The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1901-05-23

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The Basis of True Intelligence.
Philip Armour, the great Chicago
millionaire, philanthropist and butcher
said: "Give expansion to the brain, so
as to make it highly organized estab-
lishment for the production of thought" ."
Such expansion must be based on five
cardinal points viz: observation, inquiry,
reading, attention and retention.
/. Observation is supreme art and
one of the ripest fruits of the higher
education. We are told the "consummation
of learning is steaching the use of the eye"
The greatest scientists are those that make
original observations. IfSir Isaac New
ton, Copernicus, Archemides, Calico and
hundreds of others had not observed,
think what our world would be to-day.
1t is said of Macauley, the English his
torian, that he never attempted a graphic
description of scene until he first visited
the place and mastered the detail. Nature
is a store house, where we obtain many
grand object lessons. A wealth of
knowledge is held within the tiny seed
cups, bursting buds, the skies, the birds
and the butterfly that woos the flowers,
but sips no honey and dies in day; how
are we to know all this? Observe
think.
2. Inquiry. This word has three de-
rivations, French enquerir, Spanish in
quirir, Latin inquire all meaning the same,
viz: investigation, asking questions for
ones information. The yankees are
noted for their numerous questions and
we can readily perceive the benefit they
derive. An inquiring mind is recep-
tive mind, he who learns from the hum
blest of Gods creatures, will be a wise
man. There is a prevailing weakness
among people, that of being ashamed of
their ignorance and prefer to remain in
it, to asking others for information.
Such folks deserve to live and die in their
unenlightened condition. I'VE mustn't
stop to look" said couple of girls pass
ing down the street Of certain city ''for
people will call US country crackers" and
away they went with necks stiff as pokels.
How weak, how devoid of moral stamina
Just think, if we gain one fact each day
for ten years we will have in our possess
ion 1850 facts, such wealth! On this
line there is one other suggestion to te
made, viz: sending wide awake inquiring
children to bed before they are sleepy.
Oh, parents, it is cruel, it ascending them
off with an appetite unallayed and though
you mean no harm, you are dwarfng the
first tendrils as they reach out for strength
don't do it.
5. Reading is understanding characters
or marks by which We inquire into the
unknown. Our information through this
smedium depends on the amount We re-
member and the kind of literature we read.
The starch and water books that flood the
market nowadays would dry up any brain
to the size of last years walnut, for
they contain nothing that thought can
feed on. Lord Lytton says reading with
out an object is walking without an exer-
else. Read with an object in view, and
let that be for an improvement
4-5. Attention and retention are close
ly allied. I hardly know how to separate
them. The former is concentration, q
fixed thought on what appears to us
through one or more of the senses. The
act of grasping with the "hook of compre-
hension," a given fact While retention
is the act of retaining or remembering
what we acquire. A good illustration Of
these attributes can be found in school
where cupid has gained entrance, the
victims of his heart poison seldom acquire
or retain much more than the conjugation
of the verb to love!
We are told in books on astronomical
science, that the sun paints his pictures
everywhere. Suppose we had the power of
retaining these photographs, what gall
cry of beauty--a dungeon of woe we would
have combined l reach now the great
desideratum and ultimatum, viz:
Parents if you want reading, intelli-
gent, inquiry offspring, be given to much
reading yourselves, be intelligent, be in
auiring. Precept without example goes
for naught. NJ o. LANIER.