepe, Tolio, (Yedo,) Japan. Ploiisc lot mo tWolvO 51111 For the second time in her his tory, Jaiian is attempting the co lossal enterprise of introducing a cii'ilization. The movement to- w'ards the adoption of the exter nal forces, if not the ideals, ' ot Kuropean nations, which began w'ithin the last decade and is now attracting the attention of the civ ilized w'orld, is no new thing in the history of Dai Nippon. The restless desire of her people for improvement, and the oiitwork- ings of that noble trait iu the Japanese character which prompts to the desertion of an old and tlie adoption of a new idea, when proved to be better, are the prin cipal motors of the national de sire to enter w ithin the comity' ot modern nations and, liy' master ing their ideas and following their examples, to become their equals. As in the first instance, in tlie early centuries, so now, they have declared their belief tliat “Lducution is the basis of all progress. That the ti'ue position of this recent develojiinent ot national life in, the history of the empire may-' be fully understood, a very' brief sketch'of Japanese history may fitly' open this paper. The aborigines of Japan are the Ainos, a race of men now in habiting tlie island of Yezo. From the very' ancient preliistoric time, the islands of Dai Nippon were inhabited by these wandering tribes of hunters and fishermen. About the year G60 B. C., a hand of conquerors who had come from the main land of Asia began the conquest of Southern Japan. In afewyoais they had possessed themselves of Kinshiii, Shikoku, and the central and southern por tions of the main kslauds. Who these conquerors were, whether Tartars, Ooreaus, Chinese, or Malay's, is not known, tliongh-the probability' is that they' w'ere Tar tars. I'hey brought agriculture and the rii'dimcnts of civilization with them,-though they possessed neither writing, books, nor liter ature, except oral jiroductions. From the blending of those tw'o races' sprang the ancient Japa nese, who devoloped a type ol phy.sical structure and national iile which later importations of blood, ideas, and customs have not radically' altered. Ill the later centuries, from the fourth to the eighth of the Chris tian era, after the conquest of Corea by the Japanese emiiress Jtgo Kog'o, came letters, writing, hooks, literature, religion, ethics, politics, medicine, arts, science, agriculture,manufactures, andthe varied appliances of civilization ; and with these entered thousands -of immigrants from Corea and Cliina. Under the intellectual influence-of Buddh.ism—the pow- erfiil and aggressive faith that had already led cajitive the half ol Asia—of the Confucian ethics and philosophy', and Chinese litcra- tiire, the horizon of the Jajianose mind was iinmcnsel}' broailened. Bv the more material appliances boiTOwed from Corea—the ]>u]>il of China—the Jap inpse became a civilized jiecqile. In the tiin6 of the European "dark ages" the Japanese were enjoying what, in comparison, was a high state ol civilization. Nevertheless, so def initely fixed and jiersisfent was the original ty'pe of the Japanese national character, as the result ant of original ancestral impress, soil, climate, food, am natural in fluences, tliat the Japanese of to day are a ]>cop!e dift'ering widely fnuii the Chinese in physique, temperament, character, habits, customs, and ideas. Up to the twelfth century the Mikado was the sole ruler of his people ; instead of the usual de velopment of a priestly and a warrior-caste, there arose in ,la- pan the cii-il and military orders. Tow'ard tlie end of the tivelftli century', the military' power of the emjiiro fell into the hands of the Miiianioto family of military chieftains. In old times every general w'as called a sho-gun, hut Yoritomo, in 118G, was made sei- i tai sho-gun, barbarian-repress ing conmiaiidcr-in-chiel, or great ge”ieral. This was the beginning (if that great usurpation that last- ('d, with some intermission, until 18(i8. The Mikado in Kioto was overaived by the military' usurper at Kamakura or Yedo, though the jirestige of tne Mikado never diininislicd. The I'everence ol the peo})le never abated, notwith standing the people feared their iron-handed ruler, the Slio-guri. “The Sho-gun all men fear, the Mikado airmen love,” is a Japa nese saying. Foreigners acapiir- ed the idea, which still lingers in (uir luirevised text-books, that there were "two emperors” in Japan, one “.spiritual,” the other “temporal.” The truth is that there was but one emperor, the Mikado, and the Sho-gun was a military usurper. The term, ‘■Tycoon,” (proiierly Tai-kiin,) meaning “great prince” or “illus trious sovereign," was never used in Japanese official documents previous to the I’erry' treaty. It was an absurd fiction of authori ty, a piece of pompous bombast, designed to deceive the foreign envoys and treaty-makers as to the real relation of the Sho-gun to his master the Mikado. The Sho-gun was a vassal of the fourth grade, without the slig-ht- est shadow of right to make a treaty. His final assumption of authority in signing the treaties with foreigners without the con sent of the Mikado was the occa sion of his overthrow in 18G8. Even without the presence of for eigners on the soil of Japan the duarcliy would have tallen and a reversion to the ancient monarcliy would have taken place. The presence of foreigners merely hastened what was already inev itable. It added momentum to the machinery of revolution al ready at work. The Slio-guiiate lell in 18G8 ; the feudal system was abolished in 1871. It is not within the province of this paper to e.xplain, as far as the writer may imagine he un derstands them, the causes and motives that led the new govern ment to adopt, or profess to adopt, the modern ideal of civilization and to enter vigorously' upon the path of reform. He can simply give, the merest outline of the present state ot education in Ja pan and contrast it w'ith tlie old ideals and methods. Under the old refibne. of the 'Sbo-guns, all foreign ideas and intluenees were systematically ex cluded, and the isolation of .Japan from the rest of the world was made the supreme policy of the government. Profennd peace Listed .from -the beginning of tiic seventeenth century to 1868. During this time, schools .and colleges, litera'aire and learning, flourished. It was the jieriod of scholastic, not of creative, intel lectual activity. The basis of edii.cation was Chinese. What W6 consider the means of educa tion, reading and writing, ivere to them the ends. Of classified science there was little or none. Mathematics was considered as fit only lor merchants and shop keepers. -No foreign languages were studied, and their aquisition was forbidden. Whatever of European learning, through the medium of the Dutch tongue, was obtained, was gotten secretly. Etiquette, physical and martial exercises, occupied largely the time and attention of the students. There was no department of education, though universities were established at Kioto and Yedo, large schools in the dairaio’s cajiitals, and innumerable private schools all over the country. Nine-tenths of the people could read and write. Books were very' numei-ons and cheap. Circula ting libraries existed in every city and town. Literary' clubs and associations for mutual improve ment were common even in country- villages. Nevertheless, iu comparison with the ideal systems anp practice of the pro gressive men of New Japan, the old style was as different from the present as the training of an English youth in medimval times is from that of a London or Ox ford student of the present (.hiy. Although ail attempt to meet some of the educational necessities arising from the altered conditions of the national life were made under the Sho-gun’s regime, yet the first attempt at sy'stematio work in -the large cities was made under the Mikado’s government, and the idea of a new national ]Man of education is theirs only. In 1871 the Mom Bu Sho, or d(.i- partmeiit of education, was form ed, of which the high counselor Old, a man of indomitable vigor and perseverance, was made head. From the very first, however, the new government had given great attention to the work of education, and had reorganized on a larger scale the old Kai Sei Jo (place of reform) in Tokio, as the lan- gii,age-school was called. The. Rev, Guido F. Verbeck, a inis- siouarv of the Reformed Church of America, who had been In Nagasaki since ISGO, had master ed the language, instructed num bers of native young nien, and won the confidence of the govern ment, was appointed head of this school, which, under his admin istration, rapidly improved in or ganization, discipline, and stand ard of instruction. During the , whole of Mr. Verbeck’s connec-. tiim vvitli the educatiiiri-depart,-' ment, ins energy, industry, and .ability were beyond praise. Ho acted as adviser, organization, and general factotum of t.lie ed ucation-department. Education ill foreign languages and science, forei.gn sciiool-methods, discipline, standards, ideas, books, apjili- ances, furniture, were all new tilings in .Japan. .Jealousy, susz picion, ignorance iiad .to be met and overcome, coniidenee inspir ed and raw and retractory material for toaciiers and sciiolars liad to bo ilealt witli. Success firuiily crow-ned lhe eiTorts, and the Im- per' ial Colle.gc in J'okio is - now n1 not only the largest •Japan, but is the first in discip line, standard, and organization, Iniving a brilliant corps of pro fessional instructors and luiiidreds of trained and earnest students. Acoordidg to tiia scheme of national education promulgated in 1872, the omiiire is divided into eiglit Dai Gakii Ku, (Dai- gakku,) or great educational di visions. In caeli of these there is to be a university, normal scliools, scliools of foreign lan guages, liigii schools, and primary schools. The total nuinlior of schools will number, it is expect ed, over 55,000. Only in the-' higher schools is a foreign Ian-' giiage to lie laught. In the' lower sclioolds tlie Japanese ami elementary science translated or' adopted from European or Amer ican text-books arc to bo taught. The general system of instruction,, methods, discipline, school-aids, furniture, architecture, ai-e to be largely adojited from foreign models, and are now to a great' extent in vogue throughout tluy country. J'he writer lias haiF neraly four years experience in actual educational -work in Japan,, and in traveling througli the' country lias noticed almost iiir vnriabiy tlio use of new text books, written in Japanese, but adapted from foreign models', blacklioards and clialk, slate and pencils,. steel pens, iron ink, chairs, tables, cliarts, and a liost of new' improvements, some di verging considerably from ont‘ models, according to native taste, fancy, knowledge, or means, but all tending to improvement, and of unquestionable advantage over those of old systems.
The Orphans’ Friend (Oxford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 15, 1875, edition 1
2
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