Mutual Improvement Association.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4314, 28 October 1882, Page 2

Mutual Improvement Association.

At the meeting of the Thames Mutual Improvement Association, held on Monday last, the President (Mr T. L. Murray) delivered the following address": —

Man is a social being: this is clearly seen in his nature, and fully developed in his history. It is the mutual principle or quality which binds together the family, the society, and the nation. Men unite in pursuit of common objects, in the carrying out of common purposes, proving the truth of Addison when he says "There is a sort of economy in Providence that one shall excel where another is defective, in order to make men more useful to each other."

On this principle, men, in an uncivilized age, combine for mutual protection, and on the same principle still men unite for objects of art, science, benevolence, and religion. This is the foundation on which those societies for mutual improvement are raised, that have -been the means of imparting so many important advantages to their members.

Mutual improvement is a distinguishing feature of the times. The further we trace back the stream of mental development, the less of the spirit of mutualness do we find. .

Men are now coining move and more towards.a general enlightenment and mutual progression, where the race, as a race, walk more abreast than ever they did before. As Fellowes tells us, " The human mind, considered as that of an individual, or collectively as that of an age or a nation, is slow and gradual in its development. At times it meets with obstructions that seem to prevent its expansion and retard its growth, 'but oh the whole it is progressive in its march and continual in its increape. The augmentation of its ideas to-day become the preparation for a greater increase to-morrow. Every generation makes an intellectual advance beyond the preceding. Whatever doubts existed on the subject (and there were grave ones) before the invention of printing, there can be none now. Printing has not only accelerated, but it has perpetuated the intellectual progression of man: it \haa been the opening of a better day on the human race—the dawn of a new era of mental improvement and intellectual activity."

Reflection on this will show how each man can now help and be helped more than once was the case, and is, I think, a sign of true advancement and civilization. ■*" Men's hearts ought not now to be set against each other but mutually with each other and all against the evil thing." Not that the difference betweon groater and lesser, wiser and less wise, teacher and scholar, will ever be obliterated. Some will always stand in advance of their fellows to receive the first rays of the rising sun. But what I mean is that learning is becoming less and less the peculiar heritage of a few, and more and more the birthright and possession of all.

If we look back to the dawn of history, we find a few men who, Atlas-like, upheld the world of knowledge on their shoulders.

In Egypt, Persia, India, and Greece learned men maintained a certain seclusiveness.of association, and had the treasures of wisdom in their own hands. The sacred orders of Egypt, though possessing knowledge which has scarcely ever yet been surpassed, guarded' their treasures as the miser guards his gold. The aspirants after knowledge were trained long and severely before they were entrnsted with the keys. Hence, while tho wise grew in knowledge, and knowledge, Lord Bacon says, is power those excluded from the treasures of mental wealth appear to have sunk lower and lower, and to have become the slaves of the countiy. Not in. Egypt could he who was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians advance the people of his own race, shut out from the Hierophant order. The treasures and tho people to receive them must be carried far from the banks of the Nile before education or instruction could be bestowed, or, indeed, fitly received. Yet I would hero crave a word or two in passing on intellectual Egypt, especially as the last few years discoveries have brought us. face to face to with the fact, that thousands of years before Abraham was born or Greece dreamed of, \ Egypt was hoary with age and possessed of ■a civilization, and a knowledge of arts and science, the like of which the world has never seen eince. A modern writer says: " When we have it before our eyes that for six thousand years maukiud in Europe, Asia, and Africa, even when led by great nations and illumined by marvellous minds, did not advance one inch beyond the arts of Egypt, •we may conceive what ages of time it must I have required to bring savage men to that ( condition of refinement and civilisation possessed by Egypt, when it first comes within the purview of history. Look at the record of Egyptian greatness as preserved in her [works. The Pyramids in their ruins are still the marvel of mankind. The Egyptians diverted the Nile;.to make room for a city; they built reservoirs 450 miles round and 350 feet deep, with channels, flood-gates, dams, and locks. Look at the great Karnac with lakes and mountains within the circle of the sanctuary, and the largest cathedral at Paris could beset inside one of the halls at Karnac and not touch the roof. Then look at the state of .early Egyptian society, approximating very closely with the best of our modern civilization. The worship of one God; the practice of virtue; commandments giving man's duty to himself, his neighbor, and his God; a heaven for the good and a hell for the vicious, with a Judgment Day; one wiie, not even kings wore allowed more; the wife's right to her own property protected by law (a thing, by the way, we are rather slow to recognise in New Zealand oven to-day). The wife's status was as high as now in the most civilized nations of Europe or America. Then look at Egypt's proficiency in the arts and sciences. The Egyptians were the first mathematicians of the old world; the first astronomers, calculating eclipses, watching the periods of planets and constellations. They knew the rotundity of the earth, wfiich it was supposed Columbus discovered. They had clocks and dials for measuring time; thoy had gold and silver money; they raised cereals, cattle, horses, and sheep. They manufactured linen of so fine a quality that a single thread of a garment contained 365 minor threads. They worked in gold and silver, copper and iron; they tempered iron to the hardness of j steel; they made glass and pottery; they made boats of earthenware; and precisely as we are doing down at home, they made vessels of paper. Their dentists filled teeth with gold, and their farmers hatched poultry by steam. In medicine and surgery they reached to great perfection. They had excellent medical works on reasonable draughts, unguents, and injections; and they performed one of the. most delicate operations in modern surgery, namely, the removal of cataract from the eye." Strange confirmation this to the words of the preacher of old, namely, " That which bath been is now; and that which is to be-hath already been." It has been truly said that great and splendid as are the .things we know about oldest Egypt, she is made a thousand times more sublime by our uncertainty as to the. limits, of her accomplishments.

