Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/264

240 HISTORY OF increase over the preceding report of nearly two thousand students, while the total increase of population in the county during that period was but about four thousand, a more favor- able report than can be exhibited by any other county in the State, and which argues strongly the gratifying advancement of the county in intellectual development. And it is upon the extent and permanancy of this feeling, that the friends of edu- cation rely; and this spirit to which they appeal, in looking forward to the just appreciation and judicious improvement of those means of moral and mental enlightenment, which the beneficent policy of the State has placed at the disposal of the inhabitants of the several districts. The renovation of our common schools, distributed as they are, over every section of our entire territory, their elevation and expansion to meet the constantly increasing requirements of science and mental pro- gress, and their capability of laying broad and deep the foun- dations of character and usefulness, must depend upon the intelligent and fostering care they shall receive, at the hands of those to whose immediate charge they are committed. There is no institution within the range of civilization, upon which so much, for good or for evil, depends — upon which hang so many, and such important issues to the future well- being of individuals and communities, as the common dis- trict school. It is through that alembic that the lessons of the nursery and the family fireside, the earliest instructions in pure morality, and the precepts and examples of the social circle are distilled ; and from it those lessons are destined to assume that tinge and hue which are permanently to be incor- porated into the character and the life. Ought we not, then, in drawing this brief chapter to a close, to impress upon all good citizens the necessity of devoting their undivided energies to the advancement and improvement of these beneficent institutions. Resting as it does upon their support, indebted to them for all its means of usefulness, and