to the notions of comfort and thrift which the young lady possessed.
She not only taught the children at school, but, in each family where
she boarded, taught the housekeeper how to make _good yeast_ and _good
bread_. She also taught the young women how to cut dresses and how to
braid straw for bonnets.
Her instructions in the day-school and in the Sunday-school, and her
influence in the families, were unbounded, and almost transforming. No
minister, however well qualified, could have wrought such favourable
changes in so short a time.
In another case, known to the writer, a young lady went into such a
destitute village. There was no church, and no minister of any sect.
She taught the children through the week, and also instituted a
Sunday-school. In this she conducted religious worship herself. Gradually
the mothers came to attend, then the fathers, until, at last, she found
herself in the office both of teacher and clergyman. The last portion of
her duties she resigned to a minister, who, by her instrumentality, was
settled there.
The writer might mention several other similar cases which have come to
her knowledge.
There are hundreds of such destitute places in our land, where a prudent,
self-denying, and energetic woman might be instrumental in leading a
whole community “out of darkness into marvellous light,” and there are
hundreds of such women wishing to go to them.
The writer, when returning to the East, has often been met by young
friends with such representations as these: “I have nothing to employ
my time which satisfies my conscience. I have education, leisure, and
means; can you find me a sphere of usefulness which I can reach _with
propriety_? I cannot go off alone; for, even if I thought it proper, my
friends would not consent.”
Again, another friend says, “Why cannot you find something for Miss G. to
do? She is well educated, rich, benevolent, and really is suffering for
want of something to do. She has thought of going on a foreign mission,
but surely there is enough for her to do in her own country.”
Yes, surely, there is enough to do in our own country. When will the
wise, and the influential, and the benevolent awake to this subject, and
devise the proper mode of meeting such wants?
Those who are interested in the project presented in this work by
no means assume that this is the _best way_. They only feel that
_something_ ought to be attempted; and that, if this effort does no other
good, it may put in train influences that will develop a better way.
The writer of this volume also presents this enterprise, not as the plan
of an individual, but as a project devised, by consultation, among many
ladies of influence and benevolence, who are interested in securing its
success. And if it is effected, it is hoped that it will be by such
_simultaneous_ interest and efforts, that no one will be conspicuous,
either as originator or leader in the enterprise.
The views presented in this work are those held in common by a large
number of intelligent ladies in all parts of our land; and, though
one has been selected and requested to write this work, it should be
regarded, not as the opinions of an individual, but as a wreath of
benevolence, woven, indeed, by one hand, but gathered from many noble and
benevolent minds.
The following extracts from letters received from gentlemen of high
standing in various parts of our nation, will serve to corroborate the
views expressed in the preceding pages:
_From the Hon. Thomas Burrowes, late Secretary of State in Pennsylvania._
I have long been of opinion that the _great deficiency_ of our age and
country, in reference to the sound instruction of the coming generation,
is the _want of teachers_.
I am now fully convinced that this want _must be_ supplied _before_ any
other step can be safely or usefully taken. Nay, I believe that, until
this indispensable preliminary measure is accomplished, money, and
effort, and legislation will be, _as they have been_, money, and effort,
and legislation _nearly_ thrown away. Since 1834, this state has expended
more than _five millions_ for the support of her common schools, and, at
the end of ten years, I see but little improvement.
In this immense expenditure, not a dollar has been spent to secure this
great prerequisite--_good teachers_; and hence the system has not only
failed to obtain general favour, but is in danger of becoming more and
more unacceptable the longer it is tried. It is sad to think that we
have thus wasted _five millions_ of dollars, and _ten years_ of time, to
say nothing of the labour expended and obloquy encountered, and must now
re-commence from the foundation; but so it is.
I know of no cause which so much needs a _general movement_ as this. Let
not its friends shrink from the undertaking because they may not be able
to operate in all, or even in many of the states. Let it be remembered
that if a commencement is made in one state, and a report of results sent
forth, it will serve to start the good work in all the rest.
The necessities, the crying necessities of this cause, are far and away
before those of the Temperance Reform, or of Colleges, or of Foreign
Missions. He who, being fit, should devote himself to this cause, would
confer a greater benefit on his fellow-man than he could possibly do by
any other use of his time and talents.
The missionary to a heathen land opens _the Book of Life_ to his
fellow-man; the missionary in this cause opens _the mind_ of his
fellow-citizens, not only to the Book of Life, but to a knowledge of all
those rights and duties, without which our free institutions cannot stand
to encourage and reform the world.
If my gifts and domestic relations permitted, I should devote myself
to a mission in this and other states for the purpose of impressing on
Legislatures, philanthropists, and teachers, the _necessity of Teachers’
Seminaries_.