The Persians were perhaps... hardly less advanced in some respects than the Hierophants of Egypt in the time of Moses (though this time, ifc must be remembered, was in the history of Egypt a time of deterioration and decay), and though not quite so exclusive their learned xneu were nevertheless conservative of the stores of knowledge, which ages of thought and investigation had accumulated. In India to this day we find a similar state of things in caste. Caste is more than difference of race,'

It rests primairly on that precedence which mental enlightenment gives, coupled with a system of what may bo called the religion of the physical, and it has grown by perpetuation, until the Brahmin seems to belong to a different species of being—rendering a public opinion impossible in the Hindoo world.

Yet there is after all a certain catholicity about these groat founders: aa it is no doubt one of the conditions undor which, we receive light, spiritual or physical, that it should ba modulated according to the receptivity of the person to be enlightened. Even in the 19th Century this great principle cannot be disregarded without evil results to those who teach and those who are to be taught. A very good story is told of the late and great Ralph Waldo Emerson illustrative of this. Mr Emerson had been delivering an address to a literary society, and at its conclusion the president called upon a clergyman present to pray. The prayer was remarkable, throughout, and among other curious utterances was the following sentence: "We beseech Thee, 0 Lord, to deliver us from ever hearing any more such transcendental non«ense as we have just listened to from this paper! " After the meeting Mr Emerson asked the name of the clergyman, and on being answered, he remarked, with gentle simplicity, " He seemed a very conscientious and plain spoken man." Knowledge is an edged tool, and useful only to those wh» are able to handle it. In this perhaps the old teachers found justification for their holding knowledge firmly, and parting with it only by slow degrees—giving light as the oyes could bear it. As knowledge spreads, the proverb of iron sharpening iron finds greater scope and wider application, and nowhere can this be better shown than in a wisely regulated and well conducted mutual improvement association. We are not all intellectually wealthy, neither are we all intellectually poor, but by the commerce of ideas we can all become rich.

While we owe much to the advantages of the present, we cannot revert to the past without being grateful and without being imitators. Homer will still sing'; Plato philosophise; Demosthenes and Cicero thrill the ages with their eloquenco; Euclid demonstrate; Caesar and Hannibal will still lead armies. The ancients of Egypt, like their perpetual monuments, will still point to the skies. Like one of the old lake dwellings, with its piles sunk far down out of sight, to give sure foundation to the habitation above, so these and other great names reach deep into the past, and tower up to the present, giving a habitation and a stability to modern thought.

