VOL. 41.
flic Huntingdon Journal
(1//ce in new JOtittNAL Fifth Street.
TILE 111"NTINODONTJULTRNAL is published every
Friday by .1. A. Nal:III, at $2,00 per annum iN ADVANCE,
or :'*2.SJ It DOI paid for in Ki si months from date of sub
eeripCou , and 43 it not paid within the year.
N.. paper discontinued, unless at the option of the pub
lisher, until all arrearages are paid.
No paper, however, will lie sent out of the State unless
al' rin.ely paid for in advance.
Transient advertisements will be inserted at virid.vit
AND A-HALF CF.NTS per line for the first insertion, szysx
AND 1-II .1 LP CENTS for the second and FIVE EENTEI per line
f,., - ill
Ili ,i11,,i - hearty
will t,i• t0...E1e•1 at the folliia ran,:
9w Iyr
)0 4 50 5 50: 800 9 bOjlB 00 $27
i 0 1 1 0 00 12 00! , 4col!18 00 36 00 .5 ,,
• 7 ,100014 00 IS 00' V 0134 50.0 , cr , ^ 4 !
4 su, 14 00 . 18 0(120 00k c01i36 00160 00! So, IUO
of
All Resolutions of Associations, Commonications
limited or individual interest, all party announcements,
and notices of Marriages and Deaths, exceeding live lines,
will be charged TEN CENTS per line. •
Legal and other notices will be charged to the party
having them inserted.
Advertising Agents must find their commission outside
of these tizu res.
.411 advertising accounts are due and collectable
when the odvertisement is once inserted.
.1011 PRINTING of every kind, Plain and Palley eolcrP,
done with neatness and dispatch. Iland-bills, Dian , s,
Cards. Pamphlets. S:c., of every variety :1,1,1 style. printed
at the ,hortest notice, and everything in the Printing
line will be exeruted in the most artistic manner and at
the '.sweet rates.
Professional Cards
1v 11.1 A ;U \‘.ltVlAttorni.3--tt-L:kN:;:40? Pen n
6tr iiitii iri.. [itr.l4
.77
11 CALDWELL, Attorney-at-I.IIW, No. 111, 3rd street
f . Office formerly occupied by Memrs. Woods &
Vii
Munson. (ap12,'71
pIL A. L'. latiffMBAUG If, offeng hie prof..ssional services
to the cocain unity. Office, N 0.523 Washington street,
one door east of the Catholic Parsonage. Lian4,";l.
TAIL. IIYSKILL has permanently located in Alexandria
to practice ids 'profession. DanA '7S-Iy.
EC C. STOC K TON, Surgeon Disntie. Office in Leister's
. building, in the room formorly occupied by Dr. E.
J Greene, Huntingdon, Pa. (iipUS, '76.
GU). B. ORLADY, Attorney-at-Law, 405 Penn Street,
Huntingdon, Pa. [novl7,-75
GL. 11.011111. IN•utist. office in S. T. Brown'q new building,
.No. 520, Penn Street, llnatingdun, Pa. [ap12271
I C. M iDPEN, Attorncy-at-Law. Office, No.—, Pono
I • titroet, Iluntiugdon, I'a. [apl9,ll.
T sYINANCTS BLAIR, Attnruey-Ht-Law, Huntingdon,
J
Pa. ()thee, Peuu Street, three &era west of 3rd
Street. Usu4,7l
- -
W. 31A1TERN, Attorney-at-Law and General Claim
Agent. II untingdou, Pa. Soldiers' claims against the
GOVertallellt for Lack-pay, bounty, willows' and invalid
pension.' attended to with great earn and promptne°s.
Of-
See on Penn Street. ijanc7l
TOrtAINE AN, Attorney-at Law.
•
Ot N. 4(15 Penn S!reet, Ifunting.lon. Pt.
July IS. 1579.
E. I LEVIVt7. Att.orney-at-Law, Iltintingdun, hi.,
A 7• otli, in ihatitf.r building'. Penn Street. Pnmpt
and enrefill att..ntiuu given to all legal latsine.o.
1an25,74-rmos
IPM. P. A: R. A. ORRIS/\, Att , ,rneyi , at-Law, No. 821
V Penn Str-et, Huntingdon, Pa. All kind; 01 legal
promptly attended to. Sert.ll:,'; S.
New Advertisement
U. B.
Mutual Aid Society
-0I
Pennsylvctnia.
PRINCIPAL OFFICE.
Chartered by the Legislature, Al arett I I, 166.. i,
lOII\ 13. STE H MAN, Presideut.
GEORGE A. MARK, Secretary.
Cash Assets
Assets subject to assessment. $20,000,000
Death claims paid to Jan. ISBO.. .$1,651,:,99
2,029 certificates issued in 1579, aggregating $l,-
093,000 insurance.
_ .
