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LD 1667 
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 1835 
 Copy 2 
 
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 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT 
 
 DICKINSON COLLEGE, 
 
 July 16, 1835, 
 
 BY ROBERT EMORY, A. M 
 
 PROFESSOR OF LANGUAGES. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN W. WOODS, 
 
 1, Light street, Baltimore. 
 
 1835, 
 
 
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 The spirit of inquiry, which has prevailed in reference to Ed- 
 ucation, has already elicited such copious information on the 
 subject, that some may be disposed to regard any further dis- 
 cussion of it as useless. Were the productions of the pen 
 and of speech designed only to instruct, there might be some 
 ground for the opinion. Could we content ourselves to treat 
 subjects of vital public importance like the mock discus- 
 sions of the schools, in which the object is to see how much 
 can be said upon a question, we might admit that if all has not 
 been said on the subject of education that was possible, at 
 least there has been enough for the formation of our opinions, 
 and the direction of our practice. But who does not know that 
 after the public mind has been fully enlightened upon a topic, 
 there still remains the more difficult, and not less important, 
 duty, of moving it to action. 
 
 The thrilling appeals which so often emanate from the sacred 
 desk, are called forth not so much by the ignorance, as by the 
 apathy of the people. Week after week, we repair to the 
 house of God, and hear from the same lips the same holy prin- 
 ciples — principles which have perhaps been familiar to us from 
 childhood; — yet we think not the service tedious or unnecessa- 
 ry, because we are conscious that as yet the appropriate effect 
 upon our life and conduct has not been produced. 
 
 It is for the same reason that we think that the subject of 
 education cannot be too often presented for our consideration. 
 Although much light has been thrown upon it, by the zeal and 
 learning of those who have treated it, still their labors have 
 not yet produced those practical results which constituted their 
 only object. Parents still allow their children to be educated 
 upon erroneous systems; — public seminaries still send forth 
 
pupils unqualified for the duties of private or of public life;— 
 youth continue, for the most part, blind to their best interests, 
 and are pressing their way, with indiscreet haste, to stations for 
 which they are utterly incompetent. It is useless to dis- 
 cuss the best modes of teaching, or the best systems of 
 discipline, while we have such abundant and conclusive evi- 
 dence that, as yet, the very object itself of education is by 
 many but little understood. Let us, then, devote a few mo- 
 ments to this inquiry: — What is the proper aim of education? 
 It is an important inquiry. It intimately concerns all the rela- 
 tions of society; — the public, in their expenditures for the en- 
 couragement of learning; — the parent, in selecting the in- 
 structer of his child; — the teacher, in adopting his course of in- 
 struction; — the youth, in proposing to himself the proper object 
 of his early efforts, and of his generous hopes; — all, all, are in- 
 terested to be correctly informed upon a point in which error 
 may lead to irreparable — to fatal consequences. 
 
 On such a question, I would not presume, before such an au- 
 dience, to obtrude my own crude conceptions, unsupported, as 
 they must be, by any length of experience. But though I 
 may advance no new sentiments, and though I may defend 
 those which have been heretofore advanced, by no new argu- 
 ments, still, I trust, that I shall secure the more humble, though 
 not less useful end, of presenting to you the matured opinions 
 of the wise and good, in such a light, that, while they cannot 
 fail to meet the approbation of your judgment, they may obtain 
 the active concurrence of your practice. 
 
