St. Tammany farmer., 1905-08-19
VALUE OF ACCURACY
TIE LACK OF IT ACCOUNTS FOR
MANY FAILURES.

MANY FAILURES.
Incorrect Spelling Among College Prov
fessors-Why the Cook, the ANA
teur Photographer and the Club
Woman Sometimes Fail-Dr. John
sons Accuracy-"Brillian Brig
andage" Preferable to "Incompe-
tent Integrity"
BY LUCY ELLIOT keller.
Editorial Writer, the Youths Companion
Copyright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowies.)
A young negro recently addressed a
convention in behalf of his people. He
had most interesting face, and win
ming manner; and the audience Of ex-
perts listened with high expectation.
One by one, however, they settled back
in their seats, irritation showed on
some faces, boredom on others. What
was the matter? The speaker had lost
none of his eloquence, none of his in
gratiating air; but he had begun OF
facts, scarcely one of which was &C.
curately stated. His assertions were
colored doubtless by his feelings shis
racial prejudices: nevertheless he dam
aged his cause by his inexactness.
WAS he not like many of your stu
dents?" asked congressman after
ward, turning to Harvard dean.
Indeed, yes" came the instant re-
GA ie cA Of u
ion that it is next to impossible to find
youth who can copy a list Of printed
names without misspelling. We have
boys who cannot spell, men who can
not spell, teachers of English who can
not spell, college professors who can
not spell and who have a mean opin-
ion of spelling! One by one warn
them, as George Eliot warned her
heroine: You are very accomplished
very brilliant, but you have not said
to yourself, must understand this ex-
actly, must do this exactly, l must 60
like 4 watch-true, true, true!'"
Here is a simple test. Ia some 20
lines of poetry which you know by
heart, and after writing them down
compare your version with a printed
copy. Not one in a hundred persons
can rass that test successfully. There
will be deviations slight, perhaps, hut
astonishingl7 numerous.
Wordsworth was much excited one
day at hearing that he had written a
poem on a daisy NO." he said, iii
was the daisy-a very different thing
There was a difference. His friend
Coleridge continually shifted from one
side of the walk to the other. He
seemed unable to keep in a straight
line. Some one said of him that his
mind was labyrinth without a clue
in which was stored up vast amount
Of knowledge that could never be
found and which was of no use to any.
one.
Why is it that the stories Of tun.
nels begun at opposite sides of q
mountain, the workmen meeting in the
middle to an inch, create such aston
ishment in the reader? Is it not the
consciousness of his own vague ten
dencies of word and thought, his owI
loose approximation of manual re.
suits? A modern architect actually
builds his bridge or skyscraper in his
Office, marking the place of every leas
rivet. He figures on weights and dis
tances and measurements beforehand
realizing that without absolute accu
racy his bridge or his building will MOI
stand. Fancy the worth Of astronom
ical calculations which ignore the small
figures or of bank ledger in which tn,
small decimal is ignored!
Rub some sugar and butter to !.
cream, add sufficient flour and baking
powder. thin to the proper consistency
with milk, and favor to taste" 81
reads many neighborhood recipe
That the cake ever came out well wa!
because the maker knew her ingre1i
ents accurately by eye if not by word
Look through albums of amateur pho
tographs and see how many are fad
ing. Why? Because the photographer
would not follow his directions ex
I actly.
Many woman's club not only doe:
not leave its members where it found
them, but it carries them into an nn
certain knowledge that is worse tina,
| ignorance. To know one thing &C
curately is the backbone of culture
Most persons opinions, too, nigh
well "be arrested on a charge of vag
rancy. having no visible means of sup
port" What . relief, on the contrary
what q feeling of confidence, to reat
a recent book by DR.. Stanley Hall
wherein footnote proves that cas,l
al phrase is buttressed by some 1,72'
experimental tests!
Sir Joshua Reynolds once asked DR.
Johnson by what means he had at
tained his extraordinary accuracy ant
flow CT language. Johnson replied tina
he had early laid it down rs a fxet
rule to do his best on every occasion
And to tell whatever he had to impair
tn the most forceful language he .coult
use; and that by constant practice ant
never suffering any careless eSpres
sions to escape him, or attempting t
deliver his thoughts without arrangin.
them in the clearest manner, accurac.
had become habitual with him.
Nay, madam" he once said reprov
ingly to Mrs. Thrale, when you ar
declaiming, declaim, but when you ar,
| calculating, calculate" Boswell iron
really said of the same lady, Il gladl.
seize this opportunity of acknowledg
ing that however often. Mrs. Thrale ];
not always inaccurate.
!. One Of our distinguished Statesmen
was as boy taken to call on Rufu!
l. rhoota the father asking the Praa