“Right,” replied Mr. Upton. “It is found in the chapter I have just read. Can any of you tell me what wisdom means, in this case?”
There were several answers to this question, such as “Religion,” “Prudence,” “Knowledge,” etc., but they were mostly given in a hesitating manner, and only a few of the scholars made any reply to the question.
“The word wisdom,” continued Mr. Upton, “has several significations. As used in the Bible, it sometimes means learning or knowledge; and sometimes it means piety, or true religion. This last is the sense in which the word is used in the chapter I read to you. You will notice that it is a favorite word with Solomon, if you read his Proverbs. But you will also observe that much that he says about this heavenly wisdom, may also apply with great propriety to human wisdom, or that knowledge with which we store our minds. This is true of the motto I have written on the blackboard. ‘Exalt her, and she shall promote thee.’ That is, if you desire promotion, give attention to the acquisition of knowledge—strive after the wisdom and skill which come from patient study, practice and observation—give the work of education a prominent place in your thoughts and plans. This, to be sure, is not the highest motive we have for faithfulness in study, but it is a strong one, and I think it may be useful to press it upon your attention, as we are entering upon a new term. This is the idea I wish to impress upon your minds, viz., that knowledge brings promotion. Vice, immorality, idleness, improvidence, or misfortune, sometimes interfere with this general law; but on the whole the rule holds good, that a man’s happiness, position, property and influence are promoted by knowledge. I feel safe, therefore, in assuring you that for every dollar your education costs your parents, and for every hour of study, every act of self-denial, every effort and struggle it costs yourselves, you will be abundantly repaid hereafter. If you come here in a right spirit, you are putting your money, your time and your efforts into a safe bank. It will prove a capital investment to you, as long as you live.
“A gentleman at the South once employed a negro to kill a calf. When the animal was dressed and brought home, Cuffee, the butcher, demanded two dollars for the job. ‘Why, Cuffee! do you charge me two dollars for dressing a calf?’ exclaimed the gentleman. ‘No, massa, I charge one dollar for killin’ de calf, and one dollar for de know how,’ was Cuffee’s reply. Cuffee was right. A man has a perfect right to charge for the ‘know how.’ And generally men do charge for it, and get well paid, too.
“Suppose I am about to build a house. In the first place, I hire several common laborers to dig the cellar, and pay them one dollar per day. These are the most ignorant and unskilled laborers we have among us; that is, they have about as little ‘know how,’ as a man can get along with. Their tools are few, and do not cost much, and so we may take the dollar per day they earn as the standard market value of a mere unskilled pair of hands and a set of strong muscles.
“After the cellar is dug, I set carpenters to work, employing them all by the day. By-and-by the head carpenter brings in his weekly or monthly bill. I find he charges me at the rate of one dollar a day for one hand. This is his apprentice, a young man of sixteen or seventeen, who has worked but a year or two at the trade. The ‘know how’ he has acquired makes him even now of as much value to me as a full grown man of the common laborer sort. Then there are several journeymen carpenters, for whose services I am charged one dollar and a half or three-quarters per day. These men have no more physical strength than the dollar-a-day laborers—perhaps not so much. Then why should they receive fifty or seventy-five per cent. more for their daily labor? A small fraction offsets the cost of their tools, and the balance is to pay them for their ‘know how.’ But the boss carpenter, who has a general oversight of the job, and of the other carpenters, charges perhaps two and a half or three dollars per day for his time. He works no harder than the others, but he has more ‘know how’ than they, and is paid accordingly.
“So it is with the masons, painters, and all other workmen on my house—I must pay them in proportion to their ‘know how.’ And if I employ an architect, to make the drawings of the building, and he should charge me at the rate of five or ten dollars per day for the time he spent upon them, I should remember that his peculiar ‘know how’ cost more time, money and study than that of the carpenter or the mason, and therefore commands a higher price in the market.
“Thus you see one of the ways in which knowledge brings promotion. It has a market value, in dollars and cents. There are other ways in which it promotes a man. It saves him from errors and blunders. It increases his self-respect, and his means of enjoyment. It gives him a higher position in society. It endows him with greater influence among men. But I will not weary you by dwelling upon these ideas. You have come here avowedly to get wisdom, and I have held up to you one motive for persevering in the work. I hope we shall all earnestly seek, and find, not only earthly but heavenly wisdom, so that at last we may receive that ‘crown of glory’ which is promised, in the chapter that has been read, to those who get wisdom and understanding.”
Mr. Upton, aided by Marcus, then proceeded to arrange the classes, and perfect the organization of the school. Jessie was very glad to learn that her plan of paying for her own tuition by rendering occasional assistance, in the way of hearing the recitations of the lower classes, had been acceded to by the trustees. There was to her a double gratification in this; since she would not only earn her own tuition bills, but would all the while be gaining experience in the profession to which she was looking forward with so much interest. After breaking to her this pleasant intelligence, Mr. Upton added, in tones audible to those who sat near her:—
“I have been telling the scholars that ‘knowledge brings promotion’—now I am going to illustrate it by promoting you to the first monitorial desk. You will please to remove your books to that desk, as I want this one for another young lady.”