A gentleman, supported to operate in this cause, might be employed
in this way. He could visit different states one after another, and
address the citizens of each county in the county town, after long and
full notice. Besides addressing the people publicly, he could appeal to
leading individuals privately, and engage them to act with him for this
object. Meantime, he could be obtaining educational statistics for future
use, and ere long he could make such a report as would set the people to
work in earnest, and for their own sakes.
While thus proceeding, he could also obtain the promise of one or more
intelligent persons in each county, to write on the subject every week
in each of the county newspapers. Articles thus addressed to the reason,
the patriotism, and the _economy_ of the people, would have a powerful
effect, and cost nothing.
If funds could be provided from private benevolence to establish proper
_Teachers’ Institutions_ in two or three states, they would set the
matter far ahead in a few years. They would serve as _models_ and
_inducements_ to the public, and would not long continue to need the
support of private philanthropy. They would really be _normal_, or
_pattern_ establishments.
Beyond a doubt, the plan ought to embrace institutions for the
preparation of _female_ teachers. The gentleness, self-devotion, and
untiring humanity of women eminently qualify them to be the instructers
of the more youthful pupils of both sexes, and of their own of all ages.
There is not a show of any reason why male teachers only should be
provided for at the public charge, when female teachers are as necessary,
as useful, and as much confided in by the public.
_From the Rev. Mr. Sturtevant, President of Illinois College._
“In regard to some voluntary organization to secure popular education, if
it were worked with a truly liberal and Christian spirit, it could, and
would, do us great good in this state: first, by collecting statistics
of our wants, and calling attention (by _the press_, and by _public
lectures_ all over the state) to these wants, and to what has been
accomplished in other states and countries.
2. By supporting, at least in part, _model schools_ in different parts of
the state, to show, _by example_, what good schools are.
3. By bringing public sentiment to bear on the Legislature, especially in
reference to our _school fund_. It is now nearly _two millions_, and is
yearly increasing. _Now_, its whole management is left to the unregulated
action of the Legislature, without a _single mind_ devoted to acquiring
and disseminating knowledge as to the proper mode of using it. Whether,
any one year, there shall be even one _intelligent_ friend of education
in our Legislature, is a matter of chance. If some plan be not devised
for leading the Legislature to wise views, the object of this fund will
be lost. It will a little diminish the expense for each child, but add
nothing towards getting better schools.”
President Sturtevant’s account of the deplorable state of their schools,
and of the _public apathy_ on the subject, is mournful.
_From the Rev. Henry Beecher, of Indianapolis, Indiana._
Much can be done in Indiana, much _ought_ to be done, and _speedily_; for,
1. It will be a more densely-populated state than Ohio or Illinois,
because its land is _uniformly good_.
2. It has been grievously neglected. Its settlers were originally from
Kentucky, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Such do better for flocks and
farms than for mental and moral improvement.
3. We have a good system of common school education, which, for purposes
of Church and State ambition, some sectarians are disposed to break
down; and they are of the dominant sect in the state. Those sects that
foster education are in the minority, and struggling up through many
embarrassments.
4. We have a school fund of more than _two millions_, which is in such
neglect as threatens its _entire loss_.
An agent should be supported to lecture through the state, in every
county town, to secure workers to defend our school system, to protect
our school fund from depredators, to secure an annual Education
Convention, and otherwise exert influence. The right man for such an
agent I know. It is a Dr. Cornett, of Versailles, Ripley Co., Ia. He is a
member of our Senate, and chairman of their Committee on Education: a man
prudent, cool, sagacious, interested in the cause, and of great weight in
the community.
_The following is extracted from a letter from the Dr. Cornett spoken of
above._
Strange it is, that while the benevolent among our people are exerting
themselves so much at home and abroad, that the thousands and millions
_in our own country_ who cannot so much as read one word in the Book
of Life, should be overlooked, and no organization effected in their
behalf. It is absurd to think of a Republic being long sustained without
the people generally being educated. To talk of their maintaining _their
rights_ when denied the means of knowing what their rights are, is to
talk nonsense. If our whole people could be educated by _the right sort
of teachers_, there would be little need of temperance societies, and
temperance newspapers, and lectures, and other means now so properly
employed for _moral reformation_. Our children would enter on the
practical duties of life with pure minds, well fortified against vice
in all shapes. In Indiana we are in deplorable want of _good teachers_
for our common schools. Why cannot some plan be devised for educating
intelligent boys and girls for these duties, and then finding them
situations?
In reference to the school fund, he says,
Many of our state legislators seem more disposed to favour the borrowing
of school money than to promote education. If competent lecturers
were sent among the people, urging the value of education, both in a
_pecuniary_ and _political_ view, these same demagogues would find it for
their interest to become clamorous for the cause. I have been at the head
of the Senate’s Committee on Education, and have had great difficulty in
sustaining the integrity of our school fund. The term of my services has
expired, and I cannot resume them. From what I know of our Legislature,
I believe there is great need of a stir being made among the people in
reference to this matter and the cause in general. My isolated condition,
laborious profession, and poor health forbid my following my feelings
in going forth as a voluntary lecturer; but let some organization be
effected, and numerous and efficient lecturers would rise up to do
_gratuitous_ work.
