[Their importance as connected with Literary Institutions.(1)]
[Footnote 1: This Address was delivered by the Rev. E. F. Stanton,
before the "Literary Institute" of Hampden Sidney College, at its
annual commencement in September last, and is now published, for the
first time, at the request of the Institute.]
The proper connection of physical, moral, and intellectual culture,
in a course of education, is a subject which, judging from the
defective systems that have almost universally prevailed, has
hitherto been but imperfectly understood, and whose importance has
been but superficially estimated. Man is a being possessed of a
compound nature, which consists of body, mind and spirit. In other
words, he has animal, intellectual, and moral powers. He is destined
for existence and action in two worlds--in this, and in that _which
is to come_. He is formed for an earthly, and an immortal state. Any
system of education, therefore, which restricts attention to either
of these constituent portions of his nature, is necessarily and
essentially defective. It is the cultivation which assigns to each
its appropriate share, that constitutes the perfection of education.
But few appear to admit, at least _practically_, the importance of
improving the mind to any great extent by the aids which Literature
and Science bestow. Fewer still are in favor of making religious
instruction a distinct and indispensable part of their plan. Yet
smaller is the number of those who would allow any suitable
prominence to be given to the cultivation of the physical powers: and
probably by far the most diminutive of all is the proportion of those
who would contend for a just and equable combination in the
improvement of _the whole man_, body, mind, and spirit.
The monitory experience of past ages, which, if duly heeded, might
prevent a recurrence of serious disasters that have befallen other
generations, is overlooked or disregarded, as the devotees of a
worldly pleasure discredit the assurance of the sage, that "all is
vanity and vexation of spirit," and each in its turn, and for itself,
must try the experiment which wisdom had beforehand decided to be
folly. Vanity seeks the preferment arising from novel discoveries;
and inflated with an apprehension of superior knowledge, disdains to
receive the instructions of former ages, and in spite of experience,
gives an unrestrained indulgence to wild and hurtful extravagances.
Enough has long since been disclosed in the history of mankind, if
they were sufficiently docile and apt, to have demonstrated, to the
satisfaction of all, that on the early and assiduous {245}
inculcation of _religious principle_, depend the temporal, to say
nothing of the eternal welfare of individuals, and the peace and
prosperity of nations. The world, by this time, ought to have known,
even if Revelation had not proclaimed it, that _righteousness_, by
which I mean _religion_, is the stability and safeguard of
nations--that it cannot be dispensed with--that no substitute can be
made for it--and that no government can be prosperous or lasting
without it. Devoid of religious principle, the educated are but
madmen; and the more extensive and brilliant their talents, whether
natural or acquired, the more completely are they accoutred for the
work of mischief. Within the recollection of the present generation,
South America, and Greece, and France, where Romish corruptions and
infidel perfidy have obtained the ascendancy, and rooted out a pure
Christianity, have alternately struggled for the establishment of
freedom. Our own nation, so deeply enamored of the "fair goddess,"
have looked on with an intensity of interest that bordered on
inebriation, and have hailed them as brethren of _the republican
fraternity_. But how soon have our hopes been disappointed, and our
exultation proved to be premature. The despotism which has been
thrown off, has been speedily succeeded by another which was scarcely
less odious and intolerable. Their temple of freedom was not reared
on _the rock of religious principle_, but on _the sand_. The tempest
of ungoverned passions, which righteousness only has the power to
allay, _beat vehemently upon it, and it fell_; and great has been the
fall of it. Better that a population deficient in virtue, (the virtue
which a pure religion only can impart,) be also deficient in
knowledge. There is no regenerating or transforming influence in
literature and science. The reverse of this, however, is the
practical creed of most politicians. Religion with them, if not an
odious and obsolete affair, is regarded as of secondary or
inconsiderable importance; and all the attention which, in their
estimation, it deserves, is to leave it for a spontaneous
development. But the issue of such an experiment is sure to result in
an absence of the fear of God, and an exuberant growth of noxious and
destructive passions. If no plan can be devised, which in its
operation shall secure an inseparable connection between literature
and religion in our American academies and colleges, their demolition
were devoutly to be desired, and our youth might better be reared in
ignorance and barbarism.
These observations are made in passing, to anticipate an impression
which might arise in the minds of some who may accompany us in the
sequel of this discussion, that we are for giving to the _physical_
an importance over every other department of education. So far from
admitting that this is the position which we intend to assume, we
would here be distinctly understood to allow, if you please, that it
is the least important of all, and sinks as far in comparison with
the cultivation of the mind and the heart, as the body is inferior to
the soul, or as the interests of time are transcended by those of
eternity. But the body, though comparatively insignificant, is still
deserving of special regard. The corporeal is a part of the nature
which the infinite Creator has bestowed on us--a piece of mechanism
"curiously wrought," and "fearfully and wonderfully made." The body
is the casement of the mind--the tenement in which the soul
resides--the "outer" in which dwells the "inner man." With the nature
of this union we are mostly unacquainted. We know, however, that it
is close, and that the influences which body and mind exert on each
other are reciprocal and powerful.
