A history of public education in Rhode Island, from 1636 to 1876 ... Comp. by authority of the Board of education, and ed. by Thomas B. Stockwell ...

CONCLUSION. 99
prohibit the employment, in manufacturing establishments, of children
under twelve, and permit no minor under fifteen to te so employed
unless after attending school three months in the previous year.* Until so simple a law can be enforced, it is almost useless to talk of uniform
compulsory education. The prosperity of a community must depend at
last on the training of its children. Disfranchised ignorance is as dangerous as enfianchised ignorance; the evil is still there, without the
degree of self respect and the stimulus to mental action given by the
ballot. The only safety is in bringing to bear upon the children of the
ignorant all the knowledge of the wise,
* General Statutes, halapter 155.