Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-08-10
THE SECRET or NORMAN BROWN s
Success

| This being true story. IT needs but lit.
tlc spacf Tor IN" telling, ana. BENG Iruc.
" also ~ strange. Tor. though inc tale
Itself - exceedingly plain. The achieve
ment WAS a bit marvellous. TO tel IL
arigbt. on" should reverse the common
lordsr OF narration and begin AT the close.
discovering for the reader the ciinaX b"-
fore ne Initial motf and AS process Dc
lexposed.
when it Is stated that Norman Erown|
crstwnilc familiar with poverty ANA OH
security. found himself Al the age ~ eight
and twentN, The nus band OF president Par
ker y daughter, ANA manager Of In,
western DIVISION OF the Concentrated Me-
camille. Company. the reader has the dc-
nouement. When II is stated mat Noi
man Brown early conceived the ld'd that
there was a great mass of human hdpI
iDss. on the one hand. when ne dad not
care u near about. and ON The othcI
hand. - vast array Of facts ANA prDccssc.j
which he did care 10 know and remember.
me reader mas the motif ahd IS hearing
the solution
What this idea N Norman Brown
achieved in him, and its outward tendency
and meaning, makes some sort OF ex-
position OF himself and his course ~ con
duct necessary. To state the truths the
was not By congeniai favor a solomon: ~,
mad oniya strong body and a clean miBf.
al a mental way he was good houSc-
| hrCLG. he refused to allow lils BRAN: 10
W. .ciuttered with dirt and useless trash.
In the textbook season ~ his HE. ne
| progressed only as far as the hrst year
| in high school. then poverty compelled
| him 10. 70 to work. heal education ioi-
lowed.
This particular scion OF tile Brown
| family began In position Of very humble
| service with the Planet MercanlIle Lon-
tany NOW merged III the CONSOLIDATED
| Mercantile. Tor ne knew very littie. ana
| was pitiabiy callOT. That he was cailOw
and knew so little called him, and casting
| about Tor n remedy he stumbled on the
notion tnat almost thing OF real value
newspapers. In the beginning much Q.
| his leisure had gone that way. he
| stopped the waste. that was the secret.
| a half dozen young fellows boarded In
| the house wh' 70 Norman broke bread af'4
| slept. At tho end Of any given month.
1 each young man room. excepting Nor
4 man 5, might easily nave beeh carpsteu
and the walls covered with the newspa
| p,Ts brought into the rooms during the
month, had not the iandlady, in the
| cause RI cleanliness. luGEed the papers
olt once each week Most ~ the young
| men purchased two papers every day
some OF them three. and Sundays-yt
/ LAX ana little said, Norman noted that
| inc minds ~ the Auuug men were III
/ kind 81 hazN smear. there seemed no
| dehuiteucss Of thought or rugged GriT
81 iG,a- ln them. Ihe faculty " memory.
ana impaired
| DRY in the American people. as q whole
| Was being very generally impaired by the
daily ANA hourly reading ~ matter when
| they neither tried nor wished to rcmem-
| her. Tic said as much. and was laugheu
| to scnrn- Nevertheless. he saw the Cl-aT-
4 rst possible evidence IF this catastrophe
| everywhere. There was 4 daily ana
hourly forgetting OF that which was read.
! How could it be otherwise? Rem Inbe;
4 ing was habit nc perceived, forgetting
was also habit. and the latter habit
was ply siCal necessity with tRe cen
Staut newspaper reader. The spring 81
| the Caskct of memory, the lid beng con
| Stantly opened that undesirable things
might escape. bccamt weakened, until al
most nothing would abide in thu precious
chest. This was his conception of II. Be
sides hc aNeFrtd, ~ what possible Ndiut
| 10 yOIuE man who had success t.
| achieve. would hc q daily brain diet az
scandals suicides, robbcrics and human
errors somehow. il seemed TO him that
know ledge ui human sGcr"ss and it's pro
CcSSeS must be- more serNictablc az
Sumuiant t" achievement thln an unend-
| inr account oi human blundcrIHG. So he
ceased Ia read daily newspapers and for
INFLATED different scheme Of procedure
lie subscribed fer "A weekly newspaper
an issue made up once each week from
| the files of great metropolitan daily
and containing the important news Of the
| II occuricd him less than Two hours once
q week Ia "a thru leh this paper. Noting
such happenings a. seemed important. he
tricd 1" r. member them. often intting
| them down in 4 blank book iur futtrt
tricrtnrc This course Mt an thr remain
| der of his leisure :rce for reading that
Y nich seemed worth his while
lie began reading books history anC
| travel. writings on economies tn" highest
class i!vtinu weekly ana monthly period
iC.is especially all articles in the latter
which were scientific or dealt with bust
ness questions aud industrial processes
ana n went more often To lectures thar
| IA The vaudeville MI IN" while nc fn3dl
| - determined effort to remember "na'
seemed most uscfll and important II
| icrt ares ANA Ills reading. lie made man!
| notes III liS blank book ANA the act itself
served to faSteu knowledge in his mind
| FrcuHeutiy in the evening. instead oi
leading. ~ would IT FIR mn hour or tw'
lpcrSistentiN recalling the items of inp"r
| tance imb"ddcd in some book or article
which he had read months before Thus
| his memory grew strong with use. duu
| 4" exercise it became delight His If
Was not ny amy means. ! dry ana prnSait
| one He knew the thrill of mental con
quest; he went daliY on a voyage OF uis-
| covcry; his was the eHhiiaratuS life OF
one thing he followed most prr-istrnth
during these hGmh'e Years, was ~ aclsir'
all sorts of information that Immediately
| Or remotely affected tho Planet McrcHn
| tile Company. often going far out of his
| way in order Ia study process or in
terest that promised al some inture tlm'
| to clash. or connect itself. with the lnsl
| tuition In which he was employed. lie be-
gan to experience. after A time. a keel
| sense Of personal power and confidence
| the coura sc and reserve that spring from
knowledge. Ills fellows noticed it. his en-
pioyers discovered il. lie came to hs
looked upon a young man Of cNtraor-
! binary natural endowmcnts. but this was
| only true in part. His scheme Of ignoring
| that which must of necessity be forgot
ten. ana gripping fast to that which
| should he remembered, made him seem
| rcma rkabic lie was. without question .
| phenomenon. but perfectly sane and
| natural one. Inevitably he began &c
| ascend the ladder ~ nrcfcrmcnt. II Wa
| found that he could decide on questions
| wisely and with what seemed a marNc I
| louS facility. The speed of his conclu
| sions and the accuracy Of his decisions
| stamped him a markedly valuable man
His trained memory. and wide range o
| Information were at the bottom of ii all
! He decided swiftly and well because he
| knew things.
| i nan IS worth Just as much us M
| knows and no more. He can decide aut
| execute safely only within the limit II hi
| knowledge. Norman Brown now receives
so report says. an enormous salary. w ny
! eecatisC he is enormously efficient. PR
marflY, il i because he had the G1ot
| sense to let SenselcSS things alone AM
| eek the valuable, to ignore the memory
| rumbn, drench Of recountirg follies
| pouring from the daily press and to give
| his time and energies to the harVestEs
| of rcmembcrahle facts. His success
! ,eing purely natural, has nothing really
| wonderful about il. save that to stick as
| .iduousl, to common sense in the face oi
| Common folly. is always remarkab lc.-
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