The Russellville Democrat., 1877-05-24
What is to be Done?
NoRRIsTowN, AR

NoRRIsTowN, ARKs.
 To the Editor of the DEMOCRAT;
 q wish I had an education" say one. II am determined to have al education" says another. That ed ucaton is good thing, is proposi tion assented to by all sensible per sons.
 What is this thing approved by all, deserved by some, and earnestly striven for by others? What is edu cation? We must know what ; thing is in order that we may take wise measures to secure it. wisl the reader would pause for mo ment, and see whether he can give definite answer to the question Let us vary the form of the question What is an educated man? A mar IS educated when his mind and body are framed to do what he was made to do. The horse was made for | certain end--was made to do certain things. A trained horse is one that is capable of doing what he was made to do, as the servant of man A trained or educated man is ont who is capable of doing what ht was made to do, as the servant o God. Mind and body both require training. The hand is capable oi doing many things. By exercise strength and skill are acquired. The muscles of the hand may be so dis ciplined that the fingers may skill fully touch the keys of the piano, and call forth sweet music. This skill can be acquired only by prac- tice-by faithful, persevering prac- tice: studying treatises on the anat- omy of the hand, or on the science of music, will not give this skill. It can be acquired by practice only. All the powers of the mind and body are developed by exercise. The mind was made to do certain things. The mind of the infant can do but few things. The powers of the mind, like those of the body, are developed by exercise. In order that it may do with ease and eff ciency what it was made to do, 1t must go through course of practice. This course of practice is the pro cess of education. It will be sue cessful in proportion as it is wisely directed and faithfully performed. The process of education is the pro- cess of forming habits. Habits are formed by the repeated and regular performance of acts. W hat are the mental habits of an educated man He has the habits of attention. He has control over his mind. as the pianist has control over his hand. He can turn off his thoughts from one topic and fix them on another. He can take up book and read it with fixed attention. He can con. centrate his attention upon problem till he has solved it. The uneducat- ed man has but little power of atten- tion, his thoughts are constantly passing from topic to topic; if he tries to fix his attention on subject, ere he is aware, his thoughts are on something else; if he takes up | thoughtful book, he cannot fix his attention on the train of thought; ho may keep his eye upon the page; he may utter the words aloud, but he cannot keep his mind upon tho thoughts expressed by those words We have here the first great differ ence between an educated and ar uneducated man: the one has form ed the habit of attention--has dis ciplined mind; man is said to hay' well disciplined mind when ht has his mlnd under his control.
 The reader now knows what is thu first thing to be done in the work 0 education. He need not wait for teacher, the power of attention Il gained by exercise. There are album dant opportunities for excusing th' attention. So that you acquire thu power, it matters little how you ac qulre it. The educated man ha acquired the habit of seeing thing clearly; in other words, of under standing things. To see thing distinctly, we must turn our eye towards it, and look steadily at it To understand what is said to us, o what is written in a book, we must f' the mind upon it. When we wisl to solve a problem in arithmetic, 0 in algebra, we concentrate our atten ton upon It. By steadily and pa tiently looking at a position, an ar gument. a description, we can SCI the truth clearly. An educated man having power over his attention forms tue habit of clear understand ing. He secs clearly the truth
 which others do not see, or see ob scurely The main object Of study