know," when the curiosity or science of his pupils suggests
questions that he has not considered. If we respect and admire the
wisdom of the wise, how ought we to be humbled, intellectually, by the
reflection that the unknown far exceeds the known, and that all become
as little children when they enter the temple of the sages! The
ancients prized schools, teachers, and learning, because they were
essential to wisdom; and wisdom enabled them to live temperately,
justly, and happily, in the present world; while we prize schools,
teachers, and learning, because they contribute to what we call success
in life. The population of New England, is composed of skilful artisans,
intelligent merchants, shrewd or eloquent lawyers, industrious and
intelligent farmers; and to these results our system of education is too
exclusively subservient. These results are not to be condemned, nor are
the processes by which they are secured to be neglected. But our schools
ought to do something always and for every one, for the full development
of a character that is essential to artisans, merchants, lawyers, or
farmers. Learning should not be prized merely as an aid to the daily
work of life,--though this it properly is and ever ought to be,--but for
its expansive power in the mind and soul, by which we attain to a more
perfect knowledge of things human and divine. There are many persons who
accomplish satisfactorily the tasks assigned them, but who do not always
comprehend the processes of life, in its political, social, literary,
scientific and industrial relations, by which the affairs of the world
are guided.

Something of this is due, speaking of America, and especially of New
England, to the universal desire to be engaged in active business. Young
men destined for the farm or the shop, the counting-house or the store,
leave home and school so early that their apprenticeship is ended long
before their majority commences; and they are thus prepared to enter
early and vigorously upon the business of life. This course has its
advantages, and it is also attended by many evils. Our youth have but
little opportunity for observation, and a great deal of time for
experience. They fall into mistakes that should have been observed, and
consequently shunned. Moreover, this custom tends to make business men
too exclusively and rigidly technical and professional; that is, in
plain language, speaking relatively, they know too much of their own
vocatio