The class. assessment, and class renewing Eye
tem originated and successfully pursued for over
a drea,ie of yean3 by the U B. Society, baseaustd
a radical retorm in life insurance, reducing its
cost to the minimum, and thereby placing its
benefits within the reach of all. The payment of
$S on application, $5 annually for four years, ano
thereafter .$2 annually during life, with pro rata
mortality assessment, graded according to age,
secures to wife, children or assigns the tuna of one
thousand dollars. Healthy persons of both sexes
may become members. Certificates issued in stuns
ranging from $509 to $lO,OOO. Agents wanted.
Send or apply for cirenlars giving full informa
tion to W. W. WITIIINOTON, Agent,
Or to D. S. EARLY, Gen'l. A gt
Cur. tHh street & Railroad,
Lebanon, Pa.
BEAUTIFY YOUR
I-10-ALFIAS!
The undersigned is prepared to du ail kinds of
HUSE VW SIGN PAINTING,
Calcimining, Glazing,
Paper Hanging,
and any and all work belonging to the business.
Having had several years' experien , ,e, he guaran
tees satisfaction to those who may employ him.
PRICES MODERATE.
Orders may be left at the .lounsat, Book Store.
JOHN L. ROHLAND.
March 14th, ISI9-tf.
CHEAP! CHEAP !! C HEAP!!
PAPERS. %-/ FLUIDS. ALBUMS.
Buy your Paper, Buy your Stationery
Buy your Blank Books,
A T TLIEJOURNALI3OOK d STATIONERY STORE.
Fine Stationery, School Stationery,
Books for Children, Gaines for Children,
Elegant Fluids, Pocket Book, Pass Books,
Awl an Endless Vceritfil of Nice Th;nys,
AT THEJOVENAL BOOK & STATIONERY STORE
GENTLEMEN,
Avail yourselves of the opportunity.
FOR A PERFECT FIT,
GOOD MATERIAL,
BEST WORKMANSHIP,
COMBINED WITH
MODERATE PRICES,
CA LL ON
J I-IN GILL,
315 WASHINGTON, ST., HUNTINGDON, PA,
.-BEST Flock of CLOTHS, CASSIMERES, VEST
INGS, Sc., in the county always on hand. apr33Jur
STAMPING ! STAMPING
Having just received a fine assortment of Stamps
from the east, I am now prepared to do Stamping
for
BRAIDING AND EMBROIDERING.
I also do Pinking at the shortest notice.
MRS. MATTIE G. GRAY,
No. 415 Mifflin Street..
May 3,1875.
DR. J. J . , DAHLEN,
GERMAN PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
°Gee at the Waallincton ITottge. eorner of Seventh
and i'cnn street
HUNTINGDON, PA
April 1, 1:37:1,
DR. C. H. BOYER.
SUROEON DENTIST,
Office in the Fr inklin House,
A pr. 4 -y.
HUNTINGDON, PA
K. M'DIVITT.
suRVE l'oß AND coNVEYA ArCER,
CHURCH ST., bet. Third and Fourth,
0ct.17,'79.
HUNTINGDON, PA.
if - PT L I i l l
All
wiEE v
ADMISS N
3ni cm gin Iyr
7. _Pc:, LAWNS at ti cc►►t.-, ithual juice 10 cents.
50 Pcs. LAWNS, Robe Borders, at 12 cents price 15 cents.
50 Pcs. LAWNS, Robe Borders, in all the delicate and most
desirable shades.
15 Pes. LACE BUNTINGS, in all shades, newe-i thing out.
400 Pes. PRINTS, best makes, at 7 cents.
DRESS GINGHAMS, LINEN ULSTERS and SUITS
3E ll .ll.weciTi2" (G-001.30
The LarEost Stock of Hosiery ill Ton
40 Styles Ladies' Hose reduced from 15c. to 10c. a pair.
7 5 Styles LADIES' GLOVES
From 10c. a pair for a Berlin Lisle, to $l.OO for a pair of
Seven Elastic Lace Top.
Ladies' Neckties and Pichus in Grand Profusion.
11 liaildierchiefs, Parasols, Umbrellas, ad Falls.
EVERYTHING COMPLETE IN THIS DEPARTMENT.
~IOE~, ~HOFS
27 Different Styles of Ladies' Walking Shoes,
From 90c. to $2.00 per Pair.
MISSES' CHILDREN'S AND INFANTS' WALKING SHOES.
LEBANON, PFNNA
LOS', GENTS!, MISSES" CHURN'S &INFANTS' SITOES.
..c195,676
Gents' Furnishing Goods
Neckwear, Linen Dusters, Shirts,
Petersburg, Pa.
rmay 21,50-1
And things too numerous to mention. Come and find out the advan
tages of buying from a firm that bought their stock after goods
had fallen 40 per cent.
WM. MARCH
BLACK'S JEWELRY STORE,
The Largest At.,t)rtnicsit •►f
Watches, Clocks, Jewelry.
SILVERWARE AND SPECIALTIES
BEAUTIFUL GLASSWARE
By the piece or in setts, of the newest styles, in great variety, has been addel to tho elegant stock
F. H. LANE'S
CASH & EXCHANGE STORE.
