Page:Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania (UC) - Benjamin Franklin (1931 1749).djvu/30

, preferably to all other Persons whatsoever even of equal Merit.

And if Men may, and frequently do, catch such a taste for cultivating Flowers, for Planting, Grafting, Inoculating, and the like, as to despise all other Amusements for their Sake, why may not we expect they should acquire a Relish for that more useful Culture of young Minds. Thompson says,


 * 'Tis Joy to see the human Blossoms blow,

When infant Reason grows apace, and calls For the Kind Hand of an Assiduous Care; Delightful Task! to rear the tender Thought, To teach the young Idea how to shoot, To pour the fresh Instruction o'er the Mind, To breathe th' enliv'ning Spirit, and to fix The generous Purpose in the glowing Breast.

That a House be provided for the, if not in the Town, not many miles from it; the Situation high and dry, and if it may be, not far from a River, having a Garden, Orchard, Meadow, and a Field or two.

That the House be furnished with a Library (if in the Country, if in the Town, the Town Libraries may serve) with Maps of all