Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-07-13
Guess Work and Real Work.

At GUESS that will work." says A. II
will try it and see." This will work, "
saws B, provided that in my reasoning l
have not omitted any element essentai as
one of the premises upon which l build
nv reasoning and calculations. Will try
it and see whether have omitted any es-
sential."
A represents a large class, and b
smaller class, of men, which together
make up the entire group OF humanity.
Individuals of the first class sometimes
blunder upon successful inventions, some
times, by lucky hits, make fortunes, some.
times entertain correct views. But In all
that they do there is an element OF uncer-
tainty, feeling Of insecurity that is never
allayed except by final results. In blum.
dering along, they expend money and
time, which frequently are more valuable
than what they can hope to obtain by any
success they can achieve. They wander
off into by-paths, and finding they are
wrong, guess another is right, and so keep
on guessing through life, sometimes guess.
ing right, sometimes wrong, sometimes
reaching that which they sought, but
oftener fain to content themselves with
something they did not contemplate in
the outset of their career.
They are the men who expend all their
capital in erecting factories, without know
ing where the money will come from for
stock and machinery. They are the men
who. when an invention is only half COM
pleted stake their all upon its success, re-
CARELESS Of future contingencies for which
they can foresee no provision. They are
the men who give credit without good Sc
-, - a mi
strew the shores of life's great sea with
wrecks, broken up and helpless; to be
pitied, but never repaired.
1t is pleasure to turn from this sad pic
ture to another and brighter phase OF hu-
man character, to the Class, Is, the mem
bers of which never count chickens in the
shell to the men who never guess but
reason, step by step, to their conclusions,
the men who have invented the machines
and processes that have revOlutionized the
worlds industry, the men vino have de
veloped science and art. Wherever they
are found, whether in schools, pulpits,
counting houses or ork-shops. they are
doing the real solid brainwork OF the
world.
They live in no FOOLS paradise. No
false halOes cluster around the realities OF
life to blind them. No superstition is &C
cepted by them as substitute for belief
founded upon facts and reason. BY them
every proposition is scrutinized with rigor,
and nothing bearing the semblance OF
truth, but false under the surface, is al
lowed to pass unchallenged.
They are men who, knowing truth may
exist in human life and character, are not
suspicious without reason, but who never
a. II
in truth is not destroyed by their own
faseness. They seek truth for its own
sake, and search for it eagerly and long,
search is thorough, systematic and organ
lied. They are slow to assent to anything
laid down as general principle, but once
asserting, are steadfast in their adherence,
for their belief is founded upon knowl-
edge, not guess-work.
The age is at present prolific of this class
of men, and their labors are preparing the
way for the final emancipation of the race
from giant superstitions, and the strong
chains of ignorance. The generality of
mankind think the world very far adj
vanced in civilization. Indeed, popular
but superficial writer has recently asserted
that the world is suffering from over civ
| ilization but The class of men we have de-
scribed, guessing at nothing see that only
the twilight has dawned upon the civiliza-
| ton Of the ages TO come. Knowing that
their eyes shall never behold that brilliant
epoch in the history of mankind, they still
labor for the generations to come, blessing
| the present generation as well.
Well will it be when all men are no
longer content with guessing, but strive to
know, not in the sense of passive accept
ance of creeds and formula, framed or
thought out by others, but thought out by
each individual For when all men really
thifk for themselves, and act upon their
conclusions, there will be an end to the
poverty, drunkenness, crime, and most of
the diseases which now curse the human
race-Scientifc american.