 That education in itself is desirable, I shall not consume 
 your time in attempting to prove. The superiority of intel- 
 ligent over ignorant man; — of him, who, in point of men- 
 tal culture, has been almost fitted for the society of superior 
 spirits, over him who is removed from the brute only by the 
 possession, not by the exercise, of different faculties, is a sub- 
 ject which no longer admits of discussion. No! the question 
 is not whether education is useful, but what kind of education 
 is most useful. We conceive that in this case, as in every 
 other which affects the interests of man, the proper criterion of 
 
the utility of any object, is, its tendency to promote his hap- 
 piness. What then is the system of education, that can best abide 
 this test? Is it that which trains the youthful mind to habits of 
 shrewd calculation, and sagacious planning for the accumula- 
 tion of wealth? A Croesus, in the midst of his countless trea- 
 sures, could not extort from the Athenian sage an acknow- 
 ledgement of his happiness. Is it that which sows the seeds of 
 restless ambition, and creates an insatiable thirst of power? 
 From 'Macedonia's madman' to the Corsican, the most success- 
 ful aspirants have been as miserable, as their most unfortunate 
 competitors. Is it that which stores the mind with a mass of 
 learning, undigested and unsuited to any practical purpose? The 
 wise man of Israel has assured us, that he that thus increaseth 
 knowledge, but increaseth sorrow. Is it that which exclusive- 
 ly fosters some already predominant faculty, adding the influ- 
 ence of art to that of nature, to stimulate it to an unnatural 
 growth? The fate of genius, in all ages, when unsupported by 
 judgment, has become a proverb of misfortune. No! — neither 
 distorted genius, nor barren learning, nor unlimited power, nor 
 boundless wealth, are sources of real happiness, and therefore, 
 neither the cultivation of the first, nor the acquisition of the 
 others, is the proper leading object to be proposed in a course of 
 instruction. What then is? It is the cultivation, in just and 
 harmonious proportion, of all the potvers and faculties of man. 
 This alone can impart a complete and generous education: that 
 which, to use the language of Milton, 'fits a man to perform 
 justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all the offices, both private 
 and public, of peace and war.' 
 
 Such a definition, it is obvious, must include the cultivation, not 
 only of the intellectual, but also of the physical and moral pow- 
 ers. And would that my limits permitted, or that my abilities 
 enabled me, to brand, with an appropriate stigma, the criminal 
 neglect with which these have been treated. — To depict in living 
 colors the cruel folly of those, who, whether from misguided 
 fondness, or blind devotion to fashion, bring up their children 
 with feeble and sickly frames, to be the prey of lingering dis- 
 ease, or the victims of untimely death: — or to denounce, with 
 
6 
 
 becoming indignation, the still more fatal thoughtlessness of 
 those, who, while they train the body, and discipline the mind, 
 leave the immortal spirit destitute of that moral culture, with- 
 out which bodily vigor is pernicious and learning a curse. 
 But I forbear. Leaving these interesting and momentous 
 topics, to other and abler hands, I confine myself to the single 
 branch of intellectual education. 
 
 Here then, we maintain, that however proper it may be, in 
 the diversity of human occupations, that a man should not 
 waste his strength by vain attempts to pursue them all, but 
 rather confine himself to whatever one may be best suited to 
 his capacity, still this remark does not apply to that period of life 
 which is devoted to education. Then the great aim should 
 be, not to replenish, but to enlarge the capacity; — not to pre- 
 pare the student for any particular vocation, but to impart to 
 him that mental vigor, by which he shall be qualified for any 
 station to which subsequent events may lead. 
 
 It is true, that, in such a course, there must be much posi- 
 tive information acquired, and the student will be more or less 
 fitted for particular offices; but still these are not the objects, 
 but only the accompanying results: and so soon as any one of 
 them loses this its appropriate secondary character, and as- 
 sumes that of a principal, we have at once an education partial 
 in its nature, and distorting in its effects. For, as he only is a 
 perfect model of the human frame, who exhibits every mem- 
 ber in symmetrical proportion; as he only is a perfect moralist, 
 who combines in his character every virtue; so, he only is a 
 perfect scholar, who has united in himself and cultivated to 
 their highest extent, all the attributes of mind. 
 
