American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1881-10-08
GumptiOn.

| Gumption is one of those old fash
toned words that are too good to fall
into disusc. 1t comes from the Old
European languages. the ancient Gothic
and Saxon, and signifies in the original
terms care, provision, ingenuity, at
tention, shrewdness. watchfulnesS and
capacity. The possession of this quail
ity of gumption is then invaluable to
any man, but most of all to a farmer,
because he is called upon to act in
divers emergencies of the most unex-
pected character every day of his life,
and upon the immediate and successful
disposal of these unforeseen duties de-
pend in a very great measure the profit
| able results of his labor. But more
than this, its most valuable use is in
avoiding these very emergencies by
watchful provision and care, though
the escaping from them by the exercise
of ingenuity and prompt attention is
the more conspicuous as to its results.
For instance, farmer who had a horse
fall into n cistern through decaved
covering, and who got the animal out
without asking the help of a neighbor,
by simply digging n hole near by and
| filling up the cistern with the earth after
pumping out the water, SO that the
horse walked out without help and I'M
|
gumption of the right kind, and his
neighbors were not slow in giving him
credit for it. But had he looked to the
covering of his cistern in time, and so
| escaped the accident with all its possible
contingencies, which might have made
| his ingenious continuance of no avail,
| he would have evinced still more gump-
| ton, but at the same time he would
have been without any credit except
| from his own consciousness. 1t is
| fact that the best and most meritorious
deeds are never heard of; they are per-
formed with true gumption, but are
modestly kept secret by the performer,
| and the world never hears of them.
Such things are happening in our ev-
ery-day affairs, and life and property
are saved in such ways by the exercise
of gumption that if they were made
public the actors would become heroes
and heroines in the public estimation,
for a time at least, until some new in
stance should push the old one out of
remembrance.
We should, therefore, aim to secure
the possession of this quality for our
evary-d day use. Some are of the opin-
ion that these mental qualities come
naturally and cannot be acquired. That
is a very low and poor opinion of hui
man nature and of the value of educa-
ton and training. Indeed, the whole
purpose of education and discipline is
to form habits of thoughtfulness and
carefulness, and the application of
these to instant action when it becomes
requisite. The truth is, gumption is
not a natural quality, but an acquisition
slowly and patiently made. The man
of expedients is the one who has learn
ed by experience only, aided, of course,
by ready apprehension and a shrewd
ingenuity; but the capacity for follow
ing out to its pOssible. conclusion any
viding for the event is acquired only by
training and discipline.
This needed habit of training tho
mind is secured by a very simple proc
ess. 1t is neither more nor less than
the doing and completing of anything
that needs to be done upon the instant,
without delay or postponement, and at
the same time a careful observation of
what is going on around one. There
are many persons, the majority of per-
sons, in fact, who see but do not per-
ceive. Others have an unfortunate
habit of postponing and putting off
what should be done at once, and what
they well know should be done. A
man once dropped a match from his
pocket onto his barn floor. He knew
he dropped it, and looked for it, but it
was lost in the straw, and he gave up
the search as useless. The same day
in walking over the same part of the
barn, and forgetting all about the
match, he thought he smelled some
thing burning. but paid no further at
tention to it and went into supper. Be-
fore mi ha hor
in flames, and then all these related |
occurrences came to his mind. Here |
was man who was without perception, |
carefulness or promptness, and, of |
course, utterly deficient in gumption.
But We all know OF many such men who
smoke in their barns and stables and
use matches carelessly, and whose
barns occasionally get burned. We all
know too many persons who never do
anything at the right time; who as
rule let the right season go by for plow-
ing and sowing and harvesting; who
are always a little too late,
and whose life and labors are
a miserable failure just because
of this want of gumption. And shall
we believe that these men are thus be-
cause they were born so and cannot
help itp By no means, for we know
very well that these persons choose this
way of doing their business because it
suits them; that if they would deter
mine to do differently, they could and
that they might as easily relieve
themselves from this burden and loss
as they can avoid breaking the laws
and becoming dishonest or untruthful.
1t is precisely the same with the farmer
who leaves his tools and implements
where they were last used, and forgets
these places, and loses hours and days
and opportunities for work, because he
cannot lind them when they are needed;
Dr. with him who constantly leaves his
gates open and the bars down, and the
cows get into the clover or the corn and
gorge themselves SO that some die and
others give him a good deal of trouble
to save them. Men can make them
selves what they wish. AS rule, we
exercise far too little self-control, and
above most other men. suffers
from this. This is to he obrerved in
many ways; in the common treatment
IF horses and cattle by which they are
made unruly and vicious, by our habits
IF constantly neglecting what we know
ire duties tina: we owe ourselves, as
we'll as to others, and all of these fail
Tres are conspicuous examples of want
If gumption.
Finally, if time is money, gumption
s absolute wealth. For the man who
las it has so great an advantage over
ais neighbOr who wants it that if this
,ne can get along at all the former '
-,