Handsome .etts of GL ASS as low as 33 rts. The place to buy QUEENSWARE by the piece or in
setts, is at F. ii. LANE'S STORE. Handsome TEA SETTS consisting of 46 pieces of White Stone
China, can be bought for $l, at F. 11. LANE'S low price store.
A large stock of choice Mackerel, consisting of Deep Sea, Extra Shore, New Fat, and all the best va
rieties and numbers known in the market. Also Large Roe and Lake
Herring, Cod Fish and Shad in season.
F. 11. Lane does not buy or sell short weight packages of Fish. You do not want to buy salt. at Fish
prices. CANNED GOODS, including California Choice Fruits, Evaporated and other Dried Fruits.
Green Fruits, Foreign and Domestic. All kinds of choice TEAS, from 15 to 20 cents per quarter,
Good sugar from S cents per pound to the best Maple Sugar in bricks or granulated at 13 cents per
pound. SALT MEAT, FLOUR, NOTIONS, CONFECTIONS, WOOD and WILLOW-W ARE, and
in short, about everything to be found in a first-class Grocery and Provision Store, can 'oe bought at
F. H. LANE'S Cash and Exchange Store, near the Catholic church, on Washington strciet, Hunting
don, Pa. MOTTO :—GOOD QUALITY—FULL QUANTITY—SMALL PROFITS.
• • .;
--
WA:
1 11 . 2 111'
T na j o 0
4'
I
. t " ;
' -
C)
New Advertisements
rirri
JJAB
X33lElp'S?"
THIS IS OUT.' SPECIALTE
We have more money invested in Shoes than any other
two stores in town.
COME AND LOOK AT OUR IMMENSE STOCK OF
This Department is complete in all that enters into the out
fit of a young Adonis. It embraces a
Handsome Assortment of
Felt and Straw Hats,
IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
Aniericait Trratches,
Ifolcard Watches,
Eight Watches.
Springfield Watches,
Ha»tpdeit IValche
Fine Swiss Watc
lA' GOLD AND SILVER,
KEY AND STEM-VAIN DING
of Staple and i'aucy Groceries at
MACKEREL_
SPECIAL NOTICE.
allb
, ek
.
- u
CASES.
Very Large and Varied Assortment of
Ladies' and Gents.'
Gold & Plated Chains, RIDES, &C.
AGENT FOR THE JUSTLY CELEBRATED
11.C0C1:EK.M.11C)13..31D
QUICK-TIME WATCH.
HUNTINGDON, PA,, FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1880.
ORATION
IT,TON
A T 11 E
Reitfi,"Nit ate 11'g:shiny hdrritrll
riely, pitting COninieneenil'lll fit all'
Ivonsylo mia State L'illeje,
;?9, 1880.
Mr. President, Ladies and (lent!omen
and Fellow-nicuitats ef the Washington
Society:—lt was with great pkasure that
I received the invitation t) addruis you
here to-day, at the reunion of the Wash
ington society, and with an inclination to
accept that I made no cifort to resist, and
cannot therefore say hew nearly irresistible
it may have been. My desire to come
here again, after an absence of more than
eighteen years, was infinitely increased by
the anticipation of meeting again my old
society, of which I have tone but the hap.
piest recollections, and with which many
of the most pleasant and profitable hours
of my student life were spent.
Washingtonians, I understand this day
to be ours to be set arart from the other
commencement exercises as ours for the re
newal of old, and the making of new ac•
41tiaintanees, f:r mutual congratulations
over the continued prosperity of our so
ciety, which, as I well remember, was
highly prosperous more than a sore of
years ago; for the revival of the old Wash
ingtonian spirit, if it has ever ceased to
exist, which permitted no successful rivalry,
and for the indulgence of whatever other
fraternal feelings it may be proper to in
dulge in.
The chairman of your committee in his
letter to me said it was desired that one of
the old members should be your orator on
this occasion. One of the old members !
That was an appropriate appeal to make to
me; not that time has bestowed upon me
the wisdom of age, although When I reflect
that in a few years more it will be a quarter
of a century since I became connected with
this society, I may feel that age is ap
proaching, if wisdom is not ; but he re
ferred no doubyto the fact that I was one
of its earliest members, having attached
myself to it at., or shortly after, its organi
zation ; so that to be called one of the old
members carried me back to the beginning.
of the society, and recalled many reminis
cences of the three years during which I
was a student here and an active partici
pant in all its affairs.
I do not purpose to make this address
historical, however great may be the
temptation to dwell upon that portion of
the existence of our snciety that comes
within my own knowledge, because I can
not pursue its history after I left this in
stitution, sufficient time not having been
given me for preparation for that purpose,
2nd besides I am informed that a sketch of
its history is beinn• ' prepared for publication :
and I do not wish to anticipate it. •
But I may properly make some allusion,
to the membership of the society du.!
ring its early years, end it may be ex-'
veered that I will do Fo, however briefly
I will not attempt to enter into personal
detail. The society attracted to it a very
large proportion of the budding talent of
this institution at that time. I Fay this
without any intention of disparaging our
neighbors of the Cresson, for whom I bad
an affection second only to that for my
own society. I had reason to entertain the
highest rosi-...ct for their merits, and to re
gard them as worthy of our steel when we
met in intellectual contest. The Wash
ington had among its members many of
the older students, older in years, I mean,
for there was no seniority of any other
kind here than. It had some who were
verging upon manhood, if they had not at
tained it, and in comparison with whom I
was but a boy. It had strong minds, well
advanced in education, and experienced in
the pursuits incident to a literary society.
