And these elements of character, which shone so brightly in the
history of our glorious Washington, are those which make the man a
social being, a patriot, and a Christian. And they are not only to
be taught the child at the fire-side, and on his mother’s knee. The
school is a department of the domestic altar. And in the school the
design of the parent to complete, as far as practicable, the character
of his child, is to be carried out. The boy is to be prepared for
some department of professional life, into which he is to carry the
qualities of character he obtains in his youth. And the preparation
for professional life is continued in the school, and in the college,
as it was commenced at home. A certain amount of scholastic knowledge
is necessary to expand the mind, and prepare the youth for the duties
and responsibilities of life in any and all of the professions. And if
he be turned loose upon the world without this knowledge, he cannot be
said to be fit for any department of business. He is qualified for
no profession, and plodding his way in ignorance, his associations
must be low, and grovelling, and in his path through life he must be
vicious and unhappy. And let me ask, for what profession is it possible
that the boy can be prepared that was never instructed at home, nor at
school, nor any where else? The answer is suggested to every mind by
the question itself. And what is such a boy fit for? He is fit for the
pursuit of vice and wretchedness; and that is the pursuit upon which he
will be likely to enter. Ignorance and vice are the parents of misery.
Wretchedness is the fruit of their association. Aye, ignorance and
vice are the parents of misery, and in wretchedness must the way of
man be pursued, if he be found in their association. The boy that is
ignorant is in great danger of being wicked, and in his wickedness he
must be unhappy. No boy can grow up to be a true and faithful American
citizen that grows up in ignorance. And no boy can be a true patriot
that is willing to grow up in this way. A man must be enlightened, or
he can be no good subject of the American government. And he must seek
enlightenment in his youth, or he runs a great risk of never obtaining
it at all.