The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-03-07
SOCT ETY.
BY ANNIE PERRY REID.
Bell Telephone 1897.
THE ART OF SEEING.
Study the World and Get an Education
BY Absorption.

From Success.
John Wanamaker was once asked to IN
vest in an expedition to recover doub-
looms from the Spanish main which for
ha.- century had lain at the bottom
Of me sea in sunken frigates,
young men, he replied. Il know of
a better expedition than this right here.
Near your own feet lie treasures I'M
tod. You can have them all by faithful
study.
Let us not be content to mine the
most coal, to make the largest locomo-
tives. to weave the largest quantities of
carpets, but amid the sounds of the pick,
the blows of the hammer. the rattle of
the looms and the roar of the machinery
take care that the immortal mechanism
of Gods own hand-the minds stlll
full trained for the highest and noblest
service"
The ignorant man is always placed
at u great disadvantage. No matter how
much natural ability one may have, If
he is ignorant he is discounted. 1t is not
| enough to possess ability; it must be
| made available by mental discipline. We
ought to be ashamed to remain in ignor-
auce ir land where the blind, the deaf
and the dumb, whore even cripples and
invaids. manage to get Il good educa-
! tion. The trouble is that many youths
throw away little opportunities for self
| culture because they cannot see great
ones. and they let the years slip by with
out any special effort at self improve
| ment until they are shocked in middle
| life or later by waking up to the fact
| that they are still ignorant of what
they ought to know.
1t is not absolutely necessary that an
education should be crowded into few
years of school life. The best educated
people are those who are always learn
in, always absorbing knowledge from
every possible source-and at every oppor-
tunty. l know young people who have
acquired better education, finer Gull
ture, through q habit of observation or
! carrying a book or article in the pocket
| to read at odd moments or by taking
courses in correspondence schools than
many who have gone through college.
Youths who are quick to catch at new
ideas and who are in frequent contact
with superior minds not only often ac-
quire a personal charm, but, even to a
remarkable degree, develop mental power.
The world Is great university. From
the cradle to the grave We are always
in Gods great kindergarten, where every
thing is trying to teach us its lesson, to
give us its great secret. Some people are
always at school, always storing up pre-
cious bits of knowledge. Everything has
a lesson for them. 1t all depends upon
the eye that can see, the mind that can
appropriate. Very few people ever learn
how to use their eyes. They go through
the world with a superficial glance at
things. Their eye pictures are SO faint and
so dim that details are lost, and no strong
impression Is made on the mind
The eye was intended for q great edu-
Gator. The brain is a prisoner, never get
ting out to the outside world. 1t depends
upon it's five or six servants the senses,
to bring it material and the larger part
Of it comes through the eye. The man
who has learned the art of seeing things
looks with his brain.