The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-02-28
Thinking.

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concerning man, and you at once
feel more respect for him than if you
were to hear it said of him, che is g
rich man. 1t is better to have rep
utation for intelligence and culture
than to have reputation for wealth.
What is an intelligent man2 One who
knows great deal, perhaps you may
say. A man may have great deal oi
knowledge, and yet not be very intel
ligent man. The word has reference
to a mans capacity for understanding
things, rather than to the amount of his
knowledge. 1t relates to the condition
ofhis mind for knowing, rather than to
the amount known.
You may not have very good advan-
tages for requiring knowledge from
books; you may lack both leisure and
books; but you have advantages for
becoming intelligent. An intelligent
man is one who has capacity to under
stand thihgs-capacity to reason-to
think. You may not have it in your
power to acquire certain kinds of knowl-
edge, but you have it in your power to
become thinker.
What is a thinker? Did you ever hear
it said of man that he did his own
thinking2 You have, and you under
stood the remark was one of commen-
dation. Every one ought to do his own
thinking. 1t is as important for his
mental growth, as doing ones own eat
ing is for his bodily growth.
A thinker is one who thinks. What
is thinking?
You promised, we will suppose, to go
to certain place yesterday. You fail
ed to keep your promise. You said,
81 did not think of it," You merely
assert that you forgot your promise.
That would imply that to remember is
to think. But thinking is something
more than remembering.
You receive proposal to take part
in certain enterprise. You say "I
will think of it," What do you do
when you think of it You turn your
attention to it, that is, you look at it.
You see what reasons there are in favor
of taking part in the enterprise, and
what reasons there are against it. The
process of thinking, in this case, con-
sists in looking at the subject and see
ing what is true with respect to it.
Thinking, then, is simply seeing the
truth. We see some truths directly.
We see the objects around us directly.
We see self-evident truths in relation
10 science directly. We do not call
these acts of direct seeing, thinking
When we see them, and see other truth:
in consequence of having seen them
we are said to be thinking. The mos
important part of thinking is inferring
truths from other truths. In order tc
become thinkers, we need to form the
habit of inferring correctly. Let u:
therefore examine the process of inferr
ing, that is, let us see what the mind
does when it draws inferences.
You wake in the night and hear ;
pattering on the roof. You say it rains
How do you know it rains2 You de
not see the rain-drops nor feel them
You say you hear them. You hear ;
sound, and infer that rain is falling
because you know, from experience
that rain in falling makes sound sim
liar to that which you now hear. From
the sound heard and the previous know
ledge recollected, you infer that it rains
If you were ignorant of rain, and of th'
sound it makes when falling on roof
you could not draw the inference. Yol
would simply hear sound. You woulC
know that it had cause, but you woulC
not know the cause.
1t is asked will Mr.. B. succeed in tn,
business in which he is engaged !? Th'
answer is, "I do not think he will
The answer we will suppose was made
by thinking man. Of what process
of mind is the conclusion, 81 do no
think he will" the result t? What die
tho thinking man do! He considered
the kind of business. He saw that i
was one that required great deal o
skill on the part of the conductor: h
saw that the conductor had given M
evidence of the possession of that skill
He saw that the difficulty of succeeding
was increased by the great competition
resulting from the great number of per
sons who had gone into the business
He saw signs of coming tightness il
the money market, which would in
crease the difficulties in the way of sue
cess. From these, and, perhaps, from
other facts, he inferred that Mr.. B
would not succeed. The process o
thinking consisted in observing fact
and in drawing inferences from them
Correct habits of observation and cor
rect habits of inferring will make one
thinker.
You do not need to go to school il
order to form habits of careful observa
ton. You have simply to fix your at
tention on objects that are around you
A farmer was asked some question rela
ting to the farm. "Ask John," wa
his reply, "he notices everything
John was one of his sons. He had onl
) the advantages of very ordinary dis
trict school. After he was "old enoug
to work." he went to school for onl
few months in the winter, and yet h
became a justice of the peace, mem
Der ofthe legislature, and judge of tn
) county court. These offices were no
sought by him. They were given t
. him because he was an intelligent ant
) honest man. 1t was said of him by hi
) father that "he noticed everything.
The boys used to say of him, "Joh
sees all there is to be seen." The con
sequence was, he saw great deal NOR
than the other boys saw. He did nc
confine his attention to the facts learn
ed by the eye. When anything wa
: said, he listened to it, and if it wa
worth remembering he tried to remem
Der it, and if it was worth thinkin
about, he thought about it. When h
was at work on the farm, he thought G
l what he had seen and heard. For eS
: ample, he heard two men talking abou
what government ought to do in regar
to manufacturers. The two men differ