_The following is from Judge Lane, of the Supreme Court of Ohio._
I believe our Legislature, if left to itself, would permit the Common
Schools to sink and perish in their hands. That body possesses at all
times individuals of great worth, but the larger part have very little
intelligence, and their motives of action are entirely different from
those which would subserve this cause. I believe that an _association
of gentlemen_ in this state is the only mode of leading the Legislature
into the necessary measures, and that, through them, this might be
accomplished _by the press_ and by _public lectures_ (if the right man
and measures are employed). I believe that a change of public opinion on
this subject _cannot_ be secured, _indirectly_, through the elevation of
the minds of a few, nor by the dissemination of good principles by the
circulation of Bibles and tracts, or the settlement of ministers, or the
cultivation of young men in colleges, or in any other speedy mode except
that of an association acting on a specific plan, and pursuing it with
perseverance, and by expedient means. I deem the employment of some
_agent_ indispensable to give form and intensity to such an association;
and a man for this work would require a rare combination of qualities.
_The following is from one of the leading Lawyers of Ohio._
The more I think of this subject of national education, the more I feel
anxious to be up and doing. I do not think that any other field of labour
now presents itself in which so much good can be done, and it is not
the least important consideration, certainly, that while thus engaged
in doing good to others, we shall be, in the highest sense, _educating
ourselves_. All that I can do, I feel anxious to do in this great work;
and as soon as any plan is definitely arranged, I will go to work, and if
I can get time in no other way, will diminish my business for the purpose.
_The following is from E. C. Delavan, Esq., who has devoted so much of
his time for several years to the cause of Temperance._
The importance of the question of national education cannot be overrated.
In a selfish point of view, the old states could well afford to be taxed
a million a year to enlighten the new, but they will not see it or feel
it, I fear, until it is too late; yet much can be done. When leading
minds are suitably impressed, _the mass_ will be. Under God, _the press_
is the great instrument that must be used, and _a long time_ before the
mass will move. It appears to me that the first step to be taken is
to interest men in all parts of the Union _to feed the political and
religious press_. Then, when the public mind is aroused, talents and
means will be found to take hold practically.
_The following is from a Lawyer in Cincinnati._
Our city and vicinity would furnish room for _a dozen_ labourers in this
cause instead of one; and one of the most effectual modes of operation
would be to enlist a dozen others in the cause. A man devoted to this
cause would be welcomed among us as an angel of light by all classes
and all sects, and would be sure to enjoy the good wishes of all, the
positive aid of many, and the useful counsel of not a few. The spirit
of education is largely abroad among us, and only wants an efficient
_leader_ to enable it to breathe a new existence into the whole moral,
social, political, and religious being of our community here, and, by
necessary consequence, into the whole valley of the West. We have the
best tools to work with, the best materials to work upon, and we only
want, and this we sadly want, some person to influence us to use the one
and act upon the other, by commencing _an example_.
I should hail the commencement of such an enterprise as the dawning of a
new light upon the West, and would not only give what little aid I might,
but would use all my little influence to make it work effectually in its
onward progress.
These extracts will suffice to show the vast field of labour open to a
man of talents, supported for the object aimed at.
_The following extract from an address of Prof. Stowe, delivered at
Portland in 1844, corroborates the views expressed by the author on the
subject of moral training._
But in this country, in consequence of our unbounded religious freedom,
the subdivisions of sect are almost innumerable; it is impossible, in a
system of public instruction, to provide separately for them all; and,
unless religious instruction can be given _without sectarianism_, it must
be abandoned.
“In this country the rights of all sects are the same, and any
denomination that would have its own rights respected must respect the
rights of others.
“The time which can be devoted to religious instruction in schools is
necessarily very limited; and if there be an honest and sincere desire
to do right, the whole of this time certainly can be occupied, with
efficiency and profit, without encroaching on the conscience of any sect
which really has a conscience.
“Facts show plainly that, notwithstanding the diversity of sects, there
is common ground on which the sincerely pious of all sects substantially
agree. For example, the most acceptable books of practical piety, which
are oftenest read by Christians of all denominations, have proceeded
from about all the different sects into which Christendom is divided,
and are read by all with scarcely a recognition of the difference
of sect. Such are the writings of Thomas à Kempis and Fenelon, who
were Roman Catholics; of Jeremy Taylor and Bishop Hall, who were
Churchmen; of Baxter, Watts, and Doddridge, who were Presbyterians or
Congregationalists; of Bunyan and Andrew Fuller, who were Baptists; of
Fletcher and Charles Wesley, who were Methodists. This fact alone shows
that there is common ground, and enough of it too, to employ all the time
which can properly be devoted to religious instruction in our public
institutions.
