k
I
1
VOLUJIE
OXFOKl)
V.'El)NESi)AY, EE15RUARY 23, 187G.
NUMJ5Eli
■iEX'a'isA€TS rataii aw aeujsess
iSEILaVElJKO BEI'OKi; 'B'JIE
AMEKSCASf SSfS'l’S'l’CTE ©F SS-
S'l’lJtJC’l’BOW, AT WOJSTSS. AW-
AMiS, BIASS., MS" P. A. ESSAII-
SOURSWE, EE. PSiESSiOEWT
OF SVIEEIABiS COEEEGE, JIASS.
It is supposed that education
will prevent a waste of labor;
that the educated workman in
any productive employment will
put his blows in the right place
and strike them at the right time,
so that his labor shall be more ef-
iicient for the good of himself and
the world than the ill-directed ef
forts of the ignorant man. To
make labor efficient, schools are
established for the education of
workmen in every industrial pur
suit.
It is plain, however, that the
world, as a whole, is still far
enough from making all labor as
jM'oductive and effective for good
as it ougl’.t to be. Through ig
norance, carelessness, pride, and
dishonesty, a large portion of the
labor performed is wasted, in tliat
it fails to produce the desired re
sult or at least adds nothing to
the rational enjoyment or progress
of the race. Wo have to observe
for a single day to find too abun
dant illustrations of this subject.
A hundred ignorant laborers,
working under their own direc
tion, or rather without direction,
in any of the groat industrial pur
suits of the ago, would starve if
depending uuon the products of
their own labor, while that same
comjjanj', directed by an oi’gan-
iziiig brain, ■would support them
selves in comfort and leave a
liandsome surplus for their em-
])loyer. Through the carelessness
of servants, property is daily de
stroyed ; througli the carelessness
of owners and guardians of prop
erty, ships are sunk, cities burned,
and there is a constant, needless
waste of property through rust
and decay. All such loss is waste
of labor. Pride wastes labor for
show and dishonesty •rvastes labor
on poor material or by so cheat
ing in quality of work as to make
good material of no account. So
we might enumerate a list appall
ing in magnitude, untill we should
feel like joining the crusade to re
duce the liours of labor, that men
might learn not to waste it, if for
no other purpose. If ten hours
of labor are not sufficient to ena
ble the able-bodied men and wo
men to support tlie world, if we
could stop the waste through ig
norance, carelessness, pride, and
dishonesty, eight hours would be
better. After allowing for all
needless misdirection and waste,
we do not believe that we now
get more than six efficient liours
out of the ten during whioli men
really do toil. It is safe to say
that more than oue-third of the
time and strength of all who la
bor is spent in vain.
Does this same waste appear in
our own work, the work of edu
cation, the object of which is to
save all v,"ast6 1 In all honesty,
■we must say yes. Perhaps I
might add, there is waste here
from the same causes I have al
ready mentioned: ignorance, care
lessness, pride, and dishonesty. I
might also add that there is waste
oftentimes ftom the necessity of
the case. It often happens, in
ordinary work, that we have to
labor at a disadvantage. The
same is true in education.
A. poi’tiou of this ivaste from all
tliese causes is duo to failure on
the iiart of the teacher, parti}" it
is duo to the student, and partly
to the parent or guardian. We
can only point out the conditions
of the waste, and the share be
longing to each delinquent will
readily appear.
The first source of waste I
mention is imperfect teaching. I do
not so much refer to tlie defective
knowledge imparted in the school
room, although this is often pain
fully apparent to those \vho at
tend examinations, especially in
the progressive natural sciences—
I do not so much refei' to this as
to the wretclied habits of study
formed in some schools. There
are schools without system, w'ith-
out any standard of accurate
scholarship, and without any en
thusiasm ; for a genuine entlmsi-
asm for study is impossible under
any false system of instruction.
The second point I make is the
teaching of tmiiuportcmt things.
Poor text-books come in hero
for their share of blame. Small
text-books, containing only those
essentials of the subjects treated
of, only tliose parts that have life
in them, that cannot be elimina
ted without leaving the subject
imperfect, are rare It takes a
brave man, and one merciless to
wards himself, to make a small,
simple, but thorough text-book.
Such books we must have, if we
use text-books at all. If one
doubts tlie propriety of thus cut
ting down text-books, let him
take his best scholar after com
pleting an ordinary Ijook and ask
him to write out all ho knows on
the subject. The bock be makes
will be small; and, in general,
the larger the text-boolc lie lias
used, the snniller v/ill be the book
which represents his own knowl
edge of the subject.