A gentleman of our own country, who has been at great pains to
investigate this subject himself, and to collect the opinions of
others on it, has embodied in a pamphlet, which has been published, a
mass of information of the most valuable kind; but the production to
which I refer has been only partially circulated in this region, and
therefore has probably attracted less notice here than almost any
where else in the Union. And since I have ample evidence to believe
that his observations, and those of others which accompany them, are
better suited to subserve the purpose which I have in view, than any
of my own which I might hope to offer, I shall indulge myself on this
occasion in the liberty of making somewhat copious extracts from his
labors.
The individual to whom I allude, was appointed the General Agent of
"the Society for promoting Manual Labor in Literary Institutions,"
which was formed in the city of New York in July of 1831, "under the
conviction," as their committee remark, "that a reform in our
seminaries of learning was greatly needed, both for the preservation
of health, and for giving energy to the character by habits of useful
and vigorous exercise." Shortly after entering upon the prosecution
of his object, in an extensive tour of observation in the northern
and western states, the journey of the agent,[2] as his employers
relate, was interrupted by serious accidents which befel him, one of
which (and we notice the narrative as an apt and striking
illustration of the excellency of that system of training to which he
had been accustomed, and which it was the design of his agency to
recommend,) was the carrying away of the stage in Alum Creek, near
Columbus, in the state of Ohio. "The creek," as they inform us,
"being swollen by the great flood, in crossing, at midnight, the
swiftness of the current forced the whole down the stream, till the
stage-wagon came to pieces, and the Agent was thrown directly among
the horses. After being repeatedly struck down by their struggles, he
became entangled in the harness, and hurried with them along the
current. At length, released from this peril, he reached the shore,
and grasped a root in the bank; but it broke, and again the stream
bore him on to the middle of the channel. At length he espied a tree
which had fallen so that its top lay in the water, and by the most
desperate efforts, all encumbered as he was with his travelling
garments, he succeeded in reaching a branch; but his benumbed hands
refused their grasp, and slipped, and then he was swept among some
bushes in an eddy, where his feet rested on the ground. Here in the
dead of night, in the forest, ignorant whether there was a house or a
human being within many miles, bruised and chilled in the wintry
stream, he seems calmly to have made up his mind to die, sustained by
the hopes of the religion which he professed. But Providence had
determined otherwise, and reserved him for farther usefulness. His
cries were heard by a kind hearted woman on the opposite side of the
stream, who wakened her husband; and, after a few days detention, he
{246} proceeded on his journey. From the accounts (the committee
continue,) which are already before the public, it seems plain that
_nothing but a constitution invigorated by manual labor_, and a soul
sustained by the grace of God, could have survived the hardships of
that night."
[Footnote 2: Mr. Weld.]
There are probably but few who will dissent from this decision; and
we will add, that in our opinion, a preservation so extraordinary,
exclusive of a Providential interposition which some will think they
discern in it, affords an argument for manual labor schools, or
physical education, more pointed, and perhaps conclusive, than all
which this indefatigable agent has said himself, or gleaned from the
testimony of others, although this composes an amount of evidence of
the most convincing kind.
In the report alluded to, the Agent himself observes that "God has
revealed his will to man upon the subject of education. It is written
in the language of nature, and can be understood without a
commentary. This revelation consists in the universal consciousness
of those influences which body and mind exert upon each
other--influences innumerable, incessant, and all-controlling; the
body continually modifying the state of the mind, and the mind ever
varying the condition of the body.
"Every man who has marked the reciprocal action of body and mind,
surely need not be told that mental and physical training should go
together. Even the slightest change in the condition of the body
often produces an effect upon the mind so sudden and universal, as to
seem almost miraculous. The body is the mind's palace; but darken its
windows, and it is a prison. It is the mind's instrument; sharpened,
it cuts keenly--blunted, it can only bruise and disfigure. It is the
mind's reflector; if bright, it flashes day--if dull, it diffuses
twilight. It is the mind's servant; if robust, it moves with swift
pace upon its errands--if a cripple, it hobbles on crutches. We
attach infinite value to the mind, and justly; but in this world, it
is good for nothing without the body. Can a man think without the
brain?--can he feel without nerves?--can he move without muscles? The
ancients were right in the supposition that an unsound body is
incompatible with a sound mind. [They looked only for the _mens sana
in corpore sano_.] He who attempts mental effort during a fit of
indigestion, will cease to wonder that Plato located the soul in the
stomach. A few drops of water upon the face, or a feather burnt under
the nostril of one in a swoon, awakens the mind from its deep sleep
of unconsciousness. A slight impression made upon a nerve often
breaks the chain of thought, and the mind tosses in tumult. Let a
peculiar vibration quiver upon the nerve of hearing, and a tide of
wild emotion rushes over the soul. The man who can think with a gnat
in his eye, or reason while the nerve of a tooth is twinging, or when
his stomach is nauseated, or when his lungs are oppressed and
laboring; he who can give wing to his imagination when shivering with
cold, or fainting with heat, or worn down with toil, can claim
exemption from the common lot of humanity.
"In different periods of life, the mind waxes and wanes with the
body; in youth, cheerful, full of daring, quick to see, and keen to
feel; in old age, desponding, timid, perception dim, and emotion
languid. When the blood circulates with unusual energy, the coward
rises into a hero; when it creeps feebly, the hero sinks into a
coward. The effects produced by the different states of the mind upon
the body, are equally sudden and powerful. Plato used to say that all
the diseases of the body proceed from the soul. [With more of
propriety, we think, it may be said, that at least three-fourths of
the diseases that afflict humanity, arise from an injudicious
treatment of the body. But be this as it may, the fact is too obvious
to be disputed, that the mind acts powerfully upon the animal frame.]
The expression of the countenance _is mind visible_. _Bad news_
weaken the action of the heart, oppress the lungs, destroy appetite,
stop digestion, and partially suspend all the functions of the animal
system. An emotion of shame flushes the face; fear blanches it; joy
illuminates it; and an instant thrill electrifies a million of
nerves. Powerful emotion often kills the body at a stroke. Chilo,
Diagoras, and Sophocles died of joy at the Elean games. The news of a
defeat killed Philip V. One of the Popes died of an emotion of the
ludicrous, on seeing his pet monkey robed in pontificals, and
occupying the chair of state. The door-keeper of Congress expired
upon hearing of the surrender of Cornwallis. Pinckney, Emmet, and
Webster are recent instances of individuals who have died either in
the midst of an impassioned burst of eloquence, or when the deep
emotion that had produced it had suddenly subsided. Indeed, the
experience of every day demonstrates that the body and mind are
endowed with such mutual susceptibilities, that each is alive to the
slightest influence of the other. What is the common-sense inference
from this fact? Manifestly this--that the body and the mind _should
be educated together_.
"The states of the body are infinitely various. All these different
states differently affect the mind. They are causes, and their
effects have all the variety which mark the causes that produce them.
If then different conditions of the body differently affect the mind,
some electrifying, and others paralyzing its energies, what duty can
be plainer than _to preserve the body in that condition which will
most favorably affect the mind_? If the Maker of both was infinitely
wise, then the highest _permanent_ perfection of the mind can be
found only in connection with the most healthful state of the body.
Has infinite wisdom established laws by which the best condition of
the mind is _permanently_ connected with any other than the best
condition of the body? When all the bodily functions are perfectly
performed, the mind must be in a better state than when these
functions are imperfectly performed. And now I ask, is not that
system of education fundamentally defective, which makes no provision
for putting the body in its best condition, and for keeping it in
that condition? A system which expends its energies upon the mind
alone, and surrenders the body either to the irregular promptings of
perverted instinct, or to the hap-hazard impulses of chance or
necessity? A system which aims solely at the development of mind, and
yet overlooks those very principles which are indispensable to
produce that development, and transgresses those very laws which
constitute the only ground-work of rational education? Such a system
sunders what God has joined together, and impeaches the wisdom which
pronounced that union good. It destroys the symmetry of human
proportion, and makes man a monster. It reverses the {247} order of
the constitution; commits outrage upon its principles; breaks up its
reciprocities; makes war alike upon physical health and intellectual
energy, dividing man against himself; arming body and mind in mutual
hostility, and prolonging the conflict until each falls a prey to the
other, and both surrender to ruin.
"The system of education which is generally pursued in the United
States, is unphilosophical in its elementary principles; ill adapted
to the condition of man; practically mocks his necessities, and is
intrinsically absurd. The high excellences of the system in other
respects are readily admitted and fully appreciated. Modern education
has indeed achieved wonders. But what has been done meanwhile for the
body? [Nothing--comparatively nothing.] The prevailing neglect of the
body in the present system of education, is a defect for which no
excellence can atone. Nor is this a recent discovery. Two centuries
ago Milton wrote a pamphlet upon this subject, in which he eloquently
urged the connection of physical with mental education in literary
institutions. Locke inveighs against it in no measured terms. Since
that time, Jahn, Ackerman, Salzman, and Franck, in Germany; Tissot,
Rousseau, and Londe, in France; and Fellenberg, in Switzerland, have
all written largely upon the subject."
In addition to what this individual has himself said, he has
exhibited in the pamphlet referred to, an amount of testimony derived
from a number of the most distinguished literary men in our country,
to the imperfections of the existing system of education which is
truly overwhelming, and enough, we should think, could it be
universally disseminated, to arouse and restore to reason the whole
civilized world. Indeed, we indulge the hope that it has planted the
seeds of a revolution in our literary institutions; and our only
surprise is, that it should advance with no greater celerity. The
following important positions, however, in regard to the subject, may
now be considered as established. Constant habits of exercise are
indispensable to a healthful state of the body. A healthful state of
body is essential to a vigorous and active state of mind. The habit
of exercise should commence with the ability to take it, and should
be continued with that ability through life. Of the different kinds
of exercise, as a general rule, agricultural, being the most natural,
and to which the human constitution is best adapted, is the most
unobjectionable; _mechanical_ is the next; and walking and riding are
the employments which follow in the rear. The exercise most
profitable, for the most part will be that which is most useful. The
neglect of exercise, with sedentary men, has occasioned fearful havoc
of health and life; and the wilful neglect of it, with those who have
had an opportunity to be enlightened with respect to its necessity
and value, is a species of suicide, and, therefore, _an immorality_.
The connection of _manual labor establishments with literary
institutions_, has been found to be greatly conducive to health and
morals, as also to proficiency in the various departments of human
learning; and as far as experience has gone, the promise which they
give of success is all that their most sanguine projectors had
anticipated.
