And these elements of character, which shone so brightly in the history of our glorious Washington, are those which make the man a social being, a patriot, and a Christian. And they are not only to be taught the child at the fire-side, and on his mother’s knee. The school is a department of the domestic altar. And in the school the design of the parent to complete, as far as practicable, the character of his child, is to be carried out. The boy is to be prepared for some department of professional life, into which he is to carry the qualities of character he obtains in his youth. And the preparation for professional life is continued in the school, and in the college, as it was commenced at home. A certain amount of scholastic knowledge is necessary to expand the mind, and prepare the youth for the duties and responsibilities of life in any and all of the professions. And if he be turned loose upon the world without this knowledge, he cannot be said to be fit for any department of business. He is qualified for no profession, and plodding his way in ignorance, his associations must be low, and grovelling, and in his path through life he must be vicious and unhappy. And let me ask, for what profession is it possible that the boy can be prepared that was never instructed at home, nor at school, nor any where else? The answer is suggested to every mind by the question itself. And what is such a boy fit for? He is fit for the pursuit of vice and wretchedness; and that is the pursuit upon which he will be likely to enter. Ignorance and vice are the parents of misery. Wretchedness is the fruit of their association. Aye, ignorance and vice are the parents of misery, and in wretchedness must the way of man be pursued, if he be found in their association. The boy that is ignorant is in great danger of being wicked, and in his wickedness he must be unhappy. No boy can grow up to be a true and faithful American citizen that grows up in ignorance. And no boy can be a true patriot that is willing to grow up in this way. A man must be enlightened, or he can be no good subject of the American government. And he must seek enlightenment in his youth, or he runs a great risk of never obtaining it at all. THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE.