Texas in 1850. By Melinda Rankin. Page: 36 of 196

CHAPTER IV.

Church and School Buildings. Scarcity in Texas. Importance of
Early Attention to these Objects. Want of Teachers. Co-operation
of the North with the South in advancing the Cause of Education.
Free School System. Importance and Advantage to
Texas. Extract from the Governor's Message.
A stranger passing through one of the mountain
towns of New England, inquired, " What do you raise
here ?" The answer was, " Our land is rough and poor,
and we can raise but little produce. so we build churches
and school houses and raise men." New England is,
very justly, the praise of the civilized world for the
number and neatness of its Church and Seminary buildings.
A better example for imitation has never been,
than that presented by the " Pilgrims" and their
descendants. These objects claimed a pre-eminent importance
in their estimation at the period of the country's
settlement, and the sentiment has descended to
posterity. On an eminence in New England, an observer
remarks, that he counted the spires of 57 churches,
which fact afforded a theme for contemplation of the
religious character of the country. No better index
of the country's character can be presented, than the
degree of attention which is rendered to these manufactories
of public good.
Were a New England traveller to pass through Texas,
his curiosity might be excited; not, however, on account