On the subject of _manual labor schools_, a deep interest has within
a few years been excited in various parts of the Union. Like all
other enterprises which aim at the accomplishment of extensive good,
it has met with opposition and discouragements; but originating in
the principles of true wisdom, and supported by arguments and facts
which none can gainsay or resist, its ultimate triumph may safely be
predicted, and confidently anticipated.
Whether the system of physical education shall receive the
countenance, or is suited to the peculiar circumstances of the
southern country, may with some be made a question; but we are ready
to hazard the assertion, that whatever obstacles of a peculiar nature
may here lie in the way of reducing it to practice, if properly
considered, they must be seen to be in truth the most powerful
inducements that can be urged for its adoption.
The country in which physical education cannot prevail, in the onward
march of improvements for which the present age is distinguished,
must necessarily be destined to be outstripped in the pursuit of
those objects which constitute the felicity and the glory of a
people. That this country is to fall behind, and to be contented to
remain there, is to suppose an event too disreputable for tolerance,
and too much opposed to a laudable spirit of emulation to be
cheerfully acquiesced in. The south needs men of vigorous
constitutions for professional avocations and other purposes, as well
as the rest of the world, and if she has them, must obtain them by
the same process. Trained on a different plan, her sons, in
comparison with others, will be effeminate and inefficient. Many of
them, as has happened with others in past times, would become the
prey of incurable disease, or fall the victims of an untimely grave.
According to the most accurate investigations that have been made, at
least _one-fourth_ of the individuals who, for several years past,
have been educated in our American colleges, have been completely
prostrated in their course, or have survived only to drag out an
existence rendered burdensome to themselves and unprofitable to
others. The voice of warning on this topic, while mournful and
alarming, is as "_the voice of many waters_."
Distinguished intellectual excellence depends, we believe, to a
greater extent than almost any have imagined, on a robust frame of
the body; and in farther corroboration of the views that have already
been expressed on this subject, I would request the privilege of
subjoining a few passages of striking originality, from the pen of
the powerful and popular author of the essay "On Decision of
Character."
"As a previous observation," he remarks, "it is beyond all doubt that
very much of the principles that appear to produce, or to constitute
this commanding distinction, (of decision of character) depends on
the constitution of the body. It is for physiologists to explain the
_manner_ in which corporeal organization affects the mind; I only
assert the fact, that there is in the material construction of some
persons, much more than of others, some quality which augments, if it
does not create, both the stability of their resolution, and the
energy of their active tendencies. There is something that, like the
ligatures which one class of Olympic combatants bound on their hands
and wrists, braces round, if I may so describe it, and compresses the
powers of the mind, giving them a steady and forcible spring and
reaction, which they would presently lose, if they could be
transferred into a constitution of soft, yielding, treacherous
debility. The action of strong {248} character seems to demand
something firm in its corporeal basis, as massive engines require for
their weight and for their working, to be fixed on a solid
foundation. Accordingly I believe it would be found, that a majority
of the persons most remarkable for decisive character, have possessed
great constitutional firmness. I do not mean an exemption from
disease and pain, nor any certain measure of mechanical strength, but
a tone of vigor, the opposite to lassitude, and adapted to great
exertion and endurance. This is clearly evinced in respect to many of
them, by the prodigious labors and deprivations which they have borne
in prosecuting their designs. The physical nature has seemed a proud
ally of the moral one, and with a hardness that would never shrink,
has sustained the energy that could never remit.
"A view of the disparities between the different races of animals
inferior to man, will show the effect of organization on disposition.
Compare, for instance, a lion with the common beasts of our fields,
many of them composed of a larger bulk of animated substance. What a
vast superiority of courage, impetuous movement, and determined
action; and we attribute this difference to some great dissimilarity
of modification in the composition of the animated material. Now it
is probable that some difference, partly analogous, subsists between
human bodies, and that this is no small part of the cause of the
striking inequalities in respect of decisive character. A very
decisive man has probably more of the physical quality of a _lion_ in
his composition than other men.
"It is observable that women in general have less inflexibility of
character than men; and though many moral influences contribute to
this difference, the principal cause is, probably, something less
firm in the corporeal texture. Now, one may have in his constitution
a firmness of texture, exceeding that of other men, in a much greater
degree than that by which men in general exceed women.
"If there have been found some resolute spirits powerfully asserting
themselves in feeble vehicles, it is so much the better; since this
would authorize a hope, that if all other grand requisites can be
combined, they may form a strong character, in spite of the
counteraction of an unadapted constitution. And on the other hand, no
constitutional hardness will form the true character without those
grand principles; though it may produce that false and contemptible
kind of decision which we term _obstinacy_; a mere stubbornness of
temper, which can assign no reason but its will, for a constancy
which acts in the nature of dead weight rather than of strength;
resembling less the reaction of a powerful spring than the
gravitation of a big stone."
In opposition to the system of education which we would defend, a
voice of objection has been raised, to which it may not be improper
to pay a passing regard.
It has been preferred as an objection to manual labor schools, which
we shall assume, are, on the whole, the most unexceptionably
expedient that has been proposed for connecting exercise with a
course of literary training,[3] that _youth who have been
unaccustomed to manual labor, and who have been permitted to indulge
in idleness and sportive amusements for the purpose of recreation,
will feel an insuperable aversion to the toils and restraints which
such a revolution in their habits, as the one contemplated, will
impose on them_.