 The advantages, for every pursuit in life, of such an education, 
 or as near an approximation to it as circumstances will admit, 
 need but be stated to be acknowledged. Why is it that, upon 
 the occurrence of those changes which are so frequent in our 
 day, whereby the current of public business, without being 
 diminished, is turned into new channels, — why is it that there 
 is such an amount of private suffering? Is it not because the 
 unhappy subjects of it have received a sort of mechanical edu- 
 
cation, which fitted them for nothing but the routine of the 
 particular business in which they had been engaged? Who 
 is the physician upon whom you would rely in the hour of dan- 
 ger? Is it he who has merely stored his mind with the theo- 
 ries of others, and learned by heart the symptoms and treatment 
 of every disease in the books? or is it he, who, by more pro- 
 found investigation, and more intense study, than such plodding 
 ever required, has attained so intimate a knowledge of the hu- 
 man constitution, that nature seems to have revealed to him, as to 
 her favored priest, the mysteries of life and health. Who is the 
 advocate to whom you would intrust the defence of your dearest 
 rights? Is it he who, though familar with the forms of every ac- 
 tion, and the decisions of every case, is lost when out of the beaten 
 track of precedent? or is it he who has penetrated to the foun- 
 dations of the law, and, from its profound depths, has brought 
 forth principles whose application is as certain, as the basis 
 upon which they rest is unchanging. 
 
 But, it may be asked, what are the studies best calculated to 
 afford this development and discipline of the faculties? Of the 
 various branches, each has in turn had its advocates, who have 
 urged its claims, if not to exclusive, at least to pre-eminent atten- 
 tion. For one, I am as much opposed to 'catholicons and pana- 
 ceas' in literature, as in medicine; and I would as soon believe 
 that all the diseases of the body can be healed by a single 
 remedy, as that all the faculties of the mind can be trained by 
 a single study. As then all the kingdoms of nature are made 
 to furnish their contributions for the preservation of health and 
 the protraction of life, so let every department of science lend 
 its aid to the formation and perfection of the mental character. 
 
 We are not here then to balance the respective claims of 
 the ancient or of the modern languages, of the natural or of 
 the exact sciences, — to depreciate the one or to extol the other; 
 — but, to assert the importance of «ach in its appropriate place. 
 
 When it is considered, however, that of these, the study of 
 the ancient languages has of late been an especial object of at- 
 tack, it may not be thought improper on this occasion to make 
 a short digression, in order to test its value, by the principles 
 
8 
 
 which have been advanced. Before we do so, however, it be- 
 comes us to remove an objection of a different character, which 
 has been urged against this study, and which, if it be estab- 
 lished, is of itself sufficient to condemn it: — we mean that which 
 relates to the moral influence of the classics. We do not deny that 
 there is much in the writings of pagan antiquity that is false 
 in principle , and corrupt in morality, and which, if unguarded- 
 ly imbibed, can hardly fail to vitiate the youthful mind; but if, 
 as should always be the case, judicious selections be made, 
 and if whatever that is offensive even in these, be made the 
 subject of appropriate comment, we conceive that the effect, 
 so far from being injurious, will be highly salutary. When 
 does the worship of the only true God appear more ra- 
 tional than when compared with the absurdities of heathen 
 mythology? When do His character and attributes appear more 
 glorious, than when He is contrasted with the contentious and 
 libidinous deities of Greece and Rome? Who can contem- 
 plate with such profound admiration, the pure principles and 
 the glorious hopes of Christianity, as the classical scholar? 
 The humblest and most ignorant follower of the Cross, indeed, 
 may look forward, with joyful confidence, to a blissful existence 
 beyond the grave; but it is for him who has heard a Cicero, when 
 contemplating that future state, exclaim, as if in anxious doubt, 
 "if I err, it is a pleasing error," — it is for such a one to appre- 
 ciate the assertion that "life and immortality have been brought to 
 light through the gospel." — All can admire the mild and peaceable 
 spirit inculcated by Christianity; but it is for him who has seen 
 inscribed on the schools of ancient philosophy^ and has heard 
 from the lips of its greatest masters, that 'revenge for an injury 
 is as great a virtue as gratitude for a favor,' — it is for him to feel, 
 with full force, that the religion which teaches us to love our 
 enemies, is not the cunningly devised scheme of a carpenter's 
 son, nor the invention of ignorant fishermen, but that, like its 
 author, it emanated from the bosom of God. 
 
