Every Event In This World Is The

To Pity Distress Is But Human; To Relieve It Is Godlike.

The Experience Of The Ages That Are Past, The Hopes Of The Ages That Are Yet To Come, Unite Their Voices In An Appeal To Us;– They Implore Us To Think More Of The Character Of Our People Than Of Its Numbers; To Look Upon Our Vast Natural Resources, Not As Tempters To Ostentation And Pride, But As Means To Be Converted By The Refining Alchemy Of Education Into Mental And Spiritual Treasures; ...and Thus Give To The World The Example Of A Nation Whose Wisdom Increases With Its Prosperity, And Whose Virtues Are Equal To Its Power.

Without Undervaluing Any Other Human Agency, It May Be Safely Affirmed That The Common School, Improved And Energized, As It Can Easily Be, May Become The Most Effective And Benignant Of All The Forces Of Civilization. Two Reasons Sustain This Position. In The First Place, There Is A Universality In Its Operation, Which Can Be Affirmed Of No Other Institution Whatever... And, In The Second Place, The Materials Upon Which It Operates Are So Pliant And Ductile As To Be Susceptible Of Assuming A Greater Variety Of Forms Than Any Other Earthly Work Of The Creator.

If Ever There Was A Cause, If Ever There Can Be A Cause, Worthy To Be Upheld By All Of Toil Or Sacrifice That The Human Heart Can Endure, It Is The Cause Of Education.

Ignorance Breeds Monsters To Fill Up The Vacancies Of The Soul That Are Unoccupied By The Verities Of Knowledge.