[Footnote 3: Gymnastic exercises are both dangerous and frivolous.]
The process of _taming_, though quite essential to the unruly, to
"flesh and blood" is never "joyous, but rather grievous." The
objection started is something like that which the celebrated Rush,
in some of his original effusions, has observed is met with in the
case of certain morbid patients, whose _weak stomachs refuse milk as
a diet_. The food itself, in the judgment of the acute physician, is
of the most simple, inoffensive, and invigorating character; and _the
fact that it is rejected is the proof that it is needed_. The
intemperate can ill brook the privation of _alcohol_; the epicure and
debauché will not relinquish with good will the gratification of
inordinate appetites; nor will the _slothful_, who _turns himself in
his bed as the door on the hinges_, give up with cheerfulness _the
luxury of laziness_. But the true and proper question for
determination is, would it not be doing to loungers and profligates
themselves, as well as to others, a kindness, to put them upon a
course of _regimen_, (provided it can be done without too great an
exertion of violence,) which should bring them back to nature, and
constrain them to a just and proper observance of the salutary laws
of industry, sobriety, and temperance? With such an authority we
think that the parents and guardians of youth every where should be
invested; and those who should manifest a spirit of insubordination
against its exercise, if that spirit could not be quelled by a
temperate yet firm resistance, would exhibit the proof of a temper
that ought to be regarded in a young man _as a positive
disqualification for receiving an education_.
In our apprehension it is by no means among the most trivial
considerations that recommend the manual labor feature in a system of
education, that it furnishes an admirable _test_ by which to try the
spirit of a pupil, as well as a choice expedient to invigorate his
health and inure him to habits of diligence and sobriety. A young man
whose aversion to a manual labor school is so strong that it cannot
be overcome, when the subject has been fairly presented to his mind,
it may safely be taken for granted, is not worth educating. The
community would lose nothing by the operation of a system which
should exclude him from the ranks of its _literati_. Especially would
the test in question operate favorably in the education of the
_beneficiaries_ of the church, whom she is at present somewhat
extensively engaged in patronizing and preparing for her future
ministry. Great as we conceive it, and great as the history of past
ages has proved it to be, is the hazard which the church runs of
rearing an impure priesthood, by proposing the _gratuitous education_
of all the professedly "indigent and pious" who will apply for her
bounty. The temptation to insincerity which is thus held out is too
powerful to be resisted by depraved human nature. The church for
safety in this respect must raise munitions and throw up her
ramparts, to guard against the admission of unhallowed intruders. And
what better defence, we would ask, could the ingenuity of man have
devised for the prevention of the evils adverted to, than that _the
entire amount of contributions which are made for the education of
candidates for the ministry, should flow to them exclusively through
the manual labor channel_? An inspired Apostle has said, that _if any
man will not work, neither shall he eat_: and in perfect accordance,
as we think, {249} with the spirit of this declaration, we would
unhesitatingly affirm, that if any man, who has the ministry in view,
when the opportunity is fully presented, will not enter a manual
labor school, _and labor, working with his own hands_, for at least a
part of his support, _neither should he eat the bread of the church_,
nor be fostered by her charities to minister at her altars.
To say that students for their recreation need something more amusing
and sportive than the useful and sober exercises of agricultural and
mechanical employment, is to say that the propensity of young men to
levity and frivolity is so powerful that it cannot be, and ought not
to be, controlled; that to aim to instil into them the habits and
sentiments of gravity and sobriety is an unnatural and impracticable
undertaking; and that it is more advisable to treat them as _merry
Andrews_ than as possessing the dignity of rational, immortal and
accountable creatures.
Let a system of education make provision for nothing but what is
elevated and useful, and still space enough will be left for all the
frivolity and sporting which any can deem to be absolutely essential.
These things will take care of themselves, and will inevitably come
in, on any plan that may be adopted, to secure all the advantages
which they are capable of affording.
Another objection which has been preferred to manual labor schools
is, _that they contribute but little or nothing to the support of the
student_.
The truth on this subject, as could be satisfactorily shown is, that,
as might naturally be expected, manual labor schools, being a novel
experiment in this country, have had to struggle, as do all similar
enterprises of benevolence at the outset, with formidable obstacles;
and in some instances, through injudiciousness in their location, or
mismanagement in their arrangements, have either been abandoned, or
have failed to fulfil the expectations of their projectors.
Mercantile and other adventurers often fail in their plans. At the
same time it is undeniable, that some institutions of this sort have
succeeded beyond all previous calculations, and the students that
composed them have not only enjoyed better health than others, and
made more rapid advances in knowledge, but a portion of them have, by
the avails of their labors, defrayed _the whole_ of their expenses; a
few have done _more_; and a majority have diminished them about
_one-half_. Manual labor establishments, therefore, will do
_something_ (we ought not to expect them to do _every thing_,)
towards _cheapening_ education, even in the infancy of their
existence; and the thought can hardly fail to be cheering to American
republicans and patriots, that in the full tide of successful
operation which we believe will attend their maturer age, "full many
a flower" which but for them would be "born to bloom and blush
unseen," will shed its "sweetness on" Columbia's "air."
