hat they despise.

But can we acquire a knowledge of things, either divine or human, unless
we cultivate our powers of observation? Partial or inaccurate
observation, especially of natural things, is a great defect of
character; and in New England, where the aim of educators and of the
public in matters of education is elevated, a remedy for this defect
ought at once to be sought and applied. Our ideas are vague concerning
many subjects of common sight and common observation. Is adult life,
even among the educated classes, equal to a description of the common
animals, trees, fruits and flowers? Who will paint with words the elm or
the oak so that its species will be known while the name is withheld?
The introduction of drawing into the schools will improve the power of
observation among the people, especially if the pupils are required to
make nature their model. And this should always be done. O, how is
education belittled and the mind dwarfed by those teachers who keep
their pupils' thoughts upon signs and definitions, when they ought to
deal continually with the facts, things and life of the world! It is no
fable that a student of the higher mathematics, when his master, a
practical engineer upon the Boston water-works, required his services,
exclaimed, "I had no idea that you had sines and tangents out of doors."
With such,

"Nothing goes for sense or light
That will not with old rules jump right;
As if rules were not in the schools
Derived from truth, but truth from rules."

And Butler, in his satirical description of Sir Hudibras, ascribes to
his hero more practical philosophy than he appears to have intended, and
more, certainly, than is found in some modern systems of education:

"In mathematics he was greater
Than Tycho Brahe or Erra Pater;
For he, by geometric scale,
Could take the size of pots of ale;
Resolve by sines and tangents straight,
If bread or butter wanted weight;
And wisely tell what hour o' th' day
The clock does strike, by algebra."

Another prerequisite of wisdom is intellectual humility, Solomon, says,
"Before honor is humility;" and humility is before wisdom, and even
before learning. We ought not to be ashamed of involuntary ignorance.
Franklin, when asked how he came to know so much, replied, "By never
being ashamed to ask a question."

It is idle for any one to imagine that there is nothing more for him to
learn.