A mutual improvement association depends chiefly on three things for success-

First —Dissimilarity of its members; Second —It Essays and Papers; and Third, but most important, Debates.

First, then, there is a dissimilarity permeated by a certain similarity which characterises all men-for man, like everything around him, presents an endless variety, in face, in body, and in mind. This is one of the characteristics of existence. If our minds were all alike, we could reap no benefit from being here to-night j or from having a Thames Mutual Improvement Association. We are all different, yet have a likeness that, despite our dissimilarities, draws us together. We- have trust in each other; wo expect to i^eceive benefit, and we hope to impart some good. It is on the proper harmony existing between our likeness and unlikeness that the prosperity and progress of this, or any other such association, depend. If we over-balance this harmony in any way, then strife, anger, and decay will result. :

Second— Papers and Essays.—l: am glad our rules forbid the introduction of religions or -pavtj subjects, and I hope and trust that tho subjects introduced will be practical, full of interest and instruction; aud while occasionally dwelling on the past, lot us not forget, or omit, the greater interest of the present. lam sure there is sufficient energy, zeal, and force in this association to grapple ably with the many practical questions daily cropping up in the life of a young colony— in the daily waste going on iv almost all our young industries. We ought to have excellent papers on practical mining in its various branches; on winding and pumping machineiy; on more labor saving in connection with our quartz and tailing crnshing; on tho breaking up of waste lands for settlement, with special reference to the different soils in the Thames Valley, and the modes of their ti-eatmeut to ensure profit. I only hint at those as a few of the subjects which might be treated on by this class: there are scores of others which would also tend to advance our district, increase our knowledge, aud improve our country. We are riot all Mills or Macaulays, but. as thinking, reasoning men, we are all capable of thinking out and expressing our thoughts in one direction or other with which we are acquainted. Let these thoughts, therefore, when accompanied by experionco, be given to the class. The paper of a practical man acquainted with the subject he writes about, will always command attention and icspect, and will often result in considerable profit to the writer, as well aa the hearer. The more each of us strives to increase knowledge, the more we will be able to receive as woll as to communicate. Let the papers bo_ prepared with this object in view, and lot them be listened to with respect, romarkod on courteously, while they are sifted closely and examined carefully—members ■ bearing in mind that truo criticism is constituted by seeing beauties, not by trying to see faults. Much of the good of knowledge is often marred by the want of that kindly readiness; and graceful simplicity, which should ever characterise thinking, reasoning men. . The man who has groat store of knowledge, and prides himself on haying it, is an* intellectual fop, though ho may be a member of learned societies, and have all the letters of the alphabet to his name; and the man who is continually asserting a knowledge which he does not really possess j is a fool and a nuisance. Every man can give assistance to his fellows in .one shape or other, and he who imparts that assistance, however small it may be, in a graceful and kindly way, may be said to doubly enrich his gift.

Third — We now come to the third and most important thing in connection Trith thti success and well being of mutnal improvement associations, namely. Debates. Debating societies may do goodj or may produce harm, according to the object kept in view, and the manner in which that object is pnraned: If bitterness, one-sidedness, ot a disposition to special pleading resultß, or if a strife Tor triumph more than for troth follows debating, then their influence is hurtful. Here more even than in any other direction of a mutual improvement associa. tion ia a courtesy of language roquired, and . a constant desire should prevail in the breast of every member of this association to think the best^of each opponent; never to descend to personalities, sneers, abuse, intemperate or ungraceful language. These may be strictly within what are called parliamentary rules, but ought never to be introduced in our meetings. Any of these evils will not make a bad cause good, and a good cause does not require them. It must be admitted, and I am sorry to say it, that many a moat promising mutual improvement association has been strangled . in early life by the manner in which its debates have been conducted. Instead of making the mind broad, tolerant, comprehensive, clear seoing and truth living, it has - been too often narrowed down to the side which it has espoused, and the more telling - the arguments of an opponent, the more we cling to our own belief; for it must not be lost sight of that the will in most 08898 hw

