Excerpt from The Alumni Journal, of the Illinois Wesleyan Universtity, Vol. 4: January, 1874
In those lands still bearing the impress of antiquity, moderation is the ruling principle; while, on the contrary, those of recent origin apparently possess no laws of procedure; every man assuming instead that he is to be a law unto himself. This lawless state, however, is not a settled one by any means, for if a person choses to abide for a time in some select position, he is promptly stigmatized with the title of "old fogy."
After all we are obliged to take the position that in this age one must keep pace with the masses would he sojourn in peace and prosperity in our country. Better be under the clods of the prairie than behind the times of "Young America." infused with this spirit of rush, the wheels of commerce take to themselves wings and fly off - anywhere, - cities rise in an hour, survive their day and disappear forever: tradesmen enter the whirl of business, bide their time, when suddenly they are not seen any more, by their anxious creditors. However, this order of things may be regarded by the political economist as necessary to insure financial success, it will not secure the highest state of intellectual development to the individual governed thereby.
The system of American education is, in our opinion, defective, in that it allows altogether too great haste on the part of those pursuing it. There is need to approximate nearer to an adherence of the seven and fourteen years' plan of apprenticeship practiced in the old world. The too prevalent practice of to-day among us, of merely hurrying over a college course, needs to be abandoned for the adoption of the thorough course of the Germans. True, that will take time, but the increased benefit is most certainly proportionate to the additional time required-better a retarded preparation than a hurried entrance upon a life work "greater than we can bear."
Take time. What of it ? Acceptable labor in these days takes well trained heads, and thoroughly developed brains. There are too many already engaged in the active duties of life, whose efforts, owing to a meagre preparation, are a burden to themselves, and an aggravation to those they serve. But it would take time, and the world needs us now. True, the world needs you, but where? Not floundering about in bogs and quicksands, of whose existence you were ignorant; but in the halls of preparation, learning the condition and demands of the field of action.
Vet some will discard a long course of culture, infatuated with the notion, that we, we, can do well enough without it. True, the surface skimmer may perchance sometimes maintain an appearance of success, but it is only the well wrought metal that endures. Natural sharpness and impulsive ardor may abound, and lead to some considerable results in a few cases, but patience and perseverance, both in preparation and in after-life, are the crowning virtues of all. The only proper limit of culture for any one is the farthest boundary of the possible.
The Lifting of the Vail.
J. B. T.
The strange visitation of sight to a blind man narrated in the following lines, actually befell, during the last summer, a gentleman who is personally known to the writer, and who has lived in darkness for a number of years; and all the main facts are literally true. The writer has only tried to tell the story. The gentleman in question had had. some two years previous, a return of sight of a few minutes duration while away from home, which encouraged him to hope for its recurrence.
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