from Buenos Ayres. Some gentlemen of the name of Rodriguez accordingly came to San Juan. These were three brothers worthy of ranking with the first families of the country, with whom they became connected, such was their merit, and such were the many excellent qualities they possessed. My present profession as superintendent of primary education, and my study of such subjects, enable me to say that if ever any parallel to the celebrated Dutch schools described by M. Cousin, occurred in Spanish America, it was in the school of San Juan. The moral and religious instruction was perhaps superior to the elementary teaching given there; and to this cause I attribute the small number of crimes committed in San Juan, and the moderate conduct of Benavides himself, who like most of the present citizens of San Juan, was educated in that famous school, where the pupils were indoctrinated into the precepts of morality with special care.
If these pages reach the hands of Don Ignacio and Don Roque Rodriguez, I trust they will accept this feeble homage, due, as I believe, to the eminent service done to the culture and morality of a whole city, in connection with their late brother, Don José.[1]
Such is the history of the Argentine cities. They can all claim past glory, civilization, and distinction. For the present they are borne down to the level of barbarism, and this barbarism of the interior has succeeded in penetrating even to the streets of Buenos Ayres.
- ↑ A detailed account of the system and organization of this public educational establishment will be found in Popular Education, a special work devoted to that subject, and the fruit of my journey to Europe and the United States, undertaken by order of the Chilian government.
