Blair Collection > Practical grammar of the antient Gaelic, or, Language of the Isle of Man, usually called Manks

A SEEMON. XXXV
ai'e attended witli the greatest benefit to tliemselves, their em-
ployers^ and the jDublic ? Those who have been taught the ele-
ments of navigation ; those who hold " the pen of the ready-
writer ;"* who can calculate and survey: and all these men will
be found, on inquiry, to derive their origin from the same coun-
try, and owe their excellence to the same means. The most
menial servant in a man's house is the more valuable for a little
knowledge ; whereas an ignorant person is generally crafty, sus-
picious, and idle. The very circumstance of not having been
subject to the restraints attending the first years of instruction
renders him restless and irksome under every degree of control ;
and, as a great modern divine and philosopher expresses himself,
'' To send an uneducated child into the world is injurious to the
rest of mankind ; it is little better than to turn out a mad dog
or a wild beast into the streets."t No children, whether of the
rich or poor, should ever be able to remember a time when they
have had nothing to do.
I have advanced thus much in support of this institution, so
far as it concerns the male children ; but when I reflect that
females also are partakers of its benefits, " my heart glows wnthin
me," and I am convinced that no man, who possesses those
qualities which render him estimable in society, will hesitate to
grant to the weaker sex every advantage possessed by the other,
and every protection which their defenceless state may require.
For if the cultivation of the moral principle,— if a knowledge
of religious duty, — if instruction in useful learning, be necessary
a 11, they are surely so to them. They are, by nature, weak
and exposed to temptation ; and a careful attention to the im-
provement of their minds can alone enable them to resist those
allurements to which they are subject ; and, by resisting them,
everything which is dear to man, everything that unites and
preserves society together, is alone preserved. For the poor man
requires the same proofs of fidelity, the same security for his
honour and his property, with the greatest. These poor girls will
• Ps. xlv. 1. t I'^'l'-J-. Moml Philosoihy.
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