But admit for a moment that manual labor schools are an utter failure
as regards _the pecuniary advantages which they afford_. Admit, if
you please, that the manual labor feature is an expensive part of
education, and that to comply with it an education will cost more
than on any other plan. The argument for their utility remains alike
unanswered and unshaken. Is not the education thus obtained a more
perfect one? Is it not immensely more valuable? Are health, morals,
useful habits, vigorous intellects, and life, worth nothing? Is money
expended for the improvement and preservation of these thrown away?
If manual labor schools increased the expenses of education
_fourfold_, they would still deserve the warm patronage of the
public, and all who have the ability should send their sons to them
to be educated, in preference to any other institutions, even should
they have as many of them as the Patriarch, or be endowed with the
riches of Crœsus.
It is an ill-judged economy which saves money at the sacrifice of
life, health, and morals. Let this subject be _understood_ by an
intelligent and Christian community, and manual labor schools will
not be left to languish and die without endowments, while on other
institutions of less substantial claims, they are lavished with a
princely munificence.
In this place, it may not be amiss to attend for a short time, to the
testimony of some of the pupils and superintendants of manual labor
schools, who have detailed the results of their observation and
experience, and which is strong and decided in their favor.
In one instance the pupils say, that "believing the results of
experiment weightier than theory, we beg leave respectfully to
express those convictions respecting the plan of our institution,
which have been created solely by our own experience in its details.
1. We are convinced that the general plan is practicable. 2. That the
amount of labor required (three hours per day) does not exceed the
actual demands of the human system. 3. That this amount of labor does
not retard the progress of the student, but by preserving and
augmenting his physical energies, does eventually facilitate it. 4.
That the legitimate effect of such a system upon body and mind, is
calculated to make men hardy, enterprising and independent; and to
wake up within them a spirit perseveringly to do, and endure, and
dare. 5. Though the experiment at every step of its progress has been
seriously embarrassed with difficulties, neither few in number nor
inconsiderable in magnitude, as those know full well who have
experienced them, yet it has held on its way till the entire
practicability of the plan stands embodied in actual demonstration.
In conclusion, (they add,) we deem it a privilege, while tendering
this testimony of our experience, to enter upon the record our
unwavering conviction, that the principle which has been settled by
this experiment involves in its practical developments an immense
amount of good to our world; it is demanded by the exigences of this
age of action, when ardor is breathing for higher attempt, and energy
wakes to mightier accomplishment."
On a subsequent occasion another set of pupils belonging to the same
institution, express their convictions in a similar tone of
approbation.
"The influence of the system," they say, "on health, is decidedly
beneficial, as all of us can testify who have pursued it for any
length of time. We can pursue our studies not only without injury,
but with essential advantage. Not only is our bodily power increased
instead of being diminished on this plan, but the powers of the mind
are augmented, while moral sensibility is not blunted by hours of
idleness and dissipation. We suffer no loss of time, as no more is
spent in labor than is usually spent by students in recreation; and
we are taught to improve every hour. Our opinion is, that
intellectual progress is accelerated rather than retarded {250} by
this system. In its success, we are convinced, is deeply involved the
prosperity of education, and the great work of evangelizing the
world."
The students of Cumberland College in the State of Kentucky, say, "we
beg leave to state the results of our own experience. Having been for
a considerable time, members of a manual labor institution, we have
had an exhibition of its principles and efficacy continually before
us; and we are convinced that labor, for two hours or more each day,
is essential to the health of all close students, and equally
necessary for the development of the mind."
The young men in the theological institution at Hamilton, in the
State of New York, say, "we feel the fullest conviction that every
student who neglects systematic exercise, is effecting the ruin of
his physical and moral powers. Nor is the influence of this
unpardonable neglect less perceptible or deleterious, as it regards
his moral feelings. Without it, however pure his motives, or ardent
his desire to do good, we have but faint hopes of his success. Such
habits as he would inevitably form, we believe, would ruin all the
nobler energies of his nature. We think three hours appropriate
exercise each day will not eventually retard progress in study. We
must say, from five or six years experience in the institution, we
have not learned that any close student has ever completed an entire
course of study without serious detriment to health. We hope,
however, our present system of exercise will soon enable us to
exhibit a different statement. In the preservation and improvement of
health, we have found an unspeakable benefit arising from systematic
exercise. Without it, we deem it impossible for the close student to
preserve his health."
The superintendants of a kindred institution, in a document which
they have laid before the public, declare, that they "have great
satisfaction in being able to state that a strong conviction pervades
the minds of the _young men_ generally, as well as their own, that
laborious exercise for three hours per day does not occupy more time
than is necessary for the highest corporeal and mental energy; that
so far from retarding literary progress, it greatly accelerates it;
that instead of finding labor to encroach upon their regular hours of
study, they find themselves able, with a vigorous mind, to devote
from eight to ten hours per day to intellectual pursuits; that under
the influence of this system, mental lassitude is seldom if ever
known; that good health and a good constitution are rarely if ever
injured; that constitutions rendered delicate, and prostrated by hard
study without exercise, have been built up and established; that this
system with temperance is a sovereign antidote against dyspepsia and
hypochondria, with all their innumerable and indescribable woes; that
it annihilates the dread of future toil, self-denial, and dependence;
secures to them the practical knowledge and benefits of agricultural
and mechanical employments; gives them familiar access to, and
important influence over that great class of business men, of which
the world is principally composed; equalizes and extends the
advantages of education; and lays deep and broad the foundations of
republicanism; promotes the advancement of consistent piety, by
connecting _diligence in business_ with _fervency of spirit_, and
will bless the church with such increasing numbers of ministers of
such spirit and physical energy, as will fit them to _endure hardness
as good soldiers of Jesus Christ_."
We are every day more and more impressed with the importance and
practicability of the manual labor system, as the only one by which
the increasing hundreds and thousands of the pious and talented sons
of the church can be raised up with the enterprise, and activity, and
power of endurance, which are indispensable for the conversion of the
world to God.
To these statements the individual who has collected them, adds his
own testimony in the following language: "I have been for three years
and a half a member of a manual labor school. The whole number of my
fellow students during that period was about two hundred. I was
personally acquainted with every individual, and merely 'speak what I
know,' and 'testify what I have seen,' when I state that every
_student_ who acquired a reputation for sound scholarship during this
time, was a _fast friend_ of the manual labor system. The most
intelligent, without a single exception, were not only thoroughly
convinced of the importance of the system, but _they loved it with
all their hearts_. They counted it a privilege and a delight to give
their testimony in its favor, and they _did it_ in good earnest.
Their approval of the system rose into an intelligent and abiding
passion; and it is no marvel that it was so; for they had within them
a permanent, living consciousness of its benefits and blessings. They
felt it in their _bodies_, knitting their muscles into firmness,
compacting their limbs, consolidating their frame work, and thrilling
with fresh life the very marrow of their bones. They felt it in their
_minds_, giving tenacity to memory, stability to judgment, acuteness
to discrimination, multiform analogy to the suggestive faculty, and
daylight to perception. They felt it in their _hearts_, renovating
every susceptibility, and swelling the tide of emotion. It is true,
with a few, a very few of the students, the system was unpopular, and
so were languages and mathematics, philosophy and rhetoric, and every
thing else in the daily routine, _save the bed and the dinner table_.
Such students were snails in the field, drones in the workshop, dumb
in debate, pigmies in the recitation room, and cyphers at the black
board.
"In every manual labor school which I visited in my tour," he
continues, "it was the invariable testimony of trustees and teachers,
that the talent, the scholarship, the manliness, the high promise of
all such institutions, were found among the pupils who gave the
manual labor system their hearty approval; whereas if there were
among the students brainless coxcombs, sighing sentimentalists,
languishing effeminates, and other nameless things of equivocal
gender; to prostitute _their_ delicate persons to the vile outrage of
manual labor, was indeed a _sore affliction!_"
We shall close these selections by adding to them the testimony of an
individual[4] of distinguished literary attainments, whose advantages
for obtaining correct information on this topic, as well as many
others, have been of the most favorable kind.
[Footnote 4: Professor Stuart.]
"The God of nature," he observes, "has designed the body for action;
and all efforts to counteract this design, end of course in
disappointment, sooner or later. The same God has designed that men
should _cultivate_ {251} _their minds_; and I never can believe that
this is deleterious in itself; it is so only when we neglect what he
has bidden us to observe, i.e. daily discipline and effort to
preserve health.
"Students want vacations, journeys, remission from employment, &c.
&c. and this at a great expense of time and money. Why? Because they
will not be faithful, _every day_, to watch over their health, and to
use all the requisite means for its preservation. Why should the
farmer, the mechanic, the merchant, the physician, the lawyer,
support a never ceasing round of employment, and the student not? Is
there any curse laid by heaven upon study? No; it is
inaction--laziness--that makes all the mischief, and occasions all
the expense. This is my full persuasion from thirty years experience,
and somewhat extensive observation."
To these selections others of similar interest and importance might
be added from the _Report_ from which they have been derived,
particularly the numerous and harmonious opinions of literary men,
_on the necessity and utility of regular systematic exercise to the
student_; but our time forbids the indulgence, and the maxim of
_Festina ad finem_ admonishes us to cut short this address.
From the view that has been taken, we perceive then, with a clearness
which cannot be mistaken, that the manual labor system of education
is applauded by "a cloud of witnesses," and commended to our
patronage and attention by arguments and facts innumerable, palpable,
and unanswerable. Will the inquiry be misplaced, when we ask, Shall
it _here_, (on this consecrated ground, this literary _high place_,
which is destined to send forth a mighty stream of influence for good
or ill, to an extent which no arithmetic can calculate,) shall it
_here_ receive the countenance and patronage which it so richly
deserves? Manual labor schools are already in successful operation in
this southern country, and the prosperity that has attended them has
been such as to silence the cavils of opposers, and remove the
apprehensions of the distrustful. With all enlightened and candid
persons there can be but _one mind_ respecting their practicability
and their _peculiar_ importance in this southern region. It is the
very section perhaps, of all others, within the limits of our
republic, that is best adapted to their growth, both on account of
its soil and climate, and in which, from its peculiar situation,
their influence is most imperiously demanded.