The exercises were therefore usually of a
high order, and interest in them increased
with each successive meeting. There have
perbars been few bodies of young men of
equal numbers among whom there were so
many who gave fair promise of brilliancy
in callings where literary culture is an
element of success, and into whatever walks
of life any of them may have gone they
will find incalculable benefits from the
training and experience here received.
Some of us here to day, who can recall
the names and faces of those who on this
altar then laid their youthful mental offer
ings, will ask, where are they now ? It is
a question to which there is none ready
with an answer. They went from here in
many different directions, to many widely
separated fields of labor and duty. The
country was then calling upon her sons,
the young, the strong and the brave, to
come to her defense, to the protection of
her who had protected us, a call that was
generously responded to by this society.
I have met in the ranks of the Union army
those whom I first met within those walls
and in our society hall. I know that some
shed then blood and gave the lives they
had here been preparing to live. Others,
after serving their terms of enlistment, or
during the war, returned to enjoy the
greater freedom given the nation as the
result of the conflict.
Those old members of the Washington
society are scattered far and wide. Other
States, as well as Pennsylvania, are reap
ing the benefits of their energy, their learn
ing and their skill. They are engaged in
in many avocations, professional and in
dustrial.
In the train of reflections caused by this
occasion, there c_ntes to any mind one
event that was of sonic importance to this
society and myself. 1 mention it for the
purpose of introducing a subject with
which I desire to occupy your attention
for a short time. During the second year
after the organization of the Washington
and Cresson societies, there was some con
troversy between them, as there may have
been since, as to which was the more for
midable in debate, and, to settle the point
in dispute, the Cresson challenged us to a
contest discussion. By arrangement, the
selection of the question was left to our
opponents, and the choice of sides to us.
The question related to the inequalities of
rank and condition in society, whether or
not they are favorable to the advancement
of learning. We took the affirmative, upon
which side I made the opening argument.
As the result proved, we were not mista
ken in our choice so far as obtaining a de
cision in our favor was concerned, but I
have since become convinced that as a
matter of truth, we were upon the wrong
side. I wish, therefore, to take a slight
glance at it again, but from the opposite
standpoint, not in an argumentative way,
but with reference to some of the lead
ing questions of the day, and so far as
what I have to say can be included under
one head, may state my subject to be,
Some Social Obstacles to the Advancement
of Learning.
I use the word "social" in its most com
prehensive sense, as pertaining to society
in all its relations and embracing all or•
ganizations of men, for whatever purpose,
especially for purposes of government.
By obstacles we do not mean those things
only that prevent the growth of literature
and the arts and sciences, nor those mere
ly that hinder and retard it, but everything
t hat• does not actually encourage it. So
ciety should be so constituted as to directly
aid in their development and if it does not
do so it may be in itself an obstacle.
The advancement or learning signifies
wore than the were diffusion of it. Ad
vancement is progress, the disclosure of
new things, the evolving of truth, the ma
' king of original investi g ation and discov
ery. the exploring and fathoming of the
unknown, the revealing of the hidden, the
addition of something to the sum of hu
man knowledge. It is creative intellec
tual activity. Diffusion is the spreading
of that which is already known. Highly
important and indispensible as it may be,
lit is less elevated than advancement. It
fis scholastic rather than creative, the work
-principally of the teacher and the schools.
lat it bean the closest relations to ad
a.ncement, the latter being much depen
eat upon it. Investigators and discov
rers cannot be numerous when knowledge
s limited to but a small portion of the
cople, but when it becomes more general
y disseminated the number who can en.
age in enlarging the sphere of human
aiming is increased and the greater are
he results achieved. Whatever aids in
;be diffusion of knowledge has a direct ten
leucy towards its advancement and the two
►re thereibre inseparably connected.
It is no doubt true that the idea of per
'eat equality in society is chimerical. There
ire differences among men thit are cre
ited by natural causes and others that re
mit from individual conduct. But these
ire not social inequalities and society can
of undertake to correct them. It cannot
vercome natural laws or control all the
ctions of its members. In so far as these
enterfcrej with intellectual progress we
ihave nothing to do with them. It, is with
iolitical distinctions, or those which society
self creates, that we have more particu
[
arly to deal.
