The Tupelo journal., 1905-10-06

auu DlOUlCl1o AL ~ ~
us, after our school days, remember
enough Of what we learned there to en-
able us to foot up household accounts,
and to see that we do not overrun our
weekly or monthly income. But we do
not retain much more.
II we are thoughtless persons, we are
apt to regret that we were compelled to
spend a lot of time owe things we did
not like when there were so many other
things that would have given us a great
deal Of pleasure.
But, Dorothy, stop a moment before
you condemn your teachers for insisting
on making mathematics the test of your
scholarship. In the first place, it Is good
for most of us to do what we don't very
much want to do. We are better for be-
ing compelled to exercise some self-de-
NAL. You and l are bound to meet OBJ
stacles Of one sort or another all along
the road Of life. II we are towards. we
shall SILVER and shake and turn away
and look for some little by-path by
which we may avoid the issue. II, on the
contrary, we are brave, we shall go bold
ly up to the thing in our path, and see
whether it cannot be put aside. In order
to get along c%reditably in this world,
every one of us must have a good supply
of moral courage and real force OF char
acter. These tasks of the schoolrOOm
are chiefly valuable because in them
there is hidden the element which turns
the raw recruit into a soldier, the ele-
ment called drill. You get an enormous
amount of drill for your mind when you
study mathematics. You may Eot find
1t agreeable, but that does not matter.
The fruit will be reaped later on.
You need not laugh at me. Dorothy,
when l tell you that a girl who has been
thoroughly trained and disciplined by
struggles with mathematics. that for
her mean conquest, will bear herself
much more finely than one who has
spent her time dawdiing over lessons
that never taxed her powers. For in
stance, it is a shame for a woman TO
scream when she sees a poor little nous
scuttling as fast as it can out OF the
closet, or to go into fits when a bat or
q spider or some other uncanny creature
crosses her field Of vision. Women who
do this are women who have never had
any practical drill in self-control. You
may not know it, but there is the great
est peril to women in not being able to
keep a good grip of themselves.
l once met a lady approaching middle
age, who boosted that she had never re-
strained an emotion in her life. IF any
thing goes wrong, l just go to pieces"
she said, "and everybody has to fly
around and wait on me-" She seemed to
think this a meritorius thing. In re-
atty, it was d~isgraceful. The one duty
beyond all others for you and me, Dor
othy, is to be equal to the occasion when
ever it comes, and to rule our own spirit.
How are we ever going to rule anybody
else If we do not rule ourselves?
Having said this, let me add hat l
look upon mathematics very much az
the builder looks on the foundation of
the house. If you are planning to build
q beautiful mansion, with many rooms
and corridors, with q tower on the top
and windows open wide to the sunshine,
you must first Of all dig deeply into the
earth and see that your underpinning
will be safe and your foundation stable.
The whole of education is built on the
| alphabet, the multiplication table and
the Ten Commandments. On these you
| may rear whatever beautiful edifice you
please. 1t would be a very one-sided
| development that a girl would have
who knew nothing except mathematics.
Once in awhile this has been shown in
the case Of some mathematical prodigy
Who has performed astonishing feats
| with figures and has done nothing else.
At one end of the scale place mathemat-
tcs for ballast: at the other give play to
Imagination and then you will have .
perfectly balanced character. Do not
make the mistake Of thinking that there
Is no virtue outside the ledger. Every
| child who solves q dif1cult problem
should be told q fairy story immedi-
ately afterward as q reward. Whatever
| else you omit, be sure you cultivate
your mind in the region Of poetry and
fancy.
A traveller was vending his way over
the mountains Of Kentucky, when he
came, at nightfall to a cabin in . lonely
pass. He asked II he might md shell
ter for the night, and the hospitality Of
the mountains was at once extended to
him. Food and . bed and asylum for
man and beast are always freely given
by the dwellers in those hillside homes.
Lying at full length on the cabin fioor
and ciphering BY the light Of blasina
pine knots was Z boy who seemed ab-
sorbed In his occupation. On Inquiry,
It transpired that this lad Of IA, who had
had very little schooling, was working
his own way through algebra. patiently
tackling every dimculty IS he met It,
and thus far he had had almost no help.
The traveller discovered that the boy
| had 4 eenuin0 love for learning. the sort