 Supposing then the objection to the moral tendency of classi- 
 cal learning to be removed, we come to what at present more 
 immediately concerns us,- — the consideration of the propriety 
 
of substituting for it other studies, which, as is alleged, are more 
 interesting in their character, and of greater practical utility. 
 
 That this study is in itself uninteresting, we cannot admit: that 
 the modes of pursuing it may be so, we cannot deny. But 
 when it is entered upon with due preparation, and prosecuted 
 with proper guides, it is a path strewed with flowers, and which 
 becomes more and more pleasing at each succeeding step; and if 
 occasionally obstacles present themselves to the student, they 
 do but afford him a faint representation of the course of his 
 subsequent life, for which he will be ill qualified if he has not 
 previously undergone that mental discipline by which he is 
 taught to grapple with difficulties, and even to delight in the 
 encounter. 
 
 But it is urged again that this is not a study of practical 
 utility. The answer to this objection will depend upon the 
 meaning attached to that expression. If by 'studies of practi- 
 cal utility' be meant those only which have an immediate bear- 
 ing upon a man's business in life, we ask, what branches of lib- 
 eral learning can be considered as answering that description? 
 Why should the mass of the community be acquainted with the 
 history of other days, or the manners and customs of other 
 nations? What need have they of mathematics beyond the 
 elementary rules of arithmetic? Why should they explore the 
 external world to discover its constitution and laws, or turn 
 their observation inward, upon the more mysterious operations 
 of their own minds? What matters it to them to know wheth- 
 er the canopy above is filled with immense suns, the sources 
 of light and heat to other systems, or is merely lighted up by 
 innumerable tapers? Whether the meteors which occasionally 
 flash through our atmosphere with a momentary splendor, are the 
 fragments of some shattered planet, or the 'snuffings of the can- 
 dles of heaven?' The starry host will perform their accustomed 
 round, the fruitful showers will continue to descend, and the 
 earth to bring forth her increase, the generations of men will 
 come and go, — all the operations of nature will take place with 
 their wonted regularity, alike whether man be informed or un- 
 informed of their laws. It is true that such knowledge may 
 
10 
 
 render them much more subservient to our purposes; but if this 
 be the only object, it needs but a few to accomplish it. The en- 
 gineer can lay out our rail-roads and canals; the mechanician can 
 invent and construct our machines; the astronomer can calcu- 
 late our almanacs, and nautical tables; the chemist can explore 
 the elements of nature and combine them for the use of the ar- 
 tist. So that, for all the purposes of practical utility, in this 
 low and contracted view of it, learning need never have 
 emerged from the retirement of the study. But if by 'studies 
 of practical utility' be meant those which tend to make happier 
 men and better citizens, which add to private enjoyment, to per- 
 sonal influence and respectability, then we say let all the treas- 
 ures of literature and science be brought within the reach of 
 all; — let history and geography be studied, to enlarge and lib- 
 eralize their views; — mathematics, to teach the art of de- 
 monstrative reasoning; — the physical sciences to develop the 
 philosophy of experiment and induction; — the ancient languages, 
 to cultivate the taste, to exercise the judgment, to strengthen the 
 the memory, and to furnish an unfailing source of elegant and 
 rational enjoyment. They all, as before remarked, have their 
 appropriate offices and advantages. The very fact that some of 
 them are better adapted to particular individuals than others, 
 sufficiently proves that they call into exercise different faculties, 
 and that therefore the course of instruction which does not 
 combine them all, cannot impart a complete education. 
 
