nd its usefulness as a means of increasing
human happiness, let us consider the state and the enjoyments of the man
whose mind is shrouded in ignorance. He grows up to manhood like a
vegetable, or like one of the lower animals that are fed and nourished
for the slaughter. He exerts his physical powers because such exertion
is necessary for his subsistence. Were it otherwise, we should most
frequently find him dozing over the fire with a gaze as dull and stupid
as his ox, regardless of every thing but the gratification of his
appetites. He has, perhaps, been taught the art of reading, but has
never applied it to the acquisition of knowledge. His views are chiefly
confined to the objects immediately around him, and to the daily
avocations in which he is employed. His knowledge of society is
circumscribed within the limits of his neighborhood, and his views of
the world are confined within the range of the country in which he
resides, or of the blue hills which skirt his horizon.

Of the aspect of the globe in other countries, of the various tribes
with which these are peopled, of the seas and rivers, continents and
islands, which diversify the landscape of the earth, of the numerous
orders of animated beings which people the ocean, the atmosphere, and
the land, of the revolutions of nations, and the events which have taken
place in the history of the world, he has almost as little conception as
have the animals which range the forest.

In regard to the boundless regions that lie beyond him in the firmament,
and the bodies that roll there in magnificent grandeur, he has the most
confused and inaccurate ideas; indeed, he seldom troubles himself with
inquiries in relation to such subjects. Whether the stars are great or
small, whether they are near us or at a distance, and whether they move
or stand still, are to him matters of trivial importance. If the sun
gives him light by day and the moon by night, and the clouds distil
their watery treasures upon his parched fields, he is contented, and
leaves all such inquiries and investigations to those who have leisure
and inclination to engage in them. He views the canopy of heaven as
merely a ceiling to our earthly habitation, and the starry orbs as only
so many luminous tapers to diversify its aspect, and to afford a
glimmering light to the benighted traveler.

Such a person has no idea of the manner in which the understanding may
be enlightened and expanded by education; he h