To say that there never has been any
mut of civilized society under which in-
qualities and differences orcondition have
not existed, that learning has flourished to
some extent under all forms of government,
and that therefore they have been favor
able to its advancement, is very fallacious
'reasoning. The progress that learning has
made in most ages of the world has been
in spite of obstacles thrown in its way by
social conditions, by governments and by
governing classes. Society lees its origin
and foundation in the natural wants and
'fears of individuals, yet it is essentially
artificial. Its formation is a human work,
and its perfection, or want of perfection,
depends upon human knowledge and
human skill, often, perhaps, upon human
passions and human selfishness. It is a
work with which man has been grappling,
eince the da3s or Adam, at seine periods
with indifferAt success, in others with nt•
ter failure, and even at the present time he
-way look upon it as far from perfect and
needing very great improvement. He has
not yet been able to obtain for himself that
happiness he ought to enjoy and that gov
ernment should secure to him. Even the
first end that society has in view, the sat
isfying of his necessities, is .not attained
without a very great stru,gele, and for his
mental culture he has provided less than
for his physical wants. Ile has at times
attempted to appropriate to himself the
labor of his fellow-men and thus to evade
the decree that he should earn his bread
by the sweat of his brow. There have been
Pharoahs and childeen of Israel, patricians
and plebians, lords and vassals, masters and
slaves. And how inimical to the diffusion
and advancement of learning all these have
been may be seen'in that peculiar institu
tion, so recently fostered in free America
as to be within the recollection of very
young men, which made it a crime to teach ,
the alphabet, and as a consequence of
which there are to day in the late slave
States three and a half millions of people
over ten years of age who cannot read,
while in all the other States and territories,
with a population twice as great, there are
less than one million who cannot read.
Nor does it seem to be true, in the light
of modern progress, that social equality
can exist only among the untutored and
uncivilized, among men in a state of
nature. There is a condition of society,
and that farthest removed from the savage
state, in which man rejects those artificial
distinctions of rank and power which at
other times he created and esteemed so
highly, and as he approaches perfection in
intellectual enlightenment they entirely
disappear. The savage has not these dis
tinctions, because he has scarcely any or
ganized society, and such as he has is of
the rudest and simplest form. He is as
free as all things else he sees around him in
nature. He has no desires above the satisfy
ing of his limited wants and none for any
other knowledge than that which enters his
senses unbidden. All his needs are sup
plied by the earth, the air, the forest and
the stream, with scarcely any exertion
from himself. He has no aspirations for
authority and power. It is only when he
emerges from this condition that his social
inertness can be disturbed and that in
equalities originate, and these are not the
cause, nor are they the necessary conse
quence. Of the dawning light he begins to
experience. They are the usual accom
paniments of the ',ufluences by which the
darkness is driven from his understanding.
Civilization does not spring up sponta
neously in the savage mind or among
savage races. Its beginnings are always
foreign and extraneous It must be in
troduced by those who are already in the
enjoyment of it, and it is but natural that
they who impart and establish it should
make themselves rulers and masters. Sav
age nations have usually been conquered
before becoming civilized. In my discus.
sion of this subject twenty years ago, for
the purpose of drawing a very different
conclusion from the present one, I referred
to the ancient Greeks, who were tamed by
the Pelasgi, and to the Romans, a ferocious
and motley crew, who received the bless
ings of law and religion from a succession
of &reign kings, and whose conquests at a
later day contributed to civilize the rest of
Europe. The Norman conquerors of
Britain took with them the principles of
the feudal system, upon which they
founded society and government, or ma
terially modified and altered those they
found to exist. The king became lord
paramount and parceled out lands, and
dignities, and rank, and titles, and power,
as he pleased. So other invaders had be
fore taken to that island the meagre in
telligence that preceded the Norman occu
pation. But when these social and po
litical inequalities were created by the con
queror it was at a time when great dark
ness rested upon the minds of the peo
ple.
England yet retains many of the fea
tures of the Norman system, but how dif
ferent she is from the England of eight
centuries ago, and how complete has been
her transformation from the condition ofthe
still earlier times. Are there not evidences
enough that social distinctions, strong as
they may yet be, are passing away even in
England, that her aristocratic institutions
are approaching an end, although the
struggle for their preservation may con
tinue them beyond our day? Culture and
civiliz ition are equalizing the English
people, restoring to them the power that
has long been in the hands of monarchs,
and with its restoration must pass away
every vestige of king. Created nobility
and caste. At the recent election, which
overthrew the Disraeli government, a
Northumbrian miner was chosen to the
House of Commons, the first real repre
sentative of the working classes, it is said,
who has ever entered Parliament. He was
chosen on account of his intelligence, which
surpasses that of the average English law
maker. Thus it must go on until from
among the people of England will come
the men to fill the places once known only
to a class that looked upin the functions
of government as belonging peculiarly to
itself.
On this side of the Atlantic a branch of
the English family has proved, as En
gland will yet do, that there is a form of
society, a civilization far raised above the
rude and narrow life of the barbarian, in
which social and political equality is pos
sible. We have here a government
that affords a fair distribution of so
cial advantages, and of opportunities for
the development of the capacities of man,
and under which the right to rule, the
conveniences and luxuries of wealth,
and the benefits of scholarship, are not
confined to a class, but aro attainable by
all, and in which no portion of the popu
lation is hopelessly sunken in ignorance,
poverty or bondage.
