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' 62 . STATE COLLEGE OF KENTUCKY.
Q tio11 and experiment, to aid the youth of the Commonwealth, especially the hardy, the-
Q industrious, the energetic, whose 1`l]C€lIlS will not provide an education elsewl1e1·e, with gi
  2111 education equal to the best that can be gotten within the limits of Kentucky or out  
{ i ot` it. The State College has 111ade a good beginning i11 this di1·eetion. It will, while x 
I not excluding classical i11st1·uctio11, address itself mainly to those hranehes of learning  
{ which are most nearly 1·elated to industrial e11te1·p1·ise. \Vhile not neglecting those  
ii sciences which relate principally to the cultivation of the 111ental faculties, it will ad-  
Q dress itself mainly to the work of instruction and discovery i11 those departments
  which concern themselves with Nature a11d natural processes, with tl1e physical sci-
i ences. with the laws of matter, with tl1e laws of organization, animal and vegetahle. ,
i It will, moreover, endeavor to prepare its students, hy means of a sound disciplinary __u
i training i11 civil history and in moral 1lll(l political philosophy, for entering upon tl1e ffl
l privileges and responsibilities of citizenship i11 this mighty nation. _ l ·
l I can not allow this occasion to pass without saying a few words suggested hy the   '
_ 2 eireumstances in which we tind ourselves to-day. Ill one form or other, questions con-   .
nected directly o1· indirectly with education meet us on every lléllltl. They meet us in l V
l the newspaper, on the platf`orm, in the Legislature, a11d in the l1alls of Congress. li
They are discussed in tl1e pulpit, in tll(f class-room, hy the fireside, and hy thc wayside. l
I The well-being of the present illld tl1e security ofthe future depends upon tl1e  
views which we entertain respecting them. There never was a time in the history of
the world when more depended upon tl1e intellect tllltl the morality of 1ne11. The ag- 5 `
gregate ot` material wealth. with all tl1e potent influences associated therewith, has  
s grown within the present century out of all proportion to any increase which ever
preceded it. Tlic diffusion of knowledge, whieh is by no means convertible with edu- g
1 cation, has created hopes a11d stimulated desires such as never existed hctore. Ques-
tions have arisen tllltl problems have presented themselves whieh were never dreamed
‘ ot` centuries ago, except i11 the cell of the reeluse, or the study ofthe philosopher,
and then in relations and under conditions which differ widely from the environment
of to-day.  
; The growth ot` free institutions, the inalienahle birthright of the Englisli-speaking
stock. has elianged the whole structure ot` ll10(lL‘l'll society. More tl1a11 six centuries
have elapsed sinee Magna (`harta was extorted from King John, the "ahlest and liinsi gl
» worthless ol. the Angevin liings." That piece of harharous Latin with its 1·ude signa- { l il
l tures oi. illiterate harons has done more for tl1e divine pla11t of l1u111an liherty than all
1 the elassies ol` antiquity. To it England owes her Ilouse of Commons, America her
lleclaration oil lndepeiiilence illlll her Constitution, and the States of modern Europe
their dearly liought and highly p1·ized systems of parliamentary governinent. To the
same parentage lreloiigs the de1·ivative t`ree