I give but one more scene to complete the model of American character. It is Washington in death. And it is in that hour of trial that his character as a Christian is clearly to be seen. As a soldier, and as a statesman, he was a man of prayer, and his end is that of the Christian hero. He suffers calmly and patiently his last severe affliction. And when he is tortured with pain, and struggling in his last agonies in the grasp of the grim monster, he turns to his physician, and says, with perfect composure, and with the calmness of Christian resignation over his countenance: “I die hard, but I am not afraid to die!” Like a soldier, like a Christian hero, he resigns his soul into the hands of Him who gave it.
Such is Washington the boy, the man. Such his character as developed in his deeds. In him is seen the man of social virtues, the patriot, and the Christian. And in these departments of human character he shone throughout his life. And may I not hold up such a character as a model before the youth of America; surely such a character is the high aim of an American boy’s ambition! And to win and wear it would be to secure a prize of most exalted eminence. But let it not be forgotten that the palm must be worn by him who wins it.
[THE SCHOOL A DEPARTMENT OF THE DOMESTIC ALTAR.]
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.
[THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE.]
In our republic the people are said to be the sovereigns of the government; and we frequently hear of the “sovereign people.” And who are the sovereign people? Are they the ignorant and the vile? Are they the base and the profligate? Alas, for this lovely land of ours, were such sovereign further than their votes on election day can make them! And even in this privilege of voting, their sovereignty is sufficiently operative for evil. And were these miserable apologies for the freemen of America to triumph over the enlightened and the virtuous, what would the name of America be but the stamp of infamy? To the ignorant and the vile, the base and the profligate, our government extends the right of suffrage. It recognises all as politically free. But can such characters aspire to the place of office which the enlightened alone can fill? Their boast is of their right to vote, and not of the talent or the chance to occupy the place of office. And what a pitiful sovereignty is this for an American freeman to boast!—a sovereignty which gives him a right to vote, and which allows him to hurrah for another who is wiser and better than himself; while he has no qualifications of his own to fit him for office, nor even to judge who is best prepared to be the officer. And in the hands of the ignorant man this elective franchise is a dangerous trust. He knows not how to exercise it for his country’s good, and for the advancement of his country’s prosperity. He has the power to vote, and that is all that he can be proud of. And his vote is thrown, like the implements of the gaming table, at a hazard. And if the chance of the government for prosperity depended on him, it would certainly hang upon the hazard of the die. Shame upon such a sovereignty! shame upon the boy who is base enough even to risk the chance of becoming such a character! He is unfit to rule, or to choose his ruler, and he is unworthy of the rights and privileges which his free government confers upon him. I tell you, boys, that such a character is complimented, he is highly complimented, when it is said of him that he is “fit for treason, stratagem, and spoils.”
[THE INTELLIGENCE NECESSARY TO THE AMERICAN CITIZEN IS TO BE OBTAINED IN THE SCHOOL.]
It is to prevent such sovereigns as these from ruling the land, and leading it into infamy and ruin, that temples of learning are erected in every city, and town, and village, and in every district throughout our states. Provision is made by the state governments for the education of the young, so that their characters, as social beings, and as patriots, and Christians, may be properly developed; and that they may be prepared to sustain the free institutions in which their honor is reflected, and which will sustain them as free American citizens. And in the arrangements which are made for the universal diffusion of the blessings of education, provision is made for all, so that no man is too poor to have his child educated. If he has not the means of paying for it, the education is afforded without the pay. The blessing is intended to come, as it ought to come, like the rain from heaven, upon the rich and the poor, and upon the evil and the good. And the poorest boy in the land, if he is active and industrious, and ambitious, may rise to eminence in any of the professions. All that is necessary is for him to have his character developed in all that the model I have held up includes, and his success is certain. While other lands may boast their princely palaces, their lofty towers, and their splendid temples, our free America may point to her public schools, and exclaim: “These are my pride!—these are the treasuries where my jewels are stored!”