Now let me ask whether such civiliza
tion and such a government as we possess
are not the most highly favorable to the
advancement of learning. Nations in which
the greatest inequalities exist are not the
ones in which the greatest intellectual
progress is made. They do not permit
freedom, especially the kind of freedom
that the growth of learning requires—free
dom of thought, freedom o speech and dis
cussion and freedom of publication. They
do not make the discoveries and inventions
or write the books of the world. On the
contrary, they distroy the productions of
the intellect. Turkey prohibits the trans
lation of the Bible and punishes the act as
a crime. Within the present year a Mus
selman mollah, one of the higher order of
judges in that country, has been condemned
to death for this violation of Turkish law.
While tyranny has been doing these things
America, by her declaration of indepen
dence, has put into practical shape and
operation new ideas of the rights of man ;
established upon those ideas a new and
popalar form of government, improved and
strengthened by a written constitution ;
made many practical applications of the
scientific knowledge she has given to the
world; nourished a literature of extraor
dinary proportion, a literature that may be
said to be omnipresents that surrounds us
like an atmosphere, that keeps in constant
operation thousands of printing presses,
producing books without number, at nom
inal prices and upon all conceivable sub
jects; myriods of periodical publications,
quarterly, monthly and weakly, and daily
newspapers, finding their way into house
holds, workshops, counting-houses, rail
road trains and everywhere. These are
alike the causes and the results of intel
lectual progress. They are encouraged by
freedom, and in their turn make anything
else than freedom impossible. Liberty
and the printing press are natural allies
and the enemies of monarcqical institu
tions. Popular intelligence is incompati
ble with tyranny and the enlightenment
of the people leads to its inevitable over
throw.
Bat these propositions are too well
reoognized to be dwelt upon. I might
cite from history unlimited evidence of
their truth, but the slight historical refer
ences I have made are sufficient for my
purpose.
Notwithstanding the advanced position
of our country as compared with those of
the old continent, let it not be imagined
that there is no further progress for her
to make. A few years ago I could not have
said of her what I have to day., It seems
like an exceedingly short spaca of time
since these words became part of her fun
damental law : "Neither slavery nor in
voluntary servitude, except as a punish
ment for crime, whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted, shall exist with
in the limits of the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction." Until
that provision became a part of the Con
stitution, so-called free America was not
free from inequalities and differences of
condition created by law. It is true that
President Lincoln hac previously abolish
ed slavery by proclamation, but there was
no legal barrier to its existence before the
adoption of the thirteenth amendment.
In what I have to say of the state of
society in fifteen states, embracing one
third of the territory organized into
States, I am controlled by uo party consid
erations, fbr I hold that no political party
of the day has altogether done its share
for the amelioration of the condition of the
people of those Staten. No party is yet
ready to accent the doctrines I advocate,
and I fear it will be too long before meas
ures necessary for their relief from igno
rance will be adopted into any party creed.
Let us not underrate the importance of
this subject. Let us not fail to realize it
because we are distant from and do net
come into personal contact with this mental
blight. Let us remember that millions of
our fellow citizens,
having a vast influence
on the present and future welfare of this
nation, arc affected by it, that their num
ber is greater than was the number of
inhabitants in all the colonies at the time
of the Revolutionary war, greater than is
the population of Pennsylvania to-day.
We have but to imagine all the people of
our great Commol.wealth to be subjected
to the degradation they are in to obtain a
f'aint idea of the truth. Philanthropy and
statesmanship must meet this question face
to face and deal with it fairly and
equarely.
_ _
Slavery was an obstacle to the ad
vancement of learning. It was indispen
sable under the slave system, as it is under
every system of tyranny, that the oppress.
ed subject should have no knowledge of
his rights and no capacity to assert and
maintain them. Although intelligent labor
would have been more profitable to the
slaveholder, he could not run the risk of
giving it intelligence. lle would have
been in danger of losing it entirely. The
imparting of even the rudiments of knowl
edge to the slave was therefore prohibited
by law. What was the effect upon the
dominant race? The white working man
was no more highly esteemed than the
black and his education was almost as im
pos.4ible. Is it strange that learning was
not in as great repute as it should have
been in that section ? Could it be expec
ted that educational institutions would
flouri , h where such ideas prevailed ?
Would we look there for seminaries and
colleges to which the youth of the land
would flock for higher mental training ?
We would look iu vain.
The legally inipo!.ed ignorance of
the slaves had its intended effect. There
was no rising among them to assert their
freedom. Even after the war had been in
progress several years, and after they had
learned that their own fate depended
some way upon the result, they took no
steps towards hastening the end. They
could not. They were thoroughly bound
in intellectual as well as in physical servi
tude.
I have not drawn this picture fI. the
purpose of casting odium upon any por
tion of the country, but merely to show
the condition of the colored people when
they became freemen and citizens, sover
eigns like ourselves.
What shall we do with these people,
now that they have such an important in
fluence upon our national destinies? There
is but one answer to the question. We
must educate them. In no other way
can the obstacle they present, not
only to the intellectual progress of the
country, but to our prosperity aci a nation,
be removed.
The necessity for their education is more
apparent than are the means by which it
is to be most speedily accomplished. The
duty of providing for their instruction,
under our frame of government, devolves
upon the several States, and it is a duty
which to them must be burdensome, if not
greater than they can well bear. But so
long as they persist in bearing it, they
should be held to a strict accountability for
its faithful performance, and every neglect
should be closely watched and pressed home
upon their attention. They should be
willing to transfer this burden to others,
to whom it would be a pleasure to assume
it, who are able to carry it, and to whom
it would scarcely be a burden at all. They
have not hesitated to appeal for help if it
can be obtained in their own way and
without interfering with their old time
prejudices as to State rights. In educa
tional conventions held in different parts
of the country representative men from
the South have asked that the proceeds
from the sale of the public lands be set
apart for educational purposes and that
they be distributed among the States upon
the basis of illiteracy, and bills have been
introduced into Congress annually for some
years past to the same effect. As the
South contains eighty per centum of the
illiteracy of . the country, a distribu•
tion of the fund upon the basis proposed
would give her that proportion of it. She
points to the desolation wrought by the
war, the large number of persons thrown
upon her resources, without property end
without the means of paying any portion
of the expenses of maintain , ' b schools. She
asks for aid from the general government,
at the same time jealously declaring that
it should not claim to control or interfere
with the systems of education established
by the States. She evidently perceives
that in soliciting national aid she is also
inviting a national interest in her educa
tional affairs, but is careful not to be mis
understood as intending that that interest
shall be manifested in any other way than
by furnishing the money. It is to the
general government that this subject is of
the greatest importance, as is confessed
when this appeal for pecuniary help is
made, and for the - South to permit the
question of State rights to prevent her
from obtaining what she asks would be
worse than madness. If the States can
provide schools aild instruct ion by all means
let them do so. If they cannot, and are
obliged to call for help, they should be
willing that the hand that extends it shall
prescribe the methods and purposes of its
application. To this extent, at least, there
ought to be no conflict of opinion.
But I cannot follow this subject to its
legitimate conclusion. There is not time
to do so, and I wish to avoid any political
phase of it. It is incidental, rather, to
the main topic and need not be pursued
further than to present as clearly as pos
sible the great obstacle of the past and
present condition of the negro race in this
country to the advancement of learning.
It is involved, however, in several other
questions which receive from it their great
est importance : first, whether all educa
tion should not be national, instead of
State and local, and, second, whether com
pulsory education, or, as I would term it,
compulsory attendance at places of instruc
tion, should not prevail.
If I were to discuss these suLjects it
would be in advocacy of both of them as
measures of public policy, but I cannot
now undertake anything more than to point
to some of their probable results. Would
it not be a happy contemplation to know
that all the children of this great nation,
of suitable age, except those prevented by
unavoidable causes, were at school, that
none of sound mind and body were habit
ually absent, that rich and poor, the
dwellers upon the confines of civilization
in the west, the heretofore neglected of
both races in the south, as well asthe more
fortunately situated in the north and east,
were drinking from the fountains of knowl
edge as from a perennial spring? It has
been said that "if we wait until the human
race is prepsred to form a solid column in
the march of progress, it is not probable
that our expectations will be realized." It
may be long until the world will present
such a spectacle, but if the duty of attend
ing public instruction were here enforced
by legal requirements that none could
evade, our country would present one al
most as grand, the spectacle of fifty niil
lions of people marching abreast, shoulder
to shoulder, against superstition and igno
rance, and to universal intelli g ence and
true national glory. We would then have
a government not only "the best that the
world has ever seen," but the best of which
the mind of man can conceive. It would
be "a government of the people," because
they would be competent to comprehend
its workings and to participate in its ad
ministration ; "for the people," because it
would elevate them in the scale of earthly
existence, and —by the people," because
none less than themselves would dare to
usurp it. The great differences between
men, which are fir the most part differ
ences of education, and attributable, to a
great extent, to social causes, would pass
away, not by reducing and degradino . '
any
from his position, but by raising all to a
common level higher and nobler than any
has yet attained. Wha tmight we not predict
would be the result in the way of opening
up the yet unsolved secrets of nature, for
all invention and discovery but consist in
this ! how immeasurably it would hasten
the time when all that is now mysterious
and beyond our understanding in the works
of the Creator will be laid bare to us, as I
firmly believe is the ultimate design ! Let
us have compulsory education, ifyou choose
to call it so, a system under which every
child shall be taught, under which every
one shall read, and learn, and know, not iu
Pennsylvania alone, not in the east or the
north, but wherever the broad limits of
our land extend. This will be the re
muval of obstacles ; it will he progress ; it
will be advancement.