“All Christian sects, without exception, recognise the Bible as the
text-book of their religion. They all acknowledge it to be a book given
of God, and replete with the most excellent sentiments, moral and
religious. None will admit that it is unfavourable to their peculiar
views, but, on the contrary, all claim that it promotes them. To the use
of the Bible, then, as the text-book of religious instruction in our
schools, there can be no serious objection on the part of Christians of
any sect; and even unbelievers very generally admit it to be a very good
and useful book.
“But shall it be the whole Bible? or only the New Testament? or
selections made from one or both?
“A book of mere selection would be very apt to awaken jealousy; and the
exclusion of any part of the Scriptures would, to my mind, be painful.
Let every scholar, then, have a whole Bible. The book can now be obtained
so cheap, that the expense can be no objection.
“But how can the teacher instruct in the Bible without coming on to
sectarian ground? He can teach a great deal in regard to its geography
and antiquities, and can largely illustrate its narrations, and its
_moral_, and even _religious_, beauties. An honest, intelligent teacher
can find, in this way, abundant employment for all his time, if he be
himself a lover and student of the Bible, without ever passing into
sectarian peculiarities, or giving any reasonable ground of offence.
“But, apart from all this, the chief business of instruction in this
department may be the committing to memory of portions of the Divine
Word. The most rigidly orthodox will not object to this, for they believe
every portion of the Bible to be the _word of God which liveth and
abideth forever_, and that _all Scripture is profitable for doctrine_,
_reproof_, _correction_, _and instruction in righteousness_; and the
liberal, though they may not sympathize in the high orthodox view of the
divine excellence of the Word, yet regard it as, on the whole, the best
of books, and the more of it their children have treasured up in their
minds, the better it must be for them. If the parent chooses, he can
always himself select the portions to be committed by his child, or he
may leave it to the discretion of the teacher, or he may give general
directions, as selections from the Gospels, the Proverbs, the Psalms,
&c. It is not at all essential that all the children of the same school,
or even of the same class, should recite the same passages. Each child
may be called upon, in turn, to recite what each one has committed, and
the recitation may or may not be accompanied by remarks from the teacher,
as circumstances may seem to justify or require.
“But there is another difficulty. The Roman Catholics, it is said, do not
desire that their children should be instructed in the Scriptures; they
receive the apocryphal book as a part of Scripture, and contend that we
have not the whole Bible unless we include the Apocrypha; and they object
to our common English translation.
“In reply to this, I remark, in the first place, there are many parts
of our land where there are no Roman Catholics, and, of course, the
difficulty will not occur in those places.
“Secondly, if Roman Catholics choose to exclude their children from a
knowledge of the Bible, they have a perfectly legal right to do so, and
we have no legal right to prevent it; nor should we desire any such legal
right, for the moment we desire any such legal right, we abandon the
Protestant principle and adopt the Papal. Catholic parents are perfectly
competent to demand that their children should be excused from the Bible
recitation, and this demand, if made, should be complied with; but they
have no right to demand that the Bible should be withheld from the
schools because they do not like it, nor do their objections render it
necessary or excusable for Protestants to discard the Bible from schools.
“Again, if Roman Catholics desire that _their_ children take _their_
Bibles into the schools, and recite from them, by all means let them
do so; and so of Jews, let them recite from the Old Testament, if they
choose, to the exclusion of the New. We allow to others equal rights with
ourselves; but we claim for ourselves, and shall insist upon having,
equal rights with all. I am perfectly willing to give to the Roman
Catholics all they can justly claim, but I am not willing to encroach
on any one’s rights, or the rights of any Protestant denomination, for
the sake of accommodating the Roman Catholics. Nor do I suppose that the
Romanists have a claim to any special accommodation, for they have never
yet manifested any particular disposition to accommodate others. Let them
have the same privileges that our Protestant sects have--that is enough;
and they have no right to demand, our legislators have no right to grant,
any more; and we Protestants will be perfectly satisfied when Protestants
can enjoy as great privileges in Italy as Roman Catholics now enjoy in
the United States. In judicious practice, I am persuaded there will
seldom be any great difficulty, especially if there be excited generally
in the community anything like a whole-hearted honesty and enlightened
sincerity in the cause of public instruction.
“It is all right for people to suit their own taste and convictions in
respect to sect; and by fair means and at proper times, to teach their
children and those under their influence to prefer the denominations
which they prefer; but farther than this no one has any right to go. It
is all wrong to hazard the well-being of the soul, to jeopardize great
public interests for the sake of advancing the interests of a sect.
People must learn to practise some self-denial, on Christian principles,
in respect to their denominational preferences, as well as in respect to
other things, before pure religion can ever gain a complete victory over
every form of human selfishness.