The
History of the University
of
Pennsylvania.
Chapter I.
Early Education in Philadelphia.—Establishment of the Academy.—Incorporation of the College.
In newly settled countries, the necessity of providing, for present subsistence, and the desire of securing those comforts which previous habit has rendered indispensable to the enjoyment of life, are apt to divert the attention from objects of less immediate interest The settlers, while contending with the physical difficulties of their new situation, have little regard for the intellectual wants of their offspring; and forgetting, or imperfectly appreciating the advantages they had themselves enjoyed in early life, think that they perform all the duty of parents, by procuring for their children an exemption from those inconveniences, which they have learned to regard as the greatest evils. Education, therefore, is more or less neglected; and it not unfrequently happens, that the community, contrary to the usual course of