 Nor should the number and variety of these studies be made 
 an objection to their all receiving a share of attention. The 
 cultivation of one does not interfere with that of another. I 
 appeal to the experience of every teacher, whether the diminu- 
 tion of the number of a pupil's studies, provided they have been 
 adapted to his years and capacity, promotes, in any degree, his 
 proficiency in the remainder; or whether it be not true, that a 
 diminution of exercise is often followed by a diminution of 
 strength. The best linguist 'in a class, may not always be the 
 best mathematician; but he is not the worse mathematician for 
 being a good linguist: on the contrary, the union of the two 
 studies is much more likely to promote success in each. For 
 
11 
 
 as the strengthening of any one member of the body imparts a 
 vigor to the whole system, so the exercise of the mind upon 
 one subject does but qualify it for more efficient application to 
 another. 
 
 As the knowledge of any one branch is not increased, so 
 neither is the time of acquiring it diminished by the omission 
 of other branches. It does not follow, because a certain num- 
 ber of studies can be comprehended in a given number of years, 
 that, therefore, any one of them will take a proportionally less 
 time. During the period that is devoted to education, the 
 youthful mind is in a course of gradual development, to which 
 the different studies, and the different stages of each study, must 
 be accommodated; and until the faculties have attained a cor- 
 responding growth, it is as incompetent to grasp the higher por- 
 tions of any one study, as of all. The truth of this remark 
 may be illustrated by the analogy of nature, in her operations 
 in the material world. A productive soil may, at the same 
 time, bring forth a variety of fruits; but by no diminution of the 
 number, and by no improvement in the system of culture, can 
 any one of them be ripened to its just maturity, until the ap- 
 propriate season has rolled round. 
 
 If then it be true, that a close attention to all the branches 
 of a liberal education is the best means of securing high attain- 
 ments in each, or at any rate, what is more important, of pro- 
 moting the vigor and energy of the mind, why should any of 
 them be neglected by those who have an opportunity to prose- 
 cute them? Surely not to indulge the indolence of the student, 
 nor to gratify the whims of mere theorists in education. 
 
 But it may be objected, by some shrewd calculators, that, if 
 the youth be not destined for professional life, such a full course 
 of study or, indeed, the thorough prosecution of any portion of it, 
 will prolong the period of pupilage beyond the time at which he 
 would be fitted for business. It cannot be denied that, in the 
 present prosperous state of our country, most young men could 
 obtain a support prior to the age usually allotted to the termina- 
 tion of a college course. But let it be recollected that the race 
 is not to him that starts first, but to him that comes to it 
 invigorated and disciplined by previous training;— -that though 
 
12 
 
 the well educated youth may be delayed in his entry into busi- 
 ness, yet he will eventually commence it with a larger and 
 more available capital. 
 
 But did there exist any such pecuniary disadvantages in this 
 delay, as are represented, still the moral benefit would more 
 than counterbalance them. When a young man is sent into the 
 world with just enough of learning to make him flippant and 
 conceited, with judgment immature, and principles unformed, 
 it cannot be expected that he should be prepared to resist those 
 temptations with which places of business are always beset. It 
 is this, accordingly, which has filled the gaming table, and 
 thronged the theatre, — which has brought disgrace upon many 
 a son, and anguish upon many a family. When a ship is 
 launched upon the deep, the prudent mariner is careful to pro- 
 vide whatever may contribute to her safety; but our youth are 
 sent forth upon the voyage of life, with swelling sails, it may 
 be, but often without ballast, or compass, or helm, amid rocks 
 and whirlpools more dangerous than Scylla and Charybdis, to 
 encounter storms more terrible than ever opposed the wanderer 
 of Ithaca. What wonder, then, that so many of them meet 
 with shipwreck and death. 
 