Again, then, I ask, will "the ancient and honorable Dominion" consent
to be outstripped by her neighbors in an enterprise of so much
grandeur and promise? Will parents, instructors, and pupils, repose
in inglorious ease, and cry _a little more sleep, a little more
folding of the hands to sleep_, while others in the race of
competition press forward and bear off the prize? Will the young men
of Hampden Sidney and Union Seminary sit still; or will they "awake,
arise, and put on their strength?" Interests that are dear as honor
and life, are suspended on the _practical_ reply which this inquiry
receives.
It is stated, as is probable on good authority, that in years that
have gone by, "some of the Virginian philanthropists offered to
educate some of the Indians, and that they received from the shrewd
savages the following reply." (He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear what the _savages_ have said to the _civilized_!)
"Brothers of the white skin! You must know that all people do not
have the same ideas upon the same subjects; and you must not take it
ill that our manner of thinking in regard to the kind of education
which you offer us does not agree with yours. We have had in this
particular some experience. Several of our young men were some time
since educated at the Northern Colleges, and learned there all the
sciences. But when they returned to us, we found they were spoiled.
They were _miserable runners_. They did not know how to live in the
woods. They could not bear hunger and cold. They could not build a
cabin, nor kill a deer, nor conquer an enemy. They had even forgotten
our language; so that not being able to serve us as warriors, or
hunters, or counsellors, they were absolutely good for nothing."
The calamities which are here set forth in such graphic terms have by
no means been confined to the fathers and the sons of the forest. The
_white_ young men of Virginia, in great numbers, have since been
educated in like manner "at Northern Colleges," or nearer home: and
when restored to their parents and guardians have been found, for the
most part, like the sons of the _red men_, to be "_absolutely good
for nothing_." They have proved to be "miserable runners." Not one in
twenty of them has risen to eminence in professional life. They could
"bear neither hunger nor cold." They were practically ignorant of
mechanical and agricultural employments, and strongly averse to them;
too high minded and indolent to labor, and too weak and effeminate to
"serve as warriors, and hunters, and counsellors." Will Virginian
parents learn a lesson from their own past experience and that of
their savage predecessors? The corrective which we propose for the
evil complained of, (and it is too serious for merriment,) is the
immediate introduction of the manual labor system into all our
institutions of learning. If this feature is introduced and kept up
in them, with a prominence proportioned to its importance, our youth,
who are educated in them, if not fitted for usefulness and
distinction in the departments of law, medicine and theology, will
not be utterly "spoiled" as the sons of the _red men_ were; but will
be good "runners," useful and respectable laborers, mechanics,
planters, and farmers. This, after all, is the population, of which,
more than any other, Virginia needs an increase. The low state of
mechanic arts and of agriculture among us, or rather the prevailing
vice of _indolence_, is the true source of the present disasters
which are so often made the theme of popular declamation by stump
orators and upstart politicians. It is _indolence_, more than any or
every thing else, that checks the spirit of enterprise; that covers
this fairest portion of our continent with _sackcloth_, and spreads
over it the sable shroud of desolation. Let then a revolution be
effected in our system of education. Let our youth be trained for the
duties of practical life. Let them be instructed in what is useful,
as well as ornamental; and let them bring minds stored with the
riches of learning and science, to bear and act on _the subject of
most absorbing temporal interest to the American people_, I mean the
neglected subject of _agriculture_, and all will yet be well. The
citizens of the South will then be independent indeed, and not in
boast. Labor, like "marriage," will be "honorable in all." The work
which misguided abolitionists are laboring, with a zeal that would be
becoming in a better cause, to perform {252} by a meddlesome and
violent interference, will be effected by the gradual and voluntary
agency of her own inhabitants. Her population will multiply. Commerce
will thrive. Barren fields will be clothed with verdure. The
productions of the earth will be increased. Crowded cities and
smiling villages will spring up. The halls of legislation will be
occupied by the hardy and virtuous cultivators of the soil, the men
of all others the most safe to be entrusted with the enactment and
administration of laws. Colleges, academies, and schools, will prove
the nurseries of enlightened, healthful, industrious, and happy
freemen; and Christianity, untrammelled by the obstacles that now so
powerfully impede its progress, with a field wide and waving with a
luxuriant harvest open and inviting before her, will send abroad her
genial and regenerating influences, and render this the Paradise of
lands.
We will conclude this, perhaps too protracted performance, in the
language of an Indian Cazique.
"Would you know," he asked, "how I would have my children instructed
in the ways of men? Look at this handful of dust gathered from the
golden bed of the silver-flowing Aracara. What an infinite number of
particles--yet how few the grains of ore which we prize; how great
the toil which is necessary to sift out and separate them from the
worthless heap in which they are concealed; even so it is with the
history of the generations of men, from the creation downwards.
Events have passed which no tongue can number; but the events which
mark the character of human nature, and which are worthy of being
treasured up in our memories, are but few, and only by the eye of
wisdom to be distinguished.
"Let my children then be taught what these few events are; let them
be spared the life's labor of turning over the mountain of dross
which time has heaped up, in search of the scattered gems which are
to lighten their path through the world; conduct them at once into
the only treasury of true knowledge--that treasury which Philosophy
has gleaned from the experience of thousands of generations."