There are other matters that might oc
cupy our attention—the unequal distribu
tion of wealth, and the coedition of women,
which, socially and pontically, ought not
to be inferior to that of men. Wealth,
it is true, may be made very instrumental
for the benefit of learning. We are usu
ally told that, it gives leisure. This is not
what it should give, unless mental labor
may be called leisure. It should give
work, constant, earnest work. It affords
all the means of culture, time, books and
apparatus, but it is not so usefal after all
if it affords these to only a few. The ac
cumulation of great wealth in the bands of
individuals, while in some respects ad
vantageous to the poor, increases the
number of the latter and makes it more
difficult for them to rise from their condi
tion. And what an obstacle to intellectual
progress poverty is! I know that many.
illustrious names can be mentioned that
seem to disprove this, but they are only
conspicuous exceptions to the truth. Some
have attained the heights of literature, and
art, and science, whose elevation seems the
greater on account of the depths from
whence they came. Their number is a few
score, or perhaps a hundred or two, and
while they have extricated themselves from
the burden, and ascended on lightened
wings, how many countless millions of their
poor fellow creatures have fallen beneath
it who rcight otherwise have risen to .the
highest summits Poverty has kept the
world in chains, although here and there,
as they encircle it, there is a gold6n
link.
How each of us is to be made to share
in and to deserve a share of the wealth
which now finds its way into the hands of
a few, is a problem not easily solved. Its
solution may be less difficult as we advance
to greater social perfection. It may be
found perhaps in the better cultivation of
of the masses which a system of compulso
ry education would bring about. It will
cone when all men recognize that the only
life worth living is the intellectual life,
and that money, time and opportunity
should be made subservient to it.
As to the woman question, I believe
that the time will come when our mothers,
and wives, and sisters and sweethearts will
all vote, and I therefore leave it, as I leave
them, to the kind and loving care of the
sterner sex, satisfied that the latter is be
coming more liberal in this, as in every
thing else, as i t becomes more enlightened.
And now I have followed a train of
thought that may not be such as might
have been expected at the re union of a
literary society. If there is any conven
tional plan upon which an address for such
an occasion ought to be framed, I have
perhaps missed it. But I have said about
what I felt impelled to say from the time
when I first knew I was to say anything
here. It could not be inappropriate, I
thought, to express in any place and under
any circumstances, a sincere desire for the
elevation of man, for the bettering of
the condition of this human family of ours.
It is a desire, a sentiment, that should be
made part of our education. One great
fault I have to find with nearly all the in
struction given in the schools and else
where is that it is too selfish. It is not
always given for the value it has in itself
and the good it may be made to do in the
world, but for the advantage its possessor
is supposed to have over those upon whom
it has not been conferred, the advantage:in
money making, a merely mercenary con
sideration, or the advantage in other res
pects of being superior in intellectual abil
ity to those v. ho surround us. This is a
spirit that must always be gratified at the
expense of others. It is a spirit akin to
that of slavery and tyranny, the spirit that
would put others back for the same pur
pose that it would put ourselves forward.
Men usually love distinctions and differen
ces that are favorable to themselves and
often have the creation of these in view
in their own education. How much
nobler is the spirit that, while stri
ving for personal advancement, would lead
the whole race along with it, that reaches
after real excellence, rather than after what
would seem to be excellent merely by com
parison with the less favored. We may
reflect that all that any of us can know is
but a small part of what is to be known,
but a little of what the revelations of nature
arc to be, that knowledge is the prop
erty of all men and that it ought to be
given freely and fully to those to whom it
belongs.
Let us cultivate no selfish pride in the
little learning we possess. Let us attempt
no monopoly of it. Other generations are
to know more than we, and the time will
come when the least informed of God's
creatures will be wiser than any of us. We
may say, with Oliver Wendell Holmes at
the centenary of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, last month :
Child of our children's children yet unborn,
When on this yellow page you turn your •yea,
Where the brief record of this May-day morn
In phrase antique and faded letter
Row vague, how pale our flitting glicsts will rise!
Yet in our veins the blood ran warm and red,
Fur us the fields were green, the skies were blue,
Though from our dust the spirit long has fled,
We lived, we loved, we toiled, we dreamed like yon,
Smiled at our Wes and thought how much we knew,
Oh, might our spirits for one hour return,
When the next century rounds its hundreth ring,
All the strange secrets it shall teach to learn,
To hear thy larger truths its years shall bring,
Its wiser sages talk, its sweeter minstrels sing!
But the fact that there is advancement
to be made, that there is yet ranch to be
learned, that science and art and literature
are young, and that we are but entering
upon the threshold of discovery and in
vention, should be the greatest incentive
and encouragement to intaeetual industry.
We might well regret it if past generations
had done so much that there was nothing
left for us to do, if there were to be no
Newton, or Herschel, or Laplace, or Hum
boldt, or Franklin, no Raphael, or Angelo,
or Titian, no Homer, or Dante, or Shake
speare. or Milton, or Goethe, of the future.
Yes, there is unlimited work for the human
mind, as unlimited as are the powers of the
mind itself, and man will be but fulfilling
his destiny in doing that work and devel
oping those powers, though to complete
the task may take till the end of time.
AN enterprising drump2er in Alabama
presented an editor with two plugs of
tobacco, and elicited a half column puff in
;restful return.
THE man who wrote: "I am sadchst
when I sing," was foolish if he sang much
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