I have but two points more to
make, and these relate especially
to the teacher. There is failure
to secure energetic work and the
best results from lack of enthusi
asm. Without this no teacher
can have the best success, how
ever learned and faithful and
hard-working' he may be. En
thusiasm is the heat that softens
the iron, that every blow may tell.
Euthusiasin on the part of the
teacher gives life to the student
and an impulse to every mental
])ower. It gives the work of tlie
school-room a quickening impulse,
and by this impulse makes the
student a gatherer wherever he
goes. It gives to the student in
dependent power; power to go
alone. When this is accomplished,
there is no more waste in lifting,
dragging, or driving. It was the
enthusiasm of Linnauis that filled
his lecture-room with students
from all parts of Europe, and then
sent them over tliff world to
gather new treasures for them
selves and their master. It was
tlie enthusiasm of Agassiz that
clothed the commonest things with
new life and beauty; that char
med every listener and trans
formed the aged and the young,
the ignorant and the learned, into
joyful learners. Another man,
with the same learning, the same
devotion, and equal labor, niiglit
not accomplish ono-tentli as much,
because ho failed to enkindle that
interest that quickens every men
tal powei»and lights the fire of
latent geniu.s, which, once enkin
dled, reveals to its possessor
truths far beyond tlie range of
those wliose minds liai'e never
been touched by this life-giving
power of entbusiasm. It is said
one loses this enthusiasm after a
while. Then he ouglit to stop
teaching. If he cannot grow eu-
tluisiastic presenting the plainest
rules of arithmetic and Latin for
the fiftietli time to a new mind,
then he is unfit for his work, and
should spend his streuglh on
stone or clay, which can only
yield to force, but never take
form at the mere glow of enthusi
asm in the worker.
But, last of all, there is a waste
that brings loss and sorrow to tlie
world. This is neglect of moral
and religious instructiou in con
nection with intellectual trainiirg.
Who are the men who are caus
ing humanity to blush by their
dishonesty and corruption, pois
oning the world at the same time
that they are cheating it and as
tounding it ? Wli}', men who
are educated, but who despise the
slow methods of honest gain and
reject the old-fashioned morality
of the Bible. There must be a
searching for the foundations;
and that instruction or that edu
cation which does tiot make prom
inent as well as betievo-
lonco ; law as ivell as liberty; hon-
esty as well as thrift, cxiA purity of
life as well as enjoyment, should
be stamped by every true educa
tor as a v.’asto and a curse ; for so
it will prove in tlie end.—Bureau
of Education.
T5ac Afric-aan Coast.
The surf on the African coast
says a letter writter, is ever a
wonder and a danger. There is
no coast in any part of the world
which posseses less ports or har
bors of refuge. You may travel
a thousand miles almost without
finding a cove or harbor wliere a
ship could anclior quietly without
being rocked by waves. Try
along the whole of the grain, the
Ivor}-, the gold and the slave
coasts, and there is not one port.
But fortunately for ships trading
to those places, there is seldom a
hurricane or a gale blowing, so
that they are able to anchor.—
There is never any dead calm,
though the sea in the morning is
stirred up into wavelets by
by the breeze from oceanward.
During the night it is moved by
land breeze, so that ships anchor
ing ill the roadstead are ever to
be seen rolling uneasily; they
are never at rest. Unceasingly
the long line of waves are to be
traced rolling onward to tlie shore,
gathering strengtii as they advance
nearer until, receiving the ebbing
water flowing from the beach
from preceding seas, there is a
simultaneous coiling and rolling,
and at once the long lino of water
is precipitated with a furious roar
on the land. Where the ivater
meets a rock a tall tower of sprav
and foam is sudenly reared, the
wave lino is broken and is in mad
confusion. Where the beach is
smooth and of sand you may trace
a straight unbroken line of foam,
ncarlv a mile long.—iY.
BIISFOKTFWES «)F tJIEE'.lT
VEiATJOiVS.
The ribbon loom is an inven
tion of tlie sixtoeiitli century, and
on the plea that it deprived many
workmen of bread, was prohibited
in Holland, in Germany, in the
dominions of the Gliurcli, and in
other countries of Europe. At
Hamburg the Council ordered a
loom to bo publicly burned. The
stocking loom shared the fate of
the ribbon loom. In England
the patronage of Queen Elizabeth
was requested for the invention,
and it is said that the inventor
was impeded rather than assisted
in his undertaking. In France
opposition to the stocking loom
was of the most base and cruel
kind. A Frenchman who had
adopted the invention ma.nufiic-
tured by the loom a pair of silk
stockings for Lo^liIs XIV. They
were presented to the French
monarch. Tlie parties, however,
who supplied hosiery to tiie court
caused several of the loops of tlie
stockings to be cut, and thus
brought the stocking-loom into
disrepute at headquarters.
