And in directing you to the domestic altar as the means of effecting
this proud distinction, I would say that it is an altar of such high
and sacred character, that it can be reared and successfully sustained
by no nation, unless that nation be eminent in its encouragement of
enlightenment and religion. I do not mean by this declaration that the
Roman and Grecian boys wanted fathers to point them to the senate and
to the field, and mothers to teach them patriotism at the fire-side.
There was scarcely a father among them but had rather had his son a
corpse than a coward. And but few of the mothers of the age were unlike
that noble Grecian who told her son, when he went to battle, to return
_with_ his shield, or _upon_ it. But I mean that the Grecian and Roman
youth were taught patriotism in the neglect of domestic virtues. They
were taught to encourage a thirst for eminence in the state, and for
military renown at the expense of the social affections. We have an
example in the noble heroism of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchii.
She infused into the souls of her illustrous sons the fire of patriotic
devotion, which made them jewels for the state, but which lost them to
her in the domestic circle for ever. But the American youth live in a
very different age, and their system of instruction, in nearly all its
departments, is of a very different character. In their education, the
love for eminence in the state is not neglected, and they are taught to
cherish the patriotism that burned in the bosoms of the Greek and Roman
youth. And with this patriotic interest is mingled the training of the
social affections, under the benign rays of religious enlightenment.
And this is the sort of education which rears its subjects, not only
for the domestic circle, but for their country and their God. And this
should be the great purpose of American teaching in the developement
of American character in the use and for the sustaining of American
institutions. And what we have to regret is that it is not carried out
more thoroughly, and rendered more efficient in practice.
We boast, as we have cause to do, of our position as free American
citizens, and we rejoice in the powerful effect the domestic altar has
upon our national character. But we are compelled to mingle reproach
with our boast, and regret with our joy, that as a nation we should
in any wise neglect that most important of all teaching――the teaching
of character. In this we must acknowledge that we are deficient, and
that the blessings of the domestic altar are not as profitable, nor
as extensively diffused as they might be. What we lack is systematic
effort in the formation of character. And judging from our want of
systematic effort in this teaching, and our indifference about it, the
supposition might be indulged that we are not aware of the importance
and necessity of holding up character before the youthful mind as a
distinctive part of education. Our practice would seem to indicate
that we regard character as a thing that comes of itself, or that it
is induced by the moral and mental training which the youth obtains
at home, and at the schools. It is greatly to the disadvantage of the
youth that, in all the departments of study in which he engages, there
is not sufficient effort made to make him what he must be if he would
rise to eminence in after life. It is greatly to his disadvantage that
he is not taught in clear, and distinct, and systematic terms, what
the American character is, and of what elements it is composed, and
what he must be if he would carry out that character as it should be
carried out in active life. The boy should be pointed forward to his
position of responsibility as a man. He should be pointed to the period
when he must take his place amid the busy multitudes of the world, and
wrestle as his fathers have done for the place of success which he
hopes to attain. He must have a place at the social circle, and he
should be taught how he shall adorn it. He must be taught what he must
be in private life, that he may do honor to his domestic relations.
He must be taught his duty as a citizen, that, in the performance of
that duty, he may become eminent, and that society and the state may
be the better for his having lived in them. And he must be shown what
he must be in religion, that he may fulfil his obligations both to God
and man, and that his religious character may have its influence upon
the community in which he dwells. In a systematic course of teaching
for the developement of character in these several departments, we have
to acknowledge our deficiency. And although the domestic altar stands
pre-eminent in our midst, and operates powerfully upon the American
mind, it is by no means what it ought to be, and its influence upon
developing character is far less than more systematic effort would
make it. And this defect is a serious impediment in the path of the
American boy. He is prepared to act out the character of the Greek and
the Roman, because the elements of that character are combined in his.
But it is a different thing to act out the character of the American,
because it combines the other elements which are sent forth from the
domestic altar. A prominent and distinguishing feature in American
teaching, should be the full developement of the domestic character.
And when the domestic altar shall be adequate to the supply of its own
demands, the American boy will be properly instructed in his character
as an American citizen.