68 much to do With belief as the understandMJg. Instead of becoming tolerant, we may become partisans, fighting for a side. We may regard it a greater thing to get a majority with us than to establish a truth in tho minds of others, or to bo ourselves corrected or improved. Debating societies should aim, not at , decisions, but the discussion of questions, at training to thoroughness, and avoiding dog- . matism. They. should tend to give us a practical education in the weighing of evidence, the careful testing of assertions, opinions, and theories. . They should oxcite interest, employ and cultivate tho powers of the mind, in the examination of questions which afford exercise for the judicial faculties of the mind. Debate or discussion, as ah educative agency, merits a far higher place than is commonly assigned to it. In this age of - newspaper reading, and cheap printing, and tho^ rapid increase of theories—whon every variety of opinion is thrown open for the • perusal of all—a great necessity exists that ' the mind should be trained to sift thought and test argument. ■ Debate quickens the mental perceptions, trains to readiness in the comparison of .statements, and generally invigoratos tho intellect. The social agency of debate should not be lost Bight of either. Debate does not mean word warfare—defeat and victory. It is the limitation of tho province and action of debate which has brought it somewhat into disrepute. Properly, regarded, debate is merely critical thought, the tnrning over and examination of subjects, whero no one loses his temper, where no one loses or wins, but ■^ whero all are gainers in the true sense of the word-—proving all things, and conserving that which is good. jjjpntroyersy or debate has been regarded as spreading negations, making simple ques-' fcions perplexing, and disturbing weak minds: but these are its misuse. Properly understood, it aims at the purification of thought from all that may be erroneous, and it seeks to be the parent, not of doubt, bnt of certainty. . . , Generally, and in conclusion—As our timo will not be fully occupied with debates or essays, we ought to be in the fullest sense a mutual improvement association; banish darkness by light; overcome evil with the . power of good ,• stay error by truth, and through all work harmoniously, cheerfully, and devotedly. The Association will foster eelf-culture, for it is only by self-culture that any clear and decided benefit need be expected to result, from the meetings hero. The memory, judgmont, power of discerning —all may bo increased by exorcise. While • the scope of our information should widen, we should not lose sight of profundity. This is a danger attendant on mutual associations against which we should carefully guard. It ought to be, and I have no doubt will be, ono of the aims of this classtocorrectprejudices, that is judgments prematurely formed and assented to, without sufficient examination or j evidence. These and kindred forms of error will be weakened, I trust, and in a largo degree expelled, by tho careful, attentive, studious and discriminating habits which will be fostered among us by the Thames Mutual Improvement Association. Our efforts may .seem insignificant, but no real time work is so. We are, while building upon the. courses of a hundred ages, laying ourselves that course upon which after ages will rest. InVthis colony we are as yet "little folk" ' compared : with the great nations of the earth. Wo.have not the bonds of custom and of habit to either guide or fetter us, as older countries hare. Let us see that we become examples to' them how nations can - progress divested of many of those things which are not life, but only the crystalization of life. The colonies are showing the home country that already in some respects they are more than her equals. May. we strive to excel in all those qualities which are a nation's true strength and stability. We can do much in an association such as this towards such a desirable end. We are here in a very humble way, no doubt, on the outskirts of the world, but some of our younger men may live to adorn the page of history. Two courses lie before us— Knowledge or Ignorance. We cannot surely hesitate in our choice; for it is as true now as of old " That happy i« the man who fineteth wisdom and gettetb understanding: For the merchandise of knowledge is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold." We cannot fail to be helped towards the attainment of true knowledge if we are faithful to this association, faithful to each other, and faithful to ourselves. It is well we should look at our advantages in the way of mutual improvement. We live in a colony where free education exists, and in a district of that colony where for a trifling payment of a penny or two a day, we can have information from all the important contres of civilization in tho world. We have a free public library and reading room, whore we can have access in omr leisure moments to the foremost minds of the day in the books and periodicals there provided. These are groat and inestimable privileges which wore not enjoyed in youth by some of the older members of this association, nor arc .they enjoyed now by many of our follow eettlera in the out-districts. Let us prize these blessings highly, and profit by them, and show by our papers and discussions in this class that wo are doing so; for we may rest assured that if we neglect our opportunities and privileges, we will eventually go to the wall in the -progress of our race, and in tho survival of the fittest we will not be found.