 But it is useless to attack all the Protean forms which the 
 objections to a liberal education have assumed. We conceive 
 that they have all been answered, if the position has been es- 
 tablished, that the grand business of intellectual education is 
 to train the faculties of the mind, and that this training is 
 best effected by a union of all the branches of literature and 
 science, which are adapted to the comprehension of youth. 
 
 If this view of the subject be correct, then female education 
 has been sadly misunderstood. What though, in woman, the 
 brightest endowments of genius, and the greatest acquisitions 
 of learning must, for the most part, shine unseen; yet, does the 
 companion and partner of man, the mother and nurse of the 
 future hopes of the state, the church, and the world, need no 
 expansion and discipline of mind? Away then with the mean 
 and contracted notion, that the merest rudiments of education 
 
18 
 
 will answer for a female; that she needs no geography but that of 
 her own house, no arithmetic but that of domestic expenses, no 
 art but the culinary, no science but that of economy. The sen- 
 timent, that female ignorance is the mother of domestic bliss, 
 originated with that kindred sentiment, that ignorance is the 
 mother of devotion, and should with it have long ago been un- 
 signed to its primitive darkness. Let it no longer be coun- 
 tenanced in this enlightened age, but let us afford to woman an 
 education that shall enable her to claim with justice, and to main- 
 tain with dignity, that station in society, which is now too often 
 held by the slender tenure of courtesy. 
 
 If the view which we have taken of education, be cor- 
 rect, then let parents not select for their children an oc- 
 cupation in life, perhaps before they can lisp its name, and 
 educate them with exclusive reference to this. Until their 
 faculties are developed, it cannot be known for what station 
 they may be qualified. He whose genius you would cramp by 
 some inferior employment, may be destined to enlighten the 
 world. Give him, then, the best education within your power; 
 and though he should fulfil no such high expectations; though 
 upon the termination of his course of instruction, he should 
 close his books of science and literature forever; nay, though 
 it were possible that every vestige of positive information 
 which he had derived from them, could be obliterated from 
 his memory, still his time and his labor will not have been 
 spent for nought. Where are the products of your own child- 
 ish sports and boyish exercises? They have vanished with the 
 hour that gave them birth; but the graceful form, the manly 
 vigor, and the robust health, which they imparted, still remain 
 as substantial proofs of their utility. 
 
 If the view which we have taken of education be correct, 
 then, young gentlemen, neither is it for you, at this early period, 
 to be forming projects for your subsequent career, and in conse- 
 quence to neglect whatever, in your opinion, will not further 
 them; for be assured, that as you know not what may be your 
 future course, so, whatever it may be, no portion of knowledge 
 which you may acquire will ever be found useless. Nor must 
 
14 
 
 you suppose that such an education can be obtained by a bare at- 
 tendance within the walls of a seminary, however judicious may 
 be the course of instruction, or however competent the precep- 
 tors. It has been well said by an eminent writer, that "there 
 is nothing more absurd than the common notion of instruction, 
 as if science were to be poured into the mind like water into 
 a cistern, that passively waits to receive all that comes. The 
 growth of knowledge, rather resembles that of fruit; however 
 external causes may in some degree co-operate, it is the inter- 
 nal vigor and virtue of the tree that must ripen the juices to 
 their just maturity." Your parents, therefore, may afford you 
 every facility with the most lavish kindness; your teachers may 
 labor in your instruction with the most unwearied assiduity, but 
 all will be of little avail, unless there be superadded the hearty 
 co-operation of your own vigorous exertions. In this sense 
 you must all be self-educated. Go on, then, as I am happy to 
 know that many of you have already begun, go on, and imi- 
 tate the example of the diminutive but instructive model of in- 
 dustry: — the bitterest herb, as well as the most fragrant flower, 
 will alike yield honey to your toil. Go on, and in the mock 
 combats of the gymnasium, prepare yourselves for the din, the 
 dust, the keen encounter of that war of real life, in which the 
 excellence of the weapons, and the skill of the combatants, 
 must decide the victory. 
 

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