I’ablo forks appear so necessar}’
a part of the furniture of the din
ner-table that one can scarcely
believe that tlie tables of the six
teenth century were destitute of
them. They tvere not, however,
introduced until the commence
ment of tlie seventeenth century,
and then were ridiculed as super-
flous and effeminate, while the
person who introduced them to
England was called Furcifer.
They were invented in Italy, and
brought thence to England ; nap
kins being used in that century
b}" the polite and fingers by the
multitude.
The saw mill was brought into
England from Holland in 1663 ;
but its introduction so displeased
the English that the enterprise
was abandoned. A second at
tempt was then made at Lime-
house, and the mill was erected,
but soon after its erection it was
pulled down by a mob.
Pottery is glazed by throwing
common salt into the oven at a
certain stage of the baking. This
mode of baking was introduced
into England in 1690 by two
brothers, who went to Staffbrd-
sliire from Xuremberg. Their
success and their secrecy so en
raged their neighbors that perse
cution arose against tliem, and
became so strong that they were
compelled to give up their works.
Tlie pendulum was invented
by Galileo ; but so late as the
end of tlie seventeenth century,
when Hooke brought it forward
as a standard of measure, it was
ridiculed, and passed by the nick
name of “Svving-Swaiig.”—JSf. C.
Breshgterian.
ElVCO’CSSAbEMEAT F®K BOATS.
It is said of James Watt, the
inventor of the steam-engine, that
when a boy be seemed idle and
mischievous, and was often re
proved for it. When taking off'
the lid of the kettle and putting
it on again, and holding a cup or
silver spoon over the steam, he
was told by his aunt to take a
book or to employ himself more
usefully, though liis mind was
then busy ivitli the greatest prob
lem of tlie age. If boys show a
calculating or inventive genius
they should he encouraged to de
velop it, oven tliougli it take time
from books.
The father of Eli Whitney, on
his return from a journey, in
quired as usual into the occupa
tions of his sons during iiis ab
sence. He received a good ac
count of all except I'lli, who it
was said bad been busy making
a fiddle. “Alas,” said tlie father,
with an ominous shake of his
liead, “I fear that Eli will have to
take his portion out in fiddles.”
IIow little aware was the father
tliat his boy’s occupation was the
dawning forth of an inventive
genius to be ranged amongst tlio
most effective and useful in tlio
world.
It is related of Chantry, the
celebrated sculptor, that when a
boy, he was observed by a gen
tleman very attentively engaged
ill cutting a stick with a pen
knife. Ho asked the lad what he
was doing, and with great sim-
plicit}" but courtesy, be replied,
“I am cutting old Fox’s head.”
Fox was the school-master of the
village. On this the gentleman
asked to see what he liad done,
aid pronouncing it excellent,
presented the youth with a six
pence.
Let parents study the disposi
tions of tlieir cliildreii, learn the
“bent of their genius,” and then •
enoou-age them in all proper
ways to develop themselves. We
should never “despise the day of
small things.”—Otis.
■WWMMJIiS ix
“ The proper study of mankind
is man,” said Pope, and we are so
“ fearfully and wonderfully
made” tliat the study of tlie body
alone is no very easy lesson, to
say nothing of the soul.
Siqiposing your age to be fif
teen, or thereabouts :
Y”ou have 200 bones and 600
muscles; your blood weighs 25
pounds ; your heart is five inches
in length and three inches in di
ameter ; it beats seventy times
per minute, 4,200 times per hour,
100,800 times per day, and 36,-
792,000 times per year. At each
beat a little over two ounces of
blood is thrown out of it; and
each day it receives and dis
charges about seven tons of that
wonderful fluid.
Your lungs will contain a gal
lon of air, and you inhale 24,000
gallons per day. The aggregate
surface of the air-cells of your
lungs, supposing them to be
spread out, exceeds 20,000 square
inches.
Tlie weight of your brain is
tliree pounds ; when you are a
man it will weigh about eight
ounces more.
Y'our nerves exceed 10,000,000.
in number.
Your skin is composeij of three
layers, and varies from Qne-fourth
to one-ei^ith of an inch in thick
ness. liie area ofj your skin is
about 1,700 in'ches. Each square
inch'contains about 2,600 sweiit-
ing tubes or perspiratory pores,
each of wlikd' may be likened to
a little drain-tile one-lourtb of an
inch long, making an aggregate
length ir. the entire siiri'aco of
}'our body of 88,541 feet, or a
tile, ditch for draining the body
almost seventeen nfilcs long.—
Science of Jlealth.
BS