the money as a temporary loan, so that he could rest from the toil of earning his daily bread in the hope of recovering from his illness. Andrew Johnson was for years a poor tailor. Ulysses S. Grant was born of humble parents. Vice-Pres. Henry Wilson worked for years as a shoemaker, scarcely being able to obtain sufficient time to attend the public school: when he died, he possessed but a few thousand dollars. Rutherford B. Hayes,' although a man of wealth when elected President of the United States, when a child well knew what it was to be poor. At the common school, however, which he attended, rich and poor were alike admitted. Delicacy will not allow the essayist to dwell upon the poverty through which Vice-Pres. William A. Wheeler1 passed, when, in his boyhood, his father died. It is pleasant to state, however, that, in the public school and free academy, he acquired an education which has well fitted him to occupy the exalted station which he now honors.

The student who will review the history of every nation on the face of the earth will see that in few countries, if indeed in any, have public affairs been more wisely dealt with than in the United States. A very large number of the representatives of the people in the State legislatures and in Congress have been educated in common schools.

The distinguished Roman-Catholic martyr, Sir

1 See Life and Character of R. B. Hayes, with a Sketch of William A. Wheeler, by W. D. Howells; also Life of R. B. Hayes by Col. R. N. Conwell.

Thomas More, who was beheaded by Henry the VIII., published in the year 1516 his celebrated and interesting book called "Utopia." The volume contained a description of an ideal happy republic named "Utopia." More thus speaks of the people of Utopia: “All in their childhood be instructed in learning; and the better part of the people, both men and women, throughout all their whole lives do bestow in learning those spare hours which we said they have. vacant from their bodily labors." In " Utopia" the people have also a system of public lectures. The Utopians mean to understand their own laws. In More's words, "They have but few laws; and such is their constitution, that they need not many. They do very much condemn other nations, whose laws, together with the commentaries on them, swell up to so many volumes; for they think it an unreasonable thing to obey a body of laws that are both of such a bulk and so dark, that they cannot read, be read or understood by every one of the subjects." The citizens of the United States read more than More ever expected even the Utopians to read. In Great Britain, in 1870, it is estimated that 350,000,000 copies of newspapers were printed, and an equal number in France. The census returns show, that, in the same year, 1,500,000,000 copies were printed in the United States. It is estimated that the periodicals and newspapers printed in the United States very nearly

1 See Mr. St. John's edition of Utopia, with which is bound Lord Bacon's New Atlantis and An Analysis of Plato's Republic, with notes by J. A. St. John, p. 90.

equal those of all the rest of the world beside. To the value of a free press to a people the highest kind of testimony of many of the most distinguished statesman of America1 could be adduced. It is doubtful whether any nation in the world possesses such a valuable literature as is found in the English language. Youth, by being taught in the common schools to read, are given a key to almost every branch of learning. By the newspapers, citizens are kept informed of events transpiring in almost every land. The citizens of the United States also correspond with each other by letters to an immense extent, as is seen by the statistics of the United-States postoffice.

Mr. George F. Hoar, in a speech delivered in Congress on Jan. 25, 1872, said, "Education increases the number of patents, index of mechanical power and ingenuity of a State, which, in our history, we know as one of the chief sources of both its wealth, and of its capacity for self-defence." Mr. Hoar then presented some remarkably interesting statistics obtained from the United-States patent-office, indicating in a striking manner the connection between education and inventions.

The progress in sciences and arts in the United States has been marvellous. Their value to health and happiness is inestimable. To place a money value on many inventions would be almost or quite impossible. Many years ago, Chief Justice Marshall estimated that the cotton-gin, invented by Whitney,

1 See Appendix D.

a young man who studied in one of the free schools of Connecticut, had saved the nation five hundred million dollars. Mr. Boutwell, the American financier, calculated the value of the invention to the country, up to about the year 1856, at two billion dollars. The value of the invention estimated to the present time is beyond conception. While in some countries ploughs are used of the same style as were used ages ago, in the United States wonderful improvements have been made, which are believed to be of vast value to the world. If the value of all the inventions and scientific discoveries which have been made in America during the last hundred years were added up, it would be so great, that even the friends of education would be filled with wonder.

The fact that a proportion of the men who are aided by philanthropic individuals, or by the State, in obtaining knowledge, make valuable inventions and scientific discoveries, has been corroborated by the history of England. It was in the last century that James Watt- a man who in his youth had enjoyed the privilege of attending the public elementary school at Greenock, Scotland-presented to the world his steam-engine. James Watt died as recently as 1819. Lord Jeffrey, speaking of Watt, said, "By his admirable contrivances, it" [the steamengine] "has become a thing stupendous alike for its force and flexibility, the prodigous power it can exert, and the ease and precision and ductility with

1 See Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions, by George S. Boutwell.

which it can be varied, distributed, and applied. The trunk of an elephant, that can pick up a pin or rend an oak, is as nothing to it. It can grave a seal, and crush masses of obdurate metal like wax; draw out, without breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer; and lift a ship-of-war like a bawble in the air." The inscription placed upon Watt's statue in Westminster Abbey by Lord Brougham but faintly represents the service he was enabled to do the world. A part of the inscription states that he enlarged the resources of his country, increased the power of man, and rose to an eminent place among the illustrious followers of science and the real benefactors of the world.

Nations have in various ways, besides establishing free schools, befriended learning. Towards the close, of the fifteenth century, Christopher Columbus, who in his youth had received instruction in the celebrated endowed University of Pavia,' petitioned the court of Spain to assist him in making a great voyage of discovery. Isabella and Ferdinand were at last induced to defray nine-tenths of the cost of fitting up three small vessels for the use of Columbus. In due time the bold navigator returned from across the ocean, and laid at the feet of Queen Isabella a new and vast realm. Towards the close of the sixteenth century, Spain offered a thousand crowns to any one who would make known a satisfactory method of finding longitude at sea. Holland, copying, it

1 The University of Pavia has an interesting history. For an important note regarding university, see Literary History of the Middle Ages, by Joseph Berington, p. 164, London, 1814.