The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-04-10
Paper Read Before the Chautouqua Circle.
/" Make Haste Slowly

"HIS golden precept, which was
first enunciated centuries ago,
is as sound today as when it
was first uttered, and its ap-
piication is as needful and i'm
portant to ourselves as to the people to
whom it was addressed. Frantic haste
is the besetting sin of Americans and
seems to grow more and more preva-
lent as the years glide by.
We make hastete be rich; we make
haste to arrive at journeys end; we
make haste to gain knowledge; in all
the avenues of trade, manufacture, in
everything we do, we hurry along and
do not count the cost of wasting phys
ical strength and the consequent swift
approach of old age.
The husbandman knows those trees
which grow most rapidly are the ear
liest to decay; the beautiful flower
which blooms few weeks. from seed
time perishes at the first breath of
autumn; while the sturdy oak, slow in
growth and development, de6es the
storms of centuries. Even sporting
men have maxim, at is not the dis
tance that kills. it's the pace" This is
a truism that would be well to be heed
ed in the management of men, as well
as in the training of animals.
Admirable as are our provisions for
education, it must be admitted that the
forcing system is too generally adopted
We undertake to teach the young TOO
much-we overwork their brains and
stunt their physical growth. The
physicians and scientific men of the
day tell US this, but their eloquent
words fall unheeded on the ears of the
rushing, bustling throng. We delight
in the precocity of mind developed i'm
the young, especially if the prodigy is
member of our own family circle,
and we at once proceed to put the
youth through course of cramming,
intent upon making geniuses, by the
forcing process, of those whom nature
intended simply to be little above the
average. What is the result. nine times
out of ten, after they have been rushed
through the high school, college and
university? Their vital force is con-
sumed and they drop into an apathetic
stage without ambition or desire to do
aught but pass through life in an aim
less manner, worn-out, old young men.
On the other ijand, take the slow,
plodding student who virtually has to
have knowledge pounded into him; he
probably requires seven years to accu-
mulate the knowledge that the student
who has been forced has gained in four,
but he has retained his vlrile force, and
when he has graduated from college he
enters the business world full of ambi-
ton and ready to grapple with the
problems of life with exhanstless en-
ergy. 1t is the old story of the hare and
the tortoise
In stating the foregoing l do not
mean to disparage scholarship, but only
speak of the absurd folly of attempting
to crowd into few years the studies
which should extend over many. Edu-
cation should be the gradual develop
ment of the mind by neyer-ending
intellectual pursuits, paralleled with
systematic physical training.
The most prolific authors are those
who make moderate demands upon
their intellect. A few hours of steady
and regular writing each day does not
fatigue the mind and the author who
does that gives to the public the bright
est and best thoughts.
What have said in regard to au-
thorship applies equally to all the ave-
nues of trade. This is rushing age
and the haste to get riches appears to
be the height of every mans land
woman's too) ambition. This is better
illustrated by pcrusing the columns of
the daily press which are filed with
get-rich-quick advertisements. Many
10 man who by slow